Gun Control = No Guns For Negroes!

"...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,

shall not be infringed."

For the entire time of this country's existence or at least from the 17th century blacks have been prohibited from owning guns. The reason is obvious. Slaves must never be given the ability to revolt. Free blacks must not be allowed to own guns because of the "dangerous example" that a slave could be free. So fearful were slaveholders that it was made unlawful for a black person to own anything that could be used as a weapon which included everything from a cane to a dog.

However, in 1791 the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution was adopted. The Amendment provided that "...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

The Supreme Court of the United States has finally concluded that the Second Amendment means what it says. The right to bear arms is an individual right that applies to all citizens and is provided for self defense. Despite the holding in McDonald v. City of Chigago criminals (felons) and the mentally ill may still be lawfully prohibited from owning or possessing guns. Of course if it is true that citizenship cannot be forfeited/revoked (except for conviction of treason or at-tempting by force to overthrow the United States Government or conspiring to do so) and citizens may not be deprived of rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution, it must also be true that the right to bear arms cannot be lawfully taken away.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is considered by many to be the champion of Second Amendment rights. They have successfully fought for the Second Amendment right of citizens to bear arms for decades.

Curiously, these Second Amendment purists don't think it applies to all citizens. Violent felons, among others may be denied the right to bear arms. A felony conviction may be for a non-violent crime and the possession of ammunititon is also prohibited. Of course the Second Amendment makes no such exception.

But even the NRA recognizes the racist roots of gun control. Take a moment to view the following NRA video. That's right the NRA. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

The Importance of Felony Convictions

Perhaps now you can see the importance of felony convictions. They not only affect voting rights and mass incarceration but also gun rights including carry permits. Note that even so-called open carry states where all citizens may legally carry weapons an African American with a gun is subject to be stopped, harassed and killed. It is my hope that the reader will notice that the open carry states and stand your ground laws though neutral on their face are already having a discriminatory impact.

EXTRA JUDICIAL EXECUTION

"no person shall be held to answer for an infamous

crime without indictment by a grand jury."

The United States Constitution provides that the no person shall be held to answer for an infamous crime without indictment by a grand jury. And, no person may be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. It follows that a law enforcement officer who kills a person for some real or imagined crime has, in effect, as an official arm of the state, taken the person's life without indictment and without due process of law in clear violation of the Fifth Amendment. In fact the officer has performed, as an agent of the state, an extra judicial execution. Why this fact is never mentioned is understandable from the law enforcement community but not from the African American so-called leadership. Can you say execution without indictment or trial?

Every police officer who or kills a civilian should be indicted and tried and not be allowed to resume his/her duties until acquitted. The officer's alleged crime is performing an extra judicial execution, a Fifth Amendment violation. Moreover the process should be handled by a special prosecutor. The notion that an internal investigation by the police department or the local prosecutor will ever result in justice is laughable. That's like having the Mafia determine whether a whack was justified.

Let us be clear here, a police officer should be, must be held to a higher standard simply because he/she is an agent of the state. The state cannot be allowed to summarily execute its citizens. To put it in John Locke's words "... the use of force without authority creates a state of war and the remedy is to oppose force to it."

Finally, the oft-cited argument that a police officer is privileged to use lethal force if he/she feels endangered is at once insulting and indefensible.

The criminal law (at the federal and state level) recognizes justification, also known as self-defense. But it is an affirmative defense that must be pleaded and proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Of course in order to use this defense you must be charged. The charge is avoided by the finding (either by an internal police investigation or prosecutor investigation) of what is known as a good shoot.

GOOD SHOOT

A good shoot is, in police parlance, a justified homicide. The problem with this concept is that it means an extra judicial execution is justified and not subject to prosecution because a police officer felt threatened and based on that fear executed a civilian. It also means that the actual presence of a threat is not important. It is what the officer reasonably believes. If he believes a twelve year old with a toy gun on a public playground is a threat -- good shoot!. If a wallet was thought to be gun -- good shoot!. If a nicotine dispenser was thought to be a gun -- good shoot!. If an armed black man scares me because he looks to me like a monster -- good shoot!

In 2015 police killed at least 102 unarmed black people -- about two per week. Thirty-seven percent of unarmed people killed by police were African American though we are only thirteen percent of the population. Curiously several states have recently enacted stand your ground laws. These laws provide that there is no duty to retreat before using force (including lethal force) in self-defense if the person reasonably believes doing so will pre-vent death or great bodily harm. It is this type law that allowed George Zimmerman to be set free after murdering Travon Martin. So now what we have is a host of states where white folks are carrying guns, can use them if they feel threatened, police can execute African Americans with impunity because they feel threatened and the rest of the population views black males as threatening and dangerous.

FELONY CONVICTION AND CIVIL DEATH

At English common law a felony was a crime for which the death penalty and civil forfeiture could be imposed. Today felony conviction creates a different kind of death -- civil death.

Long after sentences are served, in some instances for life, the felony conviction rears its ugly head in employment, education, housing, and professional licensing even food stamps and public housing can be prohibited. Pardons are virtually impossible. Commuted sentences are all but non-existent. Gun Control = No Guns For Negroes!

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Johnnie Cordero holds a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and a Doctorate in Jurisprudence. He is the author of Total Black Empowerment: A Guide to Critical Thinking in the Age of Trump. His new book Theodicy and The Power of the African Will is now available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and other on line book sellers.