CIVIL RIGHTS MATTERS

What is the history of gun control in America? What were the first American gun control laws? What social ills were meant to be remedied by these laws? What was the focus of gun control through most of American history? Have things really changed all that much?

The history of gun control in America possesses an ugly component: discrimination and oppression of Native Americans, African Americans, other racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, and other suspect elements, including union organizers, agrarian reformers and civil rights advocates. Firearms laws were often enacted specifically to disarm and facilitate repressive action against these groups. Even today, with facially neutral gun control laws, gun control enforcement is often directed against particular neighborhoods and specific racial or socioeconomic elements of our society.

STEFAN TAHMASSEBI
Deputy General Counsel, National Rifle Association of America
* racist history of gun control measures *

"When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, the police declared that only law enforcement would be allowed to have guns and that lawfully-possessed firearms would be confiscated from civilians. Police seized firearms at gunpoint from persons, motor vehicles, boats, houses, and business premises, leaving citizens defenseless in a city besieged by looters and criminals. In NRA v. Mayor Ray Nagin, the U.S. district court issued a preliminary injunction against further confiscations and ordered that firearms be returned to their rightful owners. Causes of action include infringement of the right to keep and bear arms, deprivation of liberty and property without due process, violation of equal protection, and unreasonable search and seizure. The court denied New Orleans’ motion to dismiss, ruling that the Second Amendment guarantees individual rights and that the right is incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment so as to apply to State and local action. In addition to the litigation, Congress and several states have enacted legislation prohibiting firearm confiscations in emergencies."

STEPHEN P. HALBROOK, ESQ.
* Firearms confiscations during emergencies *