States' Rights

The latest in a long line of unbelievable permutations that strain credulity.

A gun advocate was being interviewed and proclaimed that the gun lobby was only adhering to the principles of Martin Luther King; standing up for the Bill of Rights.

At first blush, I was shocked, because Dr. King was murdered by a sniper! I could not believe this "advocate" actually could tie Dr. King to the NRA.

But he continued to explain that the 2nd Amendment was part of the Bill of Rights, and like Dr. King, the states were trying to resist the Federal Government's breaking of the Bill. Big government is the greatest threat to freedom, the gun nut lectured, and like Dr. King, an individual's civil rights are supreme, and must be protected at all cost. This includes civil disobedience, legal challenges; etc., just like Martin Luther King.

The interviewer, Reverend Sharpton, then reminded the gun nut, that Dr. King was advocating for MORE federal intervention, under the 14th Amendment, trumping States' rights to protect Civil Rights of the Bill of Rights. States' rights were a code in the 60s for segregation.

Segregationists used states' rights to protect their unequal and unfair system of Jim Crowe discrimination, trampling individual freedom for over 100 years. George Wallace stood in the schoolhouse door, resisting federal law, to protect a system that was the very definition of anti-Civil Rights.

So, I decided to follow the logic of Dr. King, and not of the gun nut. Proponents of gun rights, at the extreme, share libertarian views toward the size and scope of government. They hold that the least government, no regulation, is best; especially when it comes to guns.

The civil rights of victims of gun violence are the victims here, just like African Americans, Native Americans, Chinese, Hispanics; etc., were victimized for years, having their civil rights trampled. Whole generations lost basic rights and freedoms.

In a sense, the victim of a gun crime and civil right's victims are the same.

And, a higher percentage of people of color, are victims of gun violence.

In a real sense, the arguments of Dr. King still hold true. States have allowed citizen's civil rights to be trampled, in the most direct sense (death). States are resisting federal intrusion, that is trying to apply the 14th Amendment (equal protection under the law), to maintain a huge deregulation of gun law that negatively affects the Civil Rights of all.

Everyone knew that the states' rights argument was specious when it was made to support segregation. And most should realize today, that the states' rights argument that is being used to support deregulating guns, is the same thing: the lessening of civil rights for us all.

With the proliferation of guns, we all are in more danger. If we take a quiet walk in our neighborhood, the domestic dispute that results in gunfire, can hit us! Certain cities we dare not go into, for fear of the free fire zones that exist there.

It reminds me of staying out of Mexico, because of the shooting war between drug cartels. The United States is become Juarez!

Dr. King was a victim of gun violence at the hand of a racist, who decided his civil rights were higher than Dr. King's . A gun aided this fanatic in ending a life of a great man, who stood for justice, mercy, and faithfulness to the tenants of Jesus Christ.

So, the next time, one of these nuts uses states' rights to argue for gun rights, set them straight by asking about the civil rights of gun violence victims: who stands for them? Are we safer with everyone armed to the teeth? Whose civil rights are being abrogated?