The Right to Bear Arms

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled in Parker v. District of Columbia that the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment means more than membership in a militia as a condition precedent to possession of a firearm. The District of Columbia had a long-standing ban against possessing a handgun in a home.

Only one other federal appeals court shares this view. The prevalent view is that the right to bear arms is limited to membership in an organized military body. This ruling holds that although the District may regulate the possession of firearms, it may not ban their presence in homes.

The Supreme Court has never given a definitive ruling on the Second Amendment. The Supreme Court may have more trouble with the rationale for the Second Amendment that its language. The “founding fathers” were opposed to standing armies. Therefore, the citizens are required to maintain a well-regulated militia.

A standing army is defined under the Second Amendment to embrace the New York Police Department. It was believed that a standing army was a threat to the welfare of the citizens. This is currently the reality in New York City. Blacks have no relief against the current abuses of the NYPD. This breach provides a golden opportunity for leading Blacks to perform as double agents.

By 1702, the colonial assembly in New York had enacted comprehensive laws stripping Blacks of any right of self-defense against a white person. These laws have survived to the present day but, facially, the restrictions only apply when a policeman assaults a Black person.

As was seen recently, in Howard Beach, a white person may attempt to stab a white policemen without fear of loss of life or limb. Armed policemen never sought to shoot the white assailant who may have been exercising the right of self-defense.

According to the white media, the central question in the assassination of Sean Bell and the critical wounding of Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield is whether the law enforcement officials identified themselves before they used a public street as a shooting gallery and endangering innocent lives

Under the state’s no-sock law, the Black victims had no right to resist the police confrontation especially if they were aware that the assailants were law enforcement officials. This is only one example of the penal laws in New York, rooted in slavery, and still enforced against persons of African ancestry.

Although the right to the equal protection of the laws was not mentioned in the Second Amendment, it was widely understood that political liberties came out of the barrel of a gun. The gun enjoys a constitutional protection after private property.

After the Civil War, Congress first secured ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment. A year later, it passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Blacks were unable to get Congress to undo the ruling in Dred Scott. They sought a constitutional amendment.

In the meantime, Congress wanted Black men, who had fought for the Union, to give up their weapons. The Black soldiers balked. Congress sweetened the pie by representing that Uncle Sam would protect former enslaved Africans under a constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the laws.

This became the first exchange program for guns. When the federal government secured the weapons, it immediately started suffering from amnesia. Guns, in hands of Black men, would give them rights equal to white men.

The Ku Klux Klan was established in a law office in Pulaski, TN in 1866. Blacks were also lured into believing that they would enjoy permanent voting and political rights. Once the reign of terror commenced, Uncle Sam enlisted in the KKK.

Robert Williams would step into the fray in the 1950’s. He was president of the Monroe, NC Chapter of the NAACP. When the KKK sought to flex its muscle in Union County, Williams fought “fire with fire.” He urged Blacks to arm themselves to the teeth. They did. Since the NAACP does not believe in self-defense for Blacks, it repudiated Williams who was compelled to flee, with his family, to Cuba and China for eight years.

As a child, he witnessed Police Officer Jesse Helms Sr. fatally beat a Black man. He defended two young Black boys accused of kissing a white girl. They were imprisoned. When freedom riders reached Monroe, he engaged in armed stand offs with the police. J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI signed an arrest warrant against Williams. His stance would predate the Black Panther Party.

Williams made his transition in Michigan in 1996. Rosa Parks spoke at his funeral and spoke about the admiration that Blacks in Montgomery had for him. His wife, Mabel Williams, stood by his side since their marriage in 1947. She still resides in Michigan and was by his side in Cuba and China.