The Secret History of Guns

[steve2470]

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/09/the-secret-history-of-guns/308608/2/?single_page=true&google_editors_picks=true&

The eighth-grade students gathering on the west lawn of the state capitol in Sacramento were planning to lunch on fried chicken with California’s new governor, Ronald Reagan, and then tour the granite building constructed a century earlier to resemble the nation’s Capitol. But the festivities were interrupted by the arrival of 30 young black men and women carrying .357 Magnums, 12-gauge shotguns, and .45-caliber pistols.

The 24 men and six women climbed the capitol steps, and one man, Bobby Seale, began to read from a prepared statement. “The American people in general and the black people in particular,” he announced, must

take careful note of the racist California legislature aimed at keeping the black people disarmed and powerless Black people have begged, prayed, petitioned, demonstrated, and everything else to get the racist power structure of America to right the wrongs which have historically been perpetuated against black people The time has come for black people to arm themselves against this terror before it is too late.

Seale then turned to the others. “All right, brothers, come on. We’re going inside.” He opened the door, and the radicals walked straight into the state’s most important government building, loaded guns in hand. No metal detectors stood in their way.

*end of excerpt*

Posted for critique and discussion.

[PoliticAverse]

1. Recommended reading for those interested in a more complete understanding of the gun rights issue.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. Much of the gun control laws are based in racism and classism

CA did not have a problem with open carry until a bunch of black radicals did it. You can get a gun in NYC is you are rich, damn near impossible if you are poor or a minority.

[jsr]

3. Good write-up.