NRA Hates Gun Control--Unless You Are A Black Panther

We all know that there is a need for gun control now. With all of these tragic shootings happening, there is no doubt that something must be done. However, there is one large, moneyed, powerful organization that stands in the way: The National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA wants absolutely no gun control whatsoever, and currently views attempts to enact any restrictions on gun ownership and carrying weapons as an attack on the Second Amendment. However, this wasn’t always the case.

The NRA had a history of supporting gun control, with restrictions on gun ownership and concealed carrying, and there was none of this huge focus on the Second Amendment. However, in the 1970′s, the Black Panthers began to advocate for the right to bear arms, and the gu

n rights movement of today was born. Ironically enough, the gun-related rights that the Black Panthers fought for became the territory of a predominantly rural, conservative, white people. 

During the Civil Rights era, the NRA lobbied in favor of gun control, particularly the Gun Control Act of 1968, which banned gun sales by mail and required licensing of arms dealers and owners. At that time, gun control was aimed at left-leaning groups; the Black Panther Party in particular. This all came to a head when the Panthers began their police patrols, where they would show up at the scenes of arrests to notify those being arrested of their Constitutional rights, and not bothering to conceal the weapons they were carrying. Presumably in response to this activity, California Legislator Don Mulford introduced a bill that would ban carrying weapons in public, even if they were displayed. The Panthers protested the bill, but on May 2, 1967 it was signed into law.

This effectively put a stop to the police patrolling activities of the Black Panthers. After that, the NRA had a huge change of heart, fearing that the government would take their guns away as well. They began to advocate and lobby for gun rights. What you see today is a result of paranoia and fear from a different era, and, well, likely quite a bit of racism.

It is important to understand the history of the NRA as an organization, and to realize just how they came to be the dangerous, borderline terrorist organization they are today. They were not always in favor of anyone and everyone having as many guns as they wanted, however they wanted them, wherever they wanted them. They’ve been quite…*ahem*…selective about whose guns should be controlled and whose guns should not. Once the left-wingers were disarmed, the NRA had to make sure that people of a more congenial (to them) conservative temperament could stay armed. MOREHERE