Racist Roots of Gun Control

When debating gun control and related issues with folks on the Left, I am often met with opinion-based arguments in the face of facts. While I consider myself neither Liberal nor Conservative, I do hold civil liberties in high regard. Government does no create or grant rights, but sometimes sets up a system through which natural rights are protected against encroachment by the government. This is the case in the United States with its constitution, guaranteeing certain inalienable rights to all men. Though, quite unfortunately, also fails to prevent the state from being corrupted by individuals seeking to stem the rights of other, be they civil or economic. 

In the case of gun rights, I often offer the following as evidence that gun control is by nature discriminatory, being focused at minorities and those in poor income brackets, whether in distant history or in modern society, in a quite similar manner as minimum wages laws negatively affect minorities and the young. 

The historical record provides compelling evidence that racism underlies gun control laws — and not in any subtle way. Throughout much of American history, governments openly stated that gun control laws were useful for keeping blacks and Hispanics "in their place" and for quieting the racial fears of whites.

Racist arms laws predate the establishment of the United States. This is not surprising. Blacks in the New World were often slaves, and revolts against slave owners often degenerated into less selective forms of racial warfare. The perception that free blacks were sympathetic to the plight of their enslaved brothers and the "dangerous" example that blacks could actually handle freedom often led New World governments to disarm all blacks, both slave and free.

Can't let the slaves defend themselves against an inherently violent state, now can we?

Starting in 1751, the French Black Code required Louisiana colonists to stop any blacks and, "if necessary," beat "any black carrying any potential weapon, such as a cane."⁽¹⁾ If a black refused to stop on demand and was on horseback, the colonist was authorized to "shoot to kill."⁽²⁾ In Louisiana, the fear of Indian attack and the importance of hunting to the colonial economy necessitated that slaves sometimes possess firearms. The colonists had to balance their fear of the Indians against their fear of their slaves. As a result, French Louisiana passed laws that allowed slaves and free blacks to possess firearms only under very controlled conditions.⁽³⁾Similarly, in the sixteenth century the colony of New Spain, terrified of black slave revolts, prohibited all blacks, free and slave, from carrying arms.⁽⁴⁾

More: http://constitution.org/cmt/cramer/racist_roots.htm