Do you know what “Jim Crow” laws are? There are some who may not. While hard to believe that we still contend with laws specifically codified to discriminate against Americans of color and the poor, these laws exist today. …And they’re often being pushed in the places with the highest numbers of diversified races and among the poorest in the nation.
Laws like “may issue” permits are a great example. Years ago local law enforcement and legislators got together and said, “We need a way to control ‘certain aspects’ of our population. How can this be accomplished?” The answer was gun control, which you and I know to be ‘people’ control. So, laws like “may issue” permits were implemented. Under a “may issue” permitting scheme a person, usually, the sheriff, was the person who claimed the sole power to deny or affirm a person’s civil liberties to exercise the Second Amendment. The decision-making criteria were then up to them. I know. My sheriff denied me a permit for six years in a row, for no Earthly reason. I wasn’t aligned with his preferred voter registration was the only thing I could guess, but I really don’t know why I was denied. But, denied I was. Stripped of my civil liberties, I joined up here and haven’t stopped volunteering.
Recently, in North Carolina, the legislature passed a bill to remove the Jim Crow permit to purchase prerequisite from the state. IFC just accomplished this after a multi-year push as well. I read that not a single Democrat in North Carolina’s statehouse supported this bill. I often wonder how these folks never manage to see the error of their racist ways, but I digress… Upon successful passage of this legislation, Governor Roy Cooper (D), vetoed the bill that could have ended discrimination by race and every other means.
Keep in mind that UNLIKE IOWA, North Carolina’s Jim Crow laws were used to deny permit applications during the covid crisis. Here is a really good article titled: North Carolina’s Jim Crow-era firearm law undermines civil liberties by Philip Smith, President of the National African American Gun Association. Give it a read and grasp how and why race continues to be a battle.
Do you want issues of race and discrimination to go away? Then call out the laws that divide people and selectively or arbitrarily remove their ability to practice their civil liberties, AND THOSE THAT PERSIST WITH PUSHING those same laws. That is how we win. …And in full disclosure I’m a NAAGA member. Try and talk me out of it.
In Liberty,
Michael Ware
IFC Chairman
Recent Comments