If you believe the mainstream media, it seems to be a common thought among those opposing gun rights to think that those who want to own guns are adamantly opposed to civil rights for anyone but white males in America. The infuriating thing about this thought is that, if those journalists (and the people that agree with them) would actually take the time to think through the issue and to study the history of gun control without giving into their knee-jerk emotionalism, then they would know that their position is the exact opposite of the truth.
The truth is that the history of gun control is connected to the history of opposing equal rights and equal treatment both of ethnic minorities and of women.
I know that’s a shocking statement to many people, but even such notably anti-gun media outlets as National Public Radio (NPR) recently aired an episode of Here And Now which discussed how gun control was often implemented specifically to prevent African-Americans from being able to defend themselves (hat tip to here for the source). In other words, gun control was implemented because it is racist.
Or let’s look at something currently: Dana Loesch, a spokesman for the NRA, moved her family from their home because of threats of rape and assault from anti-gunners. Amber Athey writes,
Loesch shared her story with the viral hashtag #MeToo, which encourages women to identify themselves as victims of sexual harassment or sexual assault. However, very few leftists have given Loesch any sympathy, which she claims is because liberals are okay with a little sexism as long as it silences conservative women.
As Loesch’s case demonstrates, women need access to a means of self-protection. The hosts of Double Take point out that if feminists are serious about taking on sexual assault, they would support Second Amendment rights. Firearms can level the playing field for women who may otherwise be unable to fight back against a male attacker because of his physical advantages.
Look, it doesn’t take a genius to realize that, if you want to empower people, then you need to allow them to have the ability to defend themselves from the aggression of others. So, if you want to empower minorities, you allow them to legally own firearms. If you want to empower women, you encourage them to own firearms.
And if you want to oppress these groups, then you try to prevent them from leveling the self-defense field by keeping them from owning firearms because that is the essence of violating someone else’s civil rights, isn’t it? So, yes, owning firearms is a civil rights issue, and we need to level the playing field for everyone by allowing everyone to have the opportunity to own their own firearms.