Gun Control and Race: Taking Responsibility

 Former President Barack Obama recently said, in a interview with "CBS Mornings" on May 16, 2023, that the debate about gun control “has become sort of a proxy for arguments about our culture wars. You know, urban versus rural. Race is always an element in these issues.” He added that the debate over gun control has become an "ideological issue and partisan issue in ways it shouldn't".

Well, in a sense, the former President is correct. It has become an ideological and partisan issue in that the solution for Democrats and those on the Left is circumvent the 2nd Amendment in every way possible. They would like to make it illegal to own certain types of rifles simply because their stock has a military design such as the AR 15.

The media would have you believe that this is some sort of military grade firearm that somehow magically made its way into the hands of the public. For the record, an AR 15 doesn't stand for "Assault Rifle"  or "Automatic Rifle". It stands for "ArmaLite Rifle", the name of the original manufacturer, which is modeled after a military M-14 rifle.

The AR 15 is a semi-automatic rifle, the kind of which that have been around for decades and commonly for hunting or target shooting. Pretty much every manufacturer produces some sort of semi-automatic rifle. The only real difference here is the design of the stock which is intended to give it more of a "wow" factor.

The Left is also wanting to make it much more difficult to purchase handguns of all makes and models, if not outlaw them altogether.  There has even been some discussion by Democrats in Congress to require active duty and former military as well as law enforcement members to undergo special psychiatric exams  before being allowing to purchase any firearms, especially handguns.

Conservatives, as expected, deeply oppose any additional restrictions to gun ownership. They see it as an attempt to do away with gun ownership in piecemeal fashion until the average citizen is no longer able to own any firearms. They believe that the 2nd Amendment guarantees the right of all citizens to own a firearm, whether it be for hunting, target shooting, self-protection or no particular reason at all. But more so, as a bulwark against a tyrannical government as expressly stated by the Founding Fathers.

To paraphrase the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison on the subject, a unarmed and unprepared populace is no longer a nation of citizens. It is a nation of subjects. They feared that any government, including the one they just created, could become despotic just as they feared the creation of political parties.  As Benjamin Franklin said, "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb contesting the vote".

However, what this actually comes down to is, as Obama suggests, a matter of urban versus rural and ultimately, one of race.  The truth is that Black youth are five times more likely than any other racial group to be murdered. They are also more likely to be murdered by another Black person than they are a white, Hispanic, or Asian. Whites and Hispanic youths are killed at a rate of 2.3 per 100,000. The percentage for Asian deaths is .90 per 100,000, while for black youth it's 11.8 per 100,000.

Statistics from a 2018 FBI report shows that 16% of white victims were killed by Black attackers while 8% of Black victims had white attackers. However, in crimes in general, in 80% of the cases where the victim was white, the perpetrator was also white. When it came to Black victims, the perpetrator was Black in 89% of the cases. Among Black youth, 8 out of 10 deaths by gun were homicides. The majority of which were committed by another Black individual.

A 2016 study conducted by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine examined 812 deaths in 17 states from 2009 through 2012 which involved law enforcement. The study showed that white individuals were more likely to be the victim of a police shooting than not. In fact, whites represented 52% of the deaths. Black deaths by a law enforcement officer represented just 32.4%, making white deaths 2.8% higher than that of blacks.

It should be pointed out that in 83% of the time, the victim was armed when shot by law enforcement. Black victims, however, were most often reported to be unarmed---18.4%---of the time compared to white victims, who were unarmed just 9.4% of the time. In addition, the report mentioned that black males were killed by law enforcement 2.5 times more often than their white counterparts. Black females were killed at a rate of 1.4 times more often than white females.

Could this be part of the cultural issue Obama spoke of? There is no question that Hispanics tend to avoid law enforcement. Many come from countries that have a long history of brutal and corrupt law enforcement officials where rape, extortion, bribery, and even murder are not unknown. Asians too have a fear and distrust of law enforcement for much the same reasons. Of course, in both cases, language differences add another layer of mistrust.

For whites, it's different. Most police officers and law enforcement officials are white. In fact, 60% of police officers are white. Historically, that number has been much higher. Hispanics make up about 18.2% while 12.9% of  police officers are Black and just 3.3% are Asian. Native Americans make up only 1%.

 As an aside, the number of white officers has declined since roughly 2019 while Hispanic officers have increased slightly since 2020, which also marks the same point where the number of Black police officers started to decline. The number of Asian and Native American officers has remained consistent.  

It's worth pointing out that males comprise 83.2% of all police officers while females make up 16.8%. Also, female officers earn, on average, just 94 cents for every dollar her male counterpart earns. The average salary for a male officer is $54,340 and $51,038 for female officers.

But what about Black culture? Why do blacks have higher percentage of arrests and fatalities when it comes to their dealings with law enforcement? Are they just unlucky and get caught more readily? The short answer is "no". While Asians and Hispanics have keenly developed distrust of law enforcement, both cultures have a strong appreciation for authority and authority figures in general. The same can be said of whites.

All three groups were historically taught from a young age to respect and follow authority figures, which was often reinforced at home. It was common when I was growing up to seek out a police officer or fireman if you were lost or in trouble. Neighbors would watch out for trouble and thought nothing of calling your parents to rat you out if you did something wrong. Churches and other religious institutions were another source of reinforcing the concept of authority. Schools too practiced strong discipline and misbehavior of any sort wasn't tolerated. 

However, this same level of compliance toward authority seems to be missing within the Black community. What happened? Part of the reason is due to the fact that typically white, Asian, and Hispanic households included two parents, and often grandparents, aunts, uncles, and lots of kids! It wasn't uncommon for extended family to live nearby and often visited. So, there was at least a stable family life. 

In Black households, this wasn't always the case. In 2011, 72% of Black households consisted of single mothers. In 2016, 48% of all non-Black households were married while just 28% of Black households were. According to one telling statistic, in 1925 Harlem New York, 85% of Black households had two parents. By 1965, following the introduce of various welfare programs, out-of-wedlock births had increased 25% among Blacks.  

By 1991, that figure was 68%.  As of 2017, it was 77.3%, the most of any racial demographic. This meant that Black children were disproportionately growing up without a father figure in their lives. It also means that most had little adult supervision during critical stages in their lives. While schools and other institutions attempted to fill the gap, they are no substitute for the traditional two parent family.

39% of Black children do not live with their biological father. 28% have no male role model in their lives, compared to 15% of white children. 32% of Black fathers have never visited their biological children as opposed to 11% of white fathers. As a result, black children lack a key stabilizing factor in their lives.

As an aside, 50% of Blacks have never been married compared to 33% of all other racial groups. Black males, interestingly, were also more likely--15%---to marry non-black women compared to just 7% of Black women who married outside their race. 

It's also worth nothing that single parent households are quickly on the rise among Hispanic women in the United States despite a history where out-of-wedlock births carried a strong religious and societal stigma. In Latin America for instance, the trend is spreading in spite of its strong Catholic traditions. 84% of births in Columbia are out-of-wedlock. Mexico, Chile, and Argentina have similar percentages. However, this doesn't mean the absence of a father figure, which remains a key element in Hispanic culture. Meanwhile, this trend has yet to appear in the Asian community.

Another key factor contributing to gun violence among the Black community, especially as it relates to the police, is a toxic culture toward institutional authority in general, and toward law enforcement in particular. It can even be found in some of the music Black youth and young adults tend to listen to (mainly "gangsta rap") which often glorifies guns, drugs, rape, and murder, especially of police officers.

Certain rap performers also promotes what is termed as "savage" or extreme rude behavior toward authority figures. This is often reinforced through peer pressure, which can be quite powerful among teenagers. It can be seen in schools, in malls, neighborhoods and reinforced in movies and video games, while the media (mainstream and Black oriented) has been persistently promoting a subculture of entitlement or victimhood coupled with the creation of "identity politics", a term which developed out of a 1977 statement made by the Combahee River Collective, a black feminist lesbian socialist group.

Identity politics creates false sense of separateness as if one particular group stands uniquely alone with its problems and thus develops a "us vs. them" mentality which pits them against everyone else.  At the same time, the media has sought to create a corresponding culture of subservience, manufactured "guilt", willfully ignoring or excusing the "savage" behavior by other racial groups. The media also tends to underreport or downplay certain acts of violence or inappropriate behavior in order to create a false sense of normalcy. 

Former President Obama is correct in his assessment. The rise in deaths among Black youth, and indeed, the increase in Black related crime and violence, is indeed as cultural as it is racial or ideological. We essentially have two competing cultures which are, at their core, the product of fractured families, the result of the unintended failure of various government programs, and a taught sense of distrust of authority figures, which is reinforced through misguided media, plus a glorification of anti-social behavior and "political correctness". Even in public schools, academic achieving black students are often harassed verbally or physically for "acting white".

So, what does all this mean? It means that Blacks experience a higher rate of gun related deaths any other racial group. It also means they are more likely to be the victim of a crime where the perpetrator also happens to be Black as well. They are also more likely to be the victim of law enforcement related deaths than not, particularly if they're male. Percentage wise, they have highest number of individuals behind bars, largely based on drug or felony. The media has perpetuated a sense of persecution and entitlement while excusing anti-social behavior.

 Nevertheless, the issue of gun control is, at its heart, aimed at controlling the spread of gun related violence. On one hand, gun control advocates believe that by taking guns out of the hands of all citizens, criminals would also voluntarily surrender their guns or obtaining guns would be more difficult to acquire. The end result would be a reduction crime in general. They believe that the 2nd Amendment is outdated and/or misconstrued. By forgoing this unnecessary freedom, it would be a small price to pay in order to create a less violent society. A case of sacrificing one freedom for the greater good of all.

Those who are pro 2nd Amendment, however, believes that the greater good is best served by creating as few potential victims as possible. They argue that if more people are armed or has access to guns, criminals would go elsewhere. After all they point out, criminals are, at their core, cowards. They seek out the opportunities where they're most unlikely to get caught or get hurt. By equaling the odds, gun related violence would decline. They also believe, like the Founding Fathers, that government is not to be trusted.

There a substantial distrust of government on both sides of the political spectrum. In a 2022 Pew Report, only 22% of those polled said they trusted the government. When broken down by race, Asians trusted the government most with 37% as did 29% of Hispanics. Just 24% of Blacks had confidence in the government compared to only 16% of whites. Democrats and Liberals in general expressed the greatest amount of trust with 26% while only 7% Republicans and Conservatives did! Independents also polled at 29%.

Another indicator of the divide is a survey conducted by Quinnipiac University and published in the February 16, 2023 edition of The Hill. According to the poll, 62% of respondents said trusted the police in most or all cases to do the right thing, which may sound good until you look as the responses by race.

72% of whites surveyed said that had confidence in law enforcement to do what was right at least most of the time. 49% of Hispanics agreed (Hispanics are the second largest demographic in the U.S.). However, 66% of Blacks expressed little or no trust in the police to do what was right! Asian responses were too small to tabulate.

That 66% represents 40.1 million people or about 12.1% of our total population. That is a substantial amount, especially when we member that they are affected more by gun related deaths than any other group. They also make up 38.5% of the total prison population. Whites and Hispanics comprise 57.5%. Native Americans are 2.6% and Asians are 1.4%. Nevertheless, Blacks incarceration rates are statistically higher given the percentage of their total population.  

We have to find a balance between reducing gun related violence and protecting ourselves. We require gun registration, age requirements, and waiting periods. Certain types of ammunition and gun modification kits (such as "bump stocks") are already banned. Schools used to offer gun safety classes which have long been discontinued. Law enforcements provide gun safety locks free of charge for anyone who asks.

What else can we do? We can reintroduce gun safety classes for first time purchasers of firearms or require periodic gun safety recertification for all gun owners. This can readily be done through the NRA and Gun Owners of America. In many states, certification classes are required to obtain carry and conceal permits. However, some states have done away with those, citing an infringement of their 2nd Amendment rights.

Currently, there is no registration requirements, background checks, or licenses required to purchase used firearms. Obviously creating a perfect venue for criminals. Perhaps extending the same requirements to buy new firearms should be applied to purchasing used firearms.

Efforts are underway to allow individuals to sue gun manufacturers for a gun related death. That makes as much sense as suing a car manufacturer in death of someone killed or injured in a automobile accident or suing a knife maker for cutting your finger. It's a complete abrogation of personal responsibility in my opinion.

Meanwhile, respect for law enforcement and authority figures such as teachers needs to be reintroduce. It means removing the graphic violence seen in video games which conditions young minds to devalue life. It means moving away the focus on anti-social behavior by reintroducing a sense of respect and responsibility of one's own actions and ending the sense of entitlement.

Guns are essentially a tool. They can be used for a multitude of purposes, most are good but some aren't. Either way it's the intention of the user not the tool that is at fault regardless of their race, religion, or ethnic background. We can reduce accidental shootings by using common sense such as gun safety training and keeping them away from children. But removing guns from law abiding citizens will have no affect on those who intend on harming others. Criminals don't care a whit about laws or restrictions. In fact, I dare say that criminals are the biggest supporters of gun control.

 

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Police Officer Demographics and Statistics In The U.S.

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African-American Family Structure

The Origins of the 'Acting White' Charge

Public Trust in Government 1958 - 2022

Bureau of Prisons: Inmate Race

62 percent in new survey trust police to do what is right all or most of the time

Is It Just Black Lives that Matter?

Black Lives Matter. It's a message which seems to be recycled at nearly politically charged event involving black participants. We see and hear it at protests, demonstrations, and yes, even at often violent riots. The implication seems to be that blacks lives are thought of as not being worthy of the same level of respect that other lives---primarily white lives---are. Yet, the underlining message also seems to infer that only black lives matter. Case in point was the recent call by "Reverend" Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, a racist and Moslem organization, who recently called for 10,000 "volunteers" to arm themselves to go out and kill non-black individuals. Anyone else who would have publically said that as Farrakhan did would have immediately been arrested, or at least called out by the media for hatemongering but nope, not here.

The "New Black Panthers", a revised version of the 1970's Black Power group, is plainly a militant black organization comparable to groups like the Ku Klux Klan except they seem to be able in getting out their message without much backlash. On two occasions in 2008 they were able to prevent whites from voting in the Presidential election through the use of intimidation and threats of violence. The US Attorney General at the time, Eric Holder, refused to hear a legal argument regarding possible violations of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, citing that it pertained to minorities only and as such, whites weren't protected under this law. More recently, members of the NBP have openly called for the killing of whites. Other individuals and groups have targeted police officers in general, apparently not so much because of their race, but because of the recent incidents involving police officers (mostly white) and the shooting deaths of black individuals.

Historically, there have been numerous incidents going back decades where black individuals have been randomly stopped by police for allegedly "driving while black"; often claiming to be victims of racial profiling; charges which appear not to apply to other minorities such a Hispanics and Asians for some reason. Officers are rarely charged, claiming that they had detained individuals who either fit a description of a person of interests or that there was some sort of violation under the catchall "probable cause". I've often heard stories from black friends of mine about being stopped for no obvious reason, or of being instructed by their parents on how to respond should they be stopped and how they have lectured their own children and grandchildren.

The shooting deaths of individuals like Trayvon Martin (not shot by a police officer but by a so-called block watch captain during a scuffle) and extending to some high profile cases such as Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice to several less covered stories seems to be the basis for the latest upswing in protests and riots. In some cases, there was apparent justification by the police for

their actions such as assault, shot during the commission of a crime (like looting or robbery) while in other cases it was more ambiguous, while still in others it was simply incompetence or outright murder in my opinion. In a majority of the cases, the police officers involved were acquitted though some officers were tried and found guilty for their actions.

But I do want to add this---there is a very definite difference between protesting and looting, robbing, and vandalizing. Protesting is our right (for now). It's guaranteed under the Bill of Rights (again, for now). Is says we have the right to freedom of speech and the right to peacefully assemble. It does not say we have the "right" to steal and rob at random, or burn businesses or cars. It does not say we can throw Molotov Cocktails, rocks, bottles or anything else at the police, firefighters, or EMS. Nor does it give us the "right" to start impede traffic by standing in the middle of road, banging on cars or throwing rocks at passing vehicles. Doing any of this is not only stupid, but puts you directly in harm's way, for which no one other than yourself is solely to blame. You want to protest? Great. Just use some common sense and have some respect for others and their property. Now with that said, let's move on.

Interestingly, a Washington Times report from April 21, 2015, indicated that more whites were victims of police shootings than were blacks or other minorities, yet it has been the killing of blacks which has generated the most media coverage and outrage. A Washington Post article detailed that approximately 385 individuals have been killed nationally by police thus far in 2015. 80% of the victims were armed while 62 individuals were unarmed or had toy or nonlethal weapons (an additional 6 were undetermined). 92 of those killed were identified has having some form of mental illness. The report indicated that about half of the victims were white while the remainder were made up of mostly black and Hispanics with blacks being killed at a rate of three times that of whites or Hispanics. By the same token, 26 police officers have been killed in the line of duty so far in 2015; half of whom have been black officers. Ironically, more police officers die by suicide than are killed on duty.

This brings us to another question, rarely spoken out loud, which is on people's mind---are we on the verge of a race war? If you were to accept the media's interpretation of events, the answer may be a qualified yes. Certainly they tend to overemphasis the scope of what's actually happening, which in turns, fans the flames (in fact, there has been reports where the media's presence actually encourages the violence). Without a doubt, there are certain racists and domestic terrorists who would love to see the anarchy resulting from a race war. Perhaps believing their power would increase or that there would be little repercussions for their group. There is without a doubt a dramatic increase in black on white crime (including the so-called "knockout game", which appears to be nothing more than a hate crime directed against whites), although black on black crimes is also on the increase as is black on Hispanic crime. However, I think that, in truth, there are is a more sinister twist. There are those in the highest levels of power who seem to have an agenda in keeping Americans divided anyway they can (I'm not necessarily talking about politicians, but those who control the politicians and politics of this nation).

For them, a divided America keeps everyone at each other's throat and fighting amongst ourselves. That leaves them free to do tighten their grip on our freedoms. They've already been successful on implementing a neo-police state; usurping whole sections of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. They've been successful in destroying the power of unions and turning them into a tool to keep workers on production lines and off picket lines; of accepting less by working more. They have used the courts to turn corporations into "persons" except that they have more political and economic power than flesh and blood citizens. These same individuals have devastated the middle class and created a nation of economic serfs. They have been able to finance their greed off the backs of taxpayers.

They have hijacked our electoral system through gerrymandering and unlimited corporate finance of campaigns (thanks largely to Citizens United). They have turned this country from the democratic-republic of our Founding Fathers to an oligarchy, beholden to the 1% and their corporations.

As long as we're divided, we cannot effectively fight back and retake our country, and that's the idea. While there will always be those foolish or ignorant enough to follow along, personally I believe all lives matters. I have no time for hatemongering or those who subtly promote it. I think we need to tear down the barriers they have helped to create and come together as a nation so we can address the real problems facing America.


Muslim Leader Farrakhan calls for 10,000 Volunteers to 'Stalk' and 'Kill' White People
http://visiontoamerica.com/23713/muslim-leader-farrakhan-calls-for-10000-volunteers-to-stalk-and-kill-white-people/


New Black Panther Party Call for Mass killing of Whites People With Bombs
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/06/new-black-panther-party-calls-mass-killing-white-people-bombs/


Here's A Timeline Of Unarmed Black Men Killed By Police Over The Past Year
http://www.buzzfeed.com/nicholasquah/heres-a-timeline-of-unarmed-black-men-killed-by-police-over#.rr24r58v


Police kill more whites than blacks, but minority deaths generate more outrage
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/21/police-kill-more-whites-than-blacks-but-minority-d/?page=all


Fatal police shootings in 2015 approaching 400 nationwide
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fatal-police-shootings-in-2015-approaching-400-nationwide/2015/05/30/d322256a-058e-11e5-a428-c984eb077d4e_story.html


The number of police officers shot and killed is down this year
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/09/02/1417623/-To-be-clear-the-number-of-police-officers-shot-killed-is-down-this-year-and-1-2-killed-are-Black