U.S.A.– -(AmmoLand.com)- Look at us. Consider Los Angeles, Oakland, Boston, New York City, Trenton, and Baltimore. For good reason, each would call themselves a Democrat-controlled city. They have not had a Republican majority on their city councils in decades. Despite their words to the contrary, these cities are openly racist when it comes to fundamental human rights. The political left doesn’t want to talk about it, but it is strikingly easy to prove. Discover it for yourself if you have doubts. Try to get a permit to legally carry a firearm in those cities. The results in those cities are consistently shocking.
- Blacks and Hispanics are routinely denied the right to own a gun by local law enforcement.
- Blacks and Hispanics are falsely rejected by the FBI’s national instant background check system at a rate that is disproportionate compared to whites.
- Blacks and Hispanics are routinely denied the right to legally carry a firearm in public by law enforcement.
- Blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately stopped on the street by police and searched for weapons.
Across the US, tens of millions of us legally carry a concealed firearm in public. That isn’t true in those deep-blue-cities. There, the right of self-defense is reserved for our social-elites like politicians, judges, and a few ex-law enforcement officers.
That doesn’t seem fair. We don’t see politicians living in the poor parts of town. We don’t see politicians working in convenience stores late at night. Armed politicians are not out on the street protecting the young single mom who is walking home in the dark. Far from it.
Compare those cities to what we see in a larger picture of the USA. Looking across the country and looking back decades, we see a consistent pattern of increasing gun ownership and a falling rate of violent crime. Gun ownership almost doubled and violent crime dropped by half since the 1970s. Fortunately, in the last few years, we see minorities and women as the fastest-growing segment of gun owners. Ethnic minorities and women are seeking their carry permits in ever-growing numbers. The exceptions are in our deep-blue-cities where Democrats hold power. In contrast with the rest of the country, those cities show rising rates of violence, much of it directed at minorities and women.
Let me back up those sweeping statements with a particular example. If you are Hispanic or a woman living in Los Angeles, then you’re over ten thousand times less likely to be granted a carry permit compared to the rates we see in the rest of the United States. We see similar discrimination in the deep-blue cities I mentioned.
The excuses for this overt bigotry hasn’t changed significantly with time. Politicians and local law enforcement sell the privilege of self-defense to their political friends and donors. Those sad results are consistent once honest citizens with a clean criminal record have to show a “demonstrated need” and “good moral character” to legally own a gun. Please remember that police denied the Reverend Martin Luther King the right to carry a firearm for self-defense. If Reverend King had insufficient moral character and need then the rest of us don’t stand a chance even today.
The leftists elites and their mainstream mouthpiece ignore this bigotry. The elites never pay a political price for disarming honest citizens with brown or black skin.
The elites don’t need to care about armed defense because they already have their permits and their private security.
The mainstream media refuses to ask the embarrassing questions of why the elites deserve protection but minorities and women don’t. With few exceptions, the so-called civil rights groups are also shockingly silent rather than defending the right of self-defense for everyone. Where is their call for equal justice across the US?
There is some significant good news. Over the last several years, we’ve seen a growing segment of minority gun owners in red-states. I hope they spread the culture of responsible gun ownership across the US despite the racism holding them back in blue-states.
Take a friend shooting, and let freedom ring from coast to coast.
About Rob Morse
The original article with references is here. Rob Morse writes about gun rights at Ammoland, at Clash Daily, and on his SlowFacts blog. He hosts the Self Defense Gun Stories Podcast and co-hosts the Polite Society Podcast. Rob was an NRA pistol instructor and combat handgun competitor.