Travon + Tulsa - how will NRA react?

[Ma'ake]

A colleague is a maximum 2nd Amendment advocate, and was pushing the idea that there shouldn't even be a conceal carry permit system, that people should just be able to carry, without a permit. We don't have permits to have free speech or if we want to go to church, after all.

After the Trayvon incident, and after these (apparently) racial shootings in Tulsa, I think it's a fair guess that more blacks will be carrying heat, legally or not. In Trayvon's case, I suspect the lesson will be "don't wait to become a victim. Trayvon should have shot Zimmerman first in self defense, even if he was only 17."

How will the gun lobby react to a large arming in the black community, of both the eligible and underaged?

Will they (still?) support the idea of arming without documentation, or will they insist that only registered carriers should be allowed?

I would imagine many parents will want to see the age limits reduced or maybe even eliminated, as there are innumerable scenarios where a 12-17 year old (for example) shouldn't have to depend on having the police, or an adult, not to mention a sure-shooter, around to protect them from bad guys.

[Jacob]

I'm confused as to your question. You seem to assume that the nra thinks the right to bear arms only splits to whites. How strange. The answer to your question is simple: the nrs will nbe glad that mott people support their cause and vote for politicians who support gun rights.

Also, in case you're unaware, many states do not require any sort of permit to carry a weapon if the weapon is not concealed. most guns right supporters and organizations will continue to support the right of the people to bear arms including and maybe especially those rights of black people. why you think they would react differently to black people attempting to assert their rights is what I can not understand.

[Ma'ake]

I didn't know it before I married a black woman and travelled back east, but there's still racial divisions in many areas of the nation. I think it's getting better with time, but it's always close to the surface, like we're seeing in Sanford, Florida.

There's a perception among many whites that white people obey laws, blacks don't, and the Stand Your Ground laws are a good way for good, law abiding white people to defend themselves against (often black) criminals. Zimmerman's asking residents in his neighborhood watch area to be on the lookout for young black men is a good example of this mentality.

Maybe somebody has some statistics, but my hunch is the vast majority of NRA members are not black. Among the blacks I associate with the NRA is viewed as being (more or less) a group of rednecks, who do not see eye to eye with blacks on a variety of issues.

From a PR standpoint, the NRA is entirely non-racist, with only freedom as it's goal. My hunch (based on interactions with my wife's family) is the NRA may have a lot of members who ARE racists, and probably are pulling for Zimmerman to get off, maybe even as a message to other blacks that they're in the crosshairs, an intimidation opportunity.

So, this situation may pit some of the NRA membership against a politically polished leadership, if the NRA decides to support some kind of "amnesty" for young blacks who are illegally armed, ie, don't have a permit.

Do gun people see a saturation point where there just might be too many easily available guns? If let's say 80% of black men start carrying (open or concealed) and death rates start to rise significantly (accidents, suicides, shoot-first confrontations) is there a point where we have too many guns?

Let's say the Glocks are increasingly seen as too light, and more & more people are buying and carrying AK-47s, openly. Maybe body armor becomes more popular.

Do gun people see how this scenario could be bad?

I debated one guy who said if everyone was armed we'd have a more polite society. I asked if the politeness would increase further if everyone had machine guns. He said absolutely.

[Pelado]

Zimmerman's asking residents in his neighborhood watch area to be on the lookout for young black men is a good example of this mentality.

Has this been reported somewhere?

[Ma'ake]

Has this been reported somewhere?

http://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/20...-you-get-corn/

This was the first hit I got, but I'd read other accounts that Zimmerman himself said they were on the lookout for young black men, which doesn't seem like a stretch.

"If you plant corn, you get corn" is a mentality mirrored in the black community by heavy distrust of the police, a sense that the justice system favors whites, and I'd imagine with the Trayvon case a new sense that you'd better shoot before being shot.

[Ma'ake]

Here's an article that provides some context for what blacks in the south think, based on history that wasn't that long ago.

http://www.wmfe.org/site/News2?page=...s_iv_ctrl=1041