Let’s start with an assumption. Let’s assume that the standard argument about American society and race relations that we hear from academics, SJW types, and their apologists in the legacy media is generally true. Let us also assume that, based on that first point, the below statements are also correct.

(1) Everyone exhibits some degree of implicit racial bias. As the left-wing Mother Jones reported, white people “might write down on a questionnaire that they are positive in their attitudes toward black people…but when you give them a behavioral [test] of how they respond to pictures of black people compared with white people…” the implicit biases become clear.

(2) Those implicit biases impact people particularly in ambiguous situations. As one researcher put it, “A person reaching into a pocket is ambiguous. If I, as a white, middle-aged woman, reach into my pocket most people aren’t going to experience fear. For a black male with dreadlocks, that ambiguous action would produce fear in many people.”

(3) The American government was created by white people, for white people, and the scales will always, institutionally, be weighted in their favor — all else being equal. As a matter of history, the institutions of government in this country were created by men with both explicit and implicit biases (in many ways more explicit than implicit at the time the Constitution was ratified.) As a result, even if individual police officers or other government officials truly were free of their own prejudices (which they’re not, see point (1) above,) the institutional bias that exists would overwhelm the well-intentioned folks who truly judge people by the content of their characters, and not the color of their skin, from disparities in in pre-school discipline to disparities in the rates at which white and black people are shot by police officers.

(4) People are largely incorrigible on the issue of racism. There will be no magical, Gene Roddenberry-esque moment in our lifetimes in which we can finally be done with this sort of bigotry. It isn’t merely learned behavior, but is innate. (Granted, there does not appear to be a consistent #SJW line on this point, but it seems to me that innate racism makes the problem more intractable so let’s go with that.)

Some recent examples of police/citizen interactions in which racial bias (institutional or otherwise) may have placed a role range from Eric Garner, killed by New York police when they attempted to detain him on suspicion of being an illegal cigarette vendor, Philando Castile, a Minneostan with a license to carry a concealed firearm, who was shot by police when his girlfriend was pulled over for a busted taillight (yes, for the record, Jeronimo Yanez, the officer responsible for Castile’s death claims that he thought Castile resembled a suspect wanted for armed robbery. For this thought experiment, let’s assume this isn’t true.)

So, do you have arms around all of that? Good. Now let’s talk about guns.

In response to the violence of last week — in Baton Rouge, Minneapolis, Dallas, Michigan, and elsewhere — the usual suspects are calling for more gun control. But what is it that gun control would actually accomplish?

There are over 300,000,000 firearms in the hands of the citizenry in the United States right now. More if you add state and local civilian police forces (which, as we’re all civilians together, we probably should.) One study of uncertain accuracy cited by the Congressional Research Service estimated the total number of rifles in the United States at 110,000,000 in 2009.

I won’t speculate about the possible effect some gun control restriction might have had on last week’s violence. As bad as they were, those incidents were one-offs, and I suspect our readership has no need to be educated on that question. What I’d like to ask instead is: what impact would more gun control laws have had on the day-to-day lives of Americans — the African-American community in particular?

In the vision of many gun control activists, the enemy is the NRA and other law-abiding gun owners who, essentially, just seek to be left alone, free to pursue their hobbies and interests, and to own and carry weapons and other equipment for their own personal self-defense. In their minds (perhaps wrongly) the typical NRA member and gun owner is, to borrow a line from Don McDougall, an old white (or “Anglo”, as my Chicano family in Texas would put it,) man who lives in flyover country and needs to lose thirty or forty pounds. That isn’t exactly the case anymore (as McDougall reports,) but again, we’re giving the left the benefit of the doubt here, so let’s roll with it.

Who is really going to feel the brunt of any putative gun control law?

Sure, gun owners will howl. Sure, the occasional naive folks visiting New York City may be taken by surprise when they learn that their Oregon Concealed Handgun License doesn’t amount to a hill of coffee beans ground by Portland’s finest baristas there. But the truth is, if ANY of the assumptions we’ve made above have ANY validity, the people who are going to bear the brunt of the law’s effect will be those people who are experiencing the most difficulty with the law right now.

If #BlackLivesMatter to you, gun control is the last thing you want.

Think about it: if American institutions are all racist, if the police are perpetrating violence against members of the African-American community because of that institutional racism and their own inherent racism, and if at every step, justice is systematically biased against African-Americans, what do you think those same ‘racist’ institutions are going to do with a series of laws that give them still more power to observe, harass, and arrest people who are otherwise minding their own business?

If you’re concerned about the fact that African-Americans are incarcerated at six times the rate of whites, what do you think is going to happen to that disparity when the (again, ‘racist’) justice system gets one more crime, or one more aggravating factor to pile on years of a prison term?

Which community do you think these allegedly racist police forces will prioritize when choosing to devote resources toward enforcing gun control laws? The rural, mostly white hamlet with a large number of NRA members? Or an inner city mostly African-American neighborhood?

If all of the assumptions above are true, I think we all know what the answer would be.

Of course, this is just a thought experiment. Proposed gun control laws would fail the reason test even without the assumptions made above. But considering how many people — especially people on the left — are endorsing those assumptions at the moment while simultaneously calling for more gun control laws (as well as making spurious assertions about the difficulties of buying a GLOCK,) I have to wonder if they realize that those two forces are actually in opposition to each other.

Assuming facts and reason play a role in the calculus, of course. That’s one assumption that you can’t exactly take to the bank.

From time to time, though, I am pleasantly surprised.

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41 COMMENTS

    • “Gun sense: ban government guns.”

      Blaine, for once, I agree with you 100 percent.

      Note: It will probably be the only time I’ll agree with you… 🙂

    • So, according to this logic.

      A bad cop means all cops are bad…

      So a murderous black person means all black people are bad….

      So, black lives don’t matter after all…..

  3. This is one of the most astute observations I have read. Gun control laws will just be another way to put more African Americans in jail for a longer time.

  4. I think the time for dialogue, assumptions, correlations or conclusions based on observation and facts are fast coming to an end.

  5. White people are to blame for the disparity of treatment between whites and blacks. Why? because whites are falling down on the job, that’s why.

    White people, get off your fat whites @sses and knock over a 7-11 or a gas station! Sure, you won’t get a lot of money out of it, but the capital expense is limited. Cheap Ravens and similar popguns are readily available on the white market. Sell your expensive Wilson Combat and buy a bunch of cheap pistols for you and your gang.

    Or challenge your white neighbors to an exhilarating Knock Out Game; surely, there’s an old person in your neighborhood who needs a good beating.

    And reproduce, dammit! Your Caucasian reproduction rate is lower than your death rate, and I expect you women to have at least six kids by six different man, most of whom you don’t remember because you were smoking crack at the time.

    White guys, if you’re lucky enough to have a real job, quit it now and join in the lucrative informal trade in pharmaceuticals. Or if big pharma turns you off, maybe you can traffic some beyotches for ready cash. There are many money-making opportunities before you.

    And when all else fails and you’re pinched, fight! Pull a handgun and let the man know in no uncertain terms that he can’t keep the people down. You have rights!

    Follow these simple rules and there will be no further disparity. I know that you can do it. #WLM!

        • I enjoyed your post very much Ralph. It made me laugh until I thought about how much of it is accurate. People can scream racist all they want, but when confronted by facts that back what you are saying, you would hope it would make take a hard look at their culture and try to make some changes there instead of just screaming all the time.

  6. Why is the theme song to Ghostbusters playing in my head?

    “Who you gonna call? FuzzBusters!”

  7. Why are you still saying that Philandro had a PTC? That has still not been confirmed, in fact the Ramsey Co Sheriff said he never applied and that was his county of address. The Star Trib said a “source” told them he did but that paper is notorious for being a hack amateur outfit.

  8. Well, you sure as sh_t wouldn’t call BLM, (D), Obama admin, Hillary [killed my friends]. . .

  9. There is a lot here:
    I owe my life to a black Sargent.

    If Blum really means something , they would be in Chiraq, Baltimore, blah blah.

    The MSM and politicians are stirring up racial hatred to sell more commercials and get elected.

    We are 240 years (about) and we are a failing empire, nothing will stop it and importing Syrians into this country won’t help.

    White privilege? Bullshit, I worked for everything I have.

    • I was living in my car at 16 after my mom threw me out. I didn’the start stealing, dealing Crack, or kill anybody. I picked up more hours at my job, found a cheap place to live, and finished high school. No welfare, no government helpToday, I have a good job, my own home, and a pretty decent gun collection. There sure as hell was no white privilege involved. I earned every damn thing I’ve got too.

  10. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, we don’t have a gun problem. The overwhelming majority of guns are owned by law abiding citizens who hope that they never have to use them against another human being. No, we don’t a gun problem. We have a black culture problem. The majority of violent crimes involving firearms are committed by blacks. They are products of a culture in which 75% of babies are born out of wedlock, where fatherhood has limited value, where rap artists who advocate violence against women and police are glorified, and where getting an educated is described as ‘actin’ white’. We’ll never achieve a solution to gun violence unless and until we acknowledge its real source.

  12. A tangential thought, but …

    If we also embrace cultural relativism and say that all cultures are valid, then the OFWGG (Old fat white gun guy, or “Offwog”) culture must be valid.

    Take away their cultural symbols and rituals? How dare you even suggest that! Anyone who does must be racist! Respect their unique contributuons and perceptions of the world!

  14. Johannes – You forgot something, though. The Left seeks to federalize law enforcement as much as possible – they constantly expand Federal domestic law enforcement agencies, and also add law-enforcement arms to previously unarmed federal agencies. At the same time, they use the power of $, decrees from federal courts and settlement agreements resolving civil rights suits to exert as much control over local police forces. Once the Feds effectively control, directly or indirectly, all US law enforcement, they can simply decree that no persons of color or LGBTQRSWXYZ will be prosecuted for the crime of illegal firearms possession, using “proprietorial discretion”. Easy Peasy.

  15. I grew up in a mixed group; Asians, Puerto Ricans, Philippinos, Whites, Black, Native Americans; because our fathers were in the armed forces, defending the rights of all with their lives. Many of my friends moved away because their fathers didn’t return from a mission. In the local community, often, civilian kids were told by their parents to stay clear of us so we stuck together… and that was in the USA. In foreign countries it was even more important. We were discriminated against for what our fathers did for a living, which also meant we were rather poor (when I was born, Dad made $25 per month and with 18 years service he made about $600).

    Because of how we were treated, I grew up to be a bigot. To this day I do not like ignorant people.

    • Funny how military service has a way of blowing away bullshit ethnic divisions, isn’t it?

  16. #Gunsense has a fight on it’s hands. Just today the Democrats introduced bills in the House and the Senate that would ban anyone under 16 years of age from possessing or firing an AR-15 or a machinegun even when under parental supervision.

  19. There’s two things here, First if you have the surname Garner, don’t get involved with the police or illegal activities, statistics show you guys will get shot.
    Second, In response to the sign, that is why I have a gun, For murderers of every type

  20. “(3) The American government was created by white people, for white people, and the scales will always, institutionally, be weighted in their favor — all else being equal.”
    Actually, this premise is not accurate. The constitution was written by Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, and many others, and they explicitly wrote language that allowed for a day down the road, when slavery would no longer exist.
    The line, ” ..that all men are created equal…..”, is the specific language that allowed for the eventual abolishment of slavery. It’s not the strongest language they wanted to write, but they compromised to the point that this is what they were allowed to write. It’s all that was thought to be taken seriously at the time.
    Here we are, in 2016, 50 years after the beginning of the Civil Rights campaigns, and what is different? The rule of law, accountability, truth, Liberty, justice, accurate and unbiased media? No, sorry, all of this is no longer true. I’m ashamed to say that I saw this coming a few years ago and I started loading up on guns, ammo, security systems, etc, because the Anarchist-In-Chief was obviously sending subliminal and other more obvious messages that he was going to incite a race war.
    I was born in Dallas and I’ve lived here for 58 years. This past week was very emotional for me watching our heroic police officers running TOWARDS the shots fired, jumping on top of, and protecting innocent bystanders, and protecting American citizens right to protest, the 1st Amendment. The aftermath, the retaliations against police, just sickens me. I blame the deceitful media, the Anarchist-In-Chief, and liberals, all liberals who want everything given to them. That’s not why this country has been the most successful on the planet. I’m an American born citizen, first generation immigrant, grew up poor, was given an opportunity to go to college, and have made the most of it. I’m a well respected salesman in my industry, I’ve won numerous awards, solved many industrial problems by introducing or dreaming up new products. I’m living the American Dream-study hard, work hard, be responsible, take responsibility for your actions, words and deeds, and good things will come to you. I’m afraid that no matter what we do, the deck is now stacked against us. I’m trying to figure out what country I can move to after I retire because the US is not going to be the same, not going to be better, and not going to be the kind of place I can still say I am proud of. I can’t believe I just said that, because I’m the person that always has tears in my eyes when the National Anthem is played, whenever I see a soldier in uniform, or a fireman rushing into a burning building, or a policeman running TOWARDS gunfire.

    • Paragraph breaks – they’re a beautiful thing. They make people want to read your post.

  21. “The American government was created by white people, for white people, and the scales will always, institutionally, be weighted in their favor ”

    OK. So, let’s solve the problem once and for all: Get rid of the government created by white people blah, blah, along with all their laws. And replace it all with exactly nothing whatsoever. It’s not like they’ve been involved in anything useful for the past two centuries, anyway.

    Solved.

    • Just want to make sure y’all saw the bit where I said those assumptions weren’t necessarily my own views… 🙂

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