Ye Olde “2A is Racist” Argument… This time from the ACLU

The ALCU, The American Civil Liberties Union, an organization supposedly dedicated to the protection of civil rights among those more vulnerable to having them stripped from them declared one such civil right racist.  

3 guesses which one…  

Yes, the 2nd Amendment is racist, according to the ACLU, the right to Keep and Bear Arms for the security of yourself and the state (language in the Michigan constitution specifically) is actually in case someone with different melanin related genetics than you gets ‘uppity’ or some such nonsense.  

The right that literally guarantees, through force of arms, the choice and ability for someone to be self determinant. The right that enforces the final barrier from being immediately subject to the whims of someone or some group willing to bully into compliance through naked force. The right that unequivocally declares, “No.” and backs it with fire and fury.

That right is racist?  

Why?   

America bad, or something.

A complete and total disregard of all history outside the brief period that the United States exists in. The fact that, as imperfect as the world remains, there has never been a better time to be alive. Ever. Our petty first world grievances and the inequities of our lives (that do still deserve litigation and fixing, no doubt there) are nothing compared to any other historical period.  

Nobody with two brain cells to rub together and create some cognitive heat is longing to return to the local warfares that are essentially perpetual across Europe, Asia, and Africa, the Huns carving an empire, the Roman caste system that included slavery, or the Egyptian, or any other governing force in any region at any earlier period in history. They were all highly tribal, largely xenophobic, and looked out for their interests first.

Some, for some strange reason, haven’t grasped the approximately 100 million communism killed, but others have a grasp on that to remind them it’s a bad idea.

But with the exception of the forgotten 20th century atrocities and terrible events, most seem to agree the 21st century is a fine time to be alive overall.

We’ve come up in the world.  

But one civil right that empowered that rise is apparently bad, and the internet took that personally.

Here’s the tweet.

Racism is foundational to the Second Amendment and its inclusion in the Bill of Rights.

Learn more from experts Carol Anderson and Charles Howard Candler on this episode of the At Liberty podcast.https://t.co/9AjGALT1GH

— ACLU (@ACLU) July 25, 2021

“With 233 mass shootings so far this year, the issue of gun violence in the U.S. is all too familiar,” Santos wrote. “Tragic events like the Pulse nightclub and Parkland shootings go from being media spectacles to quotidian events at an alarming rate in a country that often heralds the Second Amendment above meaningful safety for all its citizens. The vigilantism of widespread gun ownership puts Black Americans in an especially vulnerable position given the brutality and human cost of discriminatory policing.”

“The gun violence epidemic continues to spark debate about the Second Amendment and who has a right to bear arms,” she continued. “But often absent in these debates is the intrinsic anti-Blackness of the unequal enforcement of gun laws, and the relationship between appeals to gun rights and the justification of militia violence. Throughout the history of this country, the rhetoric of gun rights has been selectively manipulated and utilized to inflame white racial anxiety, and to frame Blackness as an inherent threat.”

Needless to say this went over about as well as a brick to the head (to see real results on that, peep the news out of Texas), one example from Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby.

Gun Control has always held it roots in racism. Laws preventing armament of groups, not enabling the armament of all the people as the 2nd Amendment empowers. The Militia is the whole people.

“I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.” – George Mason.

The Whole People

‘The Whole People’ of America includes more now than it ever has. We are closer to living the fully inclusive ideals the Constitution laid out our foundations for than ever. The meaning of the 2nd Amendment remains constant. It wasn’t “The whole people, but secretly only white male landowners.” Ignoring women and minorities who took up arms, even in 1776, and have forever since continued to do so, as is their right.

The internet’s reaction to the ACLU’s absurdity was… fun to watch.

The ACLU has completely lost the plot. Meanwhile, the the National African American Gun Association, which began in 2015 with a single chapter in Atlanta, now comprises more than 75 chapters with 30,000 members. More here: https://t.co/M8N1BnwP8u https://t.co/NuhUNpRmmT

— Jeff Jacoby (@Jeff_Jacoby) July 25, 2021

You all just make stuff up.

— Jen Stroup (@JenStroup) July 25, 2021

Correction, gun control, is built on racism. All gun control disproportionally affects minorities.

— Joe (@JOE_CONTRERAS_) July 25, 2021

No. Racism is behind every gun control effort in modern American history. #allguncontrolisracist

— Ross Allen (@rossallen3) July 25, 2021

The ACLU is now waging war on the Bill of Rights.

ACLU’s position on the Second Amendment has always been nuanced: it’s an important constitutional protection, but one that’s collective, not individual.

Now they’re full on proclaiming parts of the Bill of Rights to be racist. https://t.co/1lhED1FImu

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) July 26, 2021

This is abject nonsense. There is no historical evidence back up this assertion. https://t.co/hYLFZ1IILF https://t.co/KGgYfvdeIZ

— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) July 25, 2021

The two are completely unrelated. Completely. All this chalks up to is trying to push a false narrative. The ACLU is no longer even worthy of its own name. https://t.co/4vdet66Q9Z

— The Truth Caucus (@TheTruthCaucus) July 26, 2021

Pretty soon the ACLU is going to be arguing for the government’s right to quarter troops in your house. https://t.co/x7mEJrBPZO

— Kyle Shideler (@ShidelerK) July 26, 2021

Yes, throughout American history white, racist Democrats opposed free citizens’s right to bear arms because of skin color. (Also: Democrat Taney’s bigoted opinion re Dred Scott inadvertently reaffirmed 2A as an individual right — a right for all.) https://t.co/MmUXXiZLvx

— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) July 25, 2021

All the usual errors on attributing gun violence, deaths, mass shootings, and the like are present in their argument. The ALCU apparently looked at what Giffords and their pal Chipman was spouting as gospel and have forgotten the whole mission of objectively fighting for everyone’s civil rights. Oh how the virtuous have fallen…

But the 2A was always the right they were weakest on. Apparently the power of actual self determination at the literal ‘Liberty or Death’ level of commitment is too far for certain constitutions.

Just not that of the United States.

Keith Finch
Keith is the former Editor-in-Chief of GAT Marketing Agency, Inc. He got told there was a mountain of other things that needed doing, so he does those now and writes here when he can. editor@gatdaily.com A USMC Infantry Veteran and Small Arms and Artillery Technician, Keith covers the evolving training and technology from across the shooting industry. Teaching since 2009, he covers local concealed carry courses, intermediate and advanced rifle courses, handgun, red dot handgun, bullpups, AKs, and home defense courses for civilians, military client requests, and law enforcement client requests.