So here we are in 2013 and the civil rights struggle is showing a lot of progress, but the job is nowhere near done.
To wit we have these horrendous atrocities in the recent past:
Gay man murdered in West Village hate crime, suspect in custody. h/t by Dave in Northridge
Three teens raped a 12 year old girl at gunpoint and post video on Facebook. h/t SheLawyer
and, even though it has been over a year, who can forget about Trayvon Martin getting shot for "walking while black." h/t Black KOS
The above are all clear examples of civil rights violations.
And then we have stuff like this:
Another Toddler Dies. A 3-Year Old In Arizona Shoots Himself In The Face. h/t Leslie Salzillo
See even a proponent of
total confiscation/total ban sensible firearms regulations like me recognizes that, while this is about a fundamental right (you know, the right to live) and an absolute outrage - no doubt, but it is not about civil rights as the above examples are.
Enter our oppressed friends that are struggling to survive/live/make a living/express themselves/have equality keep from having any meaningful regulations on firearms and actually come up with gems like these:
"Yes, a civil right. No confusion. Right up there with treating everyone equally, regardless of colour, sexual orientation, creed, or gender." (in trying to explain how the right to bear arms is equal to civil rights)
and
"Two words: Selma, Alabama" (in response to someone asking how any firearms regulation is oppression)
There are many more, but this is not a callout diary. I just want to explore the difference between the right to keep and bear arms and civil rights as these are very different IMHO. Personally I find it very offensive that a person would compare real racism and discrimination (with the horrible consequences that those have brought for people like
Matthew Shepard h/t juls, and
MLK h/t ThisIsMyTime to name two examples) and a perceived oppression that people are out to get them (because many people believe there should be consistent national firearms regulations). One is real oppression and the other is paranoia - you decide which is which - especially when the very real struggles that people have given their life for are cheapened by comparing a perceived absolute right from the Second Amendment that - if one thing is clear - clearly does not mean the firearms regulations are in any way oppressing anyone. If we were proposing that firearms regulations only applied to white men (for example), there would definitely be an equal rights issue, but there is not - firearms regulations being proposed apply to all civilians in our country regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, or anything else.
Here's one definition from an online dictionary:
civil rights
pl.n.
The rights belonging to an individual by virtue of citizenship, especially the fundamental freedoms and privileges guaranteed by the 13th and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and by subsequent acts of Congress, including civil liberties, due process, equal protection of the laws, and freedom from discrimination.
adj. or civ·il-rights (svl-rts)
1. Of or relating to such rights or privileges: civil rights legislation.
2. Of or relating to a political movement, especially during the 1950s and 1960s, devoted to securing equal opportunity and treatment for members of minority groups.
Then we have the ACLU's History:
In the years following World War I, America was gripped by the fear that the Communist Revolution that had taken place in Russia would spread to the United States. As is often the case when fear outweighs rational debate, civil liberties paid the price. In November 1919 and January 1920, in what notoriously became known as the “Palmer Raids,” Attorney General Mitchell Palmer began rounding up and deporting so-called radicals. Thousands of people were arrested without warrants and without regard to constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure. Those arrested were brutally treated and held in horrible conditions.
In the face of these egregious civil liberties abuses, a small group of people decided to take a stand, and thus was born the American Civil Liberties Union.
The ACLU has evolved in the years since from this small group of idealists into the nation’s premier defender of the rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. With more than 500,000 members, nearly 200 staff attorneys, thousands of volunteer attorneys and offices throughout the nation, the ACLU of today continues to fight government abuse and to vigorously defend individual freedoms including speech and religion, a woman’s right to choose, the right to due process, citizens’ rights to privacy and much more. The ACLU stands up for these rights even when the cause is unpopular, and sometimes when nobody else will. While not always in agreement with us on every issue, Americans have come to count on the ACLU for its unyielding dedication to principle. The ACLU has become so ingrained in American society that it is hard to imagine an America without it.
not a definition, per se, but it gives a good sense of what civil rights are about.
Now before we start comparing rights I want to make one thing clear: I fully support the
Second Amendment and individual right to own firearms. That is in no way inconsistent with sensible regulations being proposed by so many like full criminal background checks (on every sale/transfer), limits on clips/magazines, licensing and registration (clearly registering existing firearms is just about impossible, but we can start registering all new ones or ones that change hands) and neither is wanting to amend the Second Amendment to clarify what it really means.
But seriously, comparing the right to have firearms (with virtually unlimited capacity and with no effective national regulation) to the most horrible and ugly struggle we have had - racists against equality - there are many others, to be sure, but to have them pick the struggle that is the biggest (of many) stain on our Country is unfathomable to me. Doubly galling since, as has been covered here before, the Second Amendment was Ratified to Preserve Slavery (h/t Richard Lyon).
So I want to open the floor for a discussion on how gun rights are (or are not) like civil rights and whether the oppression faced by gun owners is in any way similar to the struggle of:
Black Civil Rights Leaders
Women having equal rights
or
Marriage equality
note - all these are courtesy of the Daily KOS Front Page.
FINAL NOTE: There is one connection between civil right and guns in the three examples above the orange squiggly: All those civil rights violations were perpetrated with guns.