Posted on 5/8/2008, 2:19:21 PM by NewJerseyJoe
About 90 percent of the people shot in the city last year were African-American. While figures are unavailable, it is assumed by most that close to 100 percent of the perpetrators of these shootings were African-American.
Almost all the firearms used in these shootings were obtained, possessed and carried illegally by those who perpetrated the shootings. If, as is constantly claimed, we MUST DO SOMETHING to stop this violence, then why not ban African-American residents of the city from owning handguns?
The answer is that that is patently unfair and discriminatory. To judge an entire group as a problem and punish all members of that group, irrespective of their individual actions, is unconscionable.
Yet, it's deemed perfectly acceptable to discriminate against one particular group - gun owners.
Let's just tell the truth. The instant Mayor Nutter gets the right to pass gun laws for Philly, it will become a practical impossibility to own a handgun or any other weapon the city deems "inappropriate."
I've done nothing wrong, but my rights are to be removed step-by-step because others - entirely outside the law - are using guns feloniously. How is this any less outrageous a suggestion than that black people shouldn't be allowed to have guns?
J.F. Wolfington, Philadelphia
Excellent argument. I couldn’t agree more.
I find it perversly interesting that so many major cities which have strict gun controls have large Black populations and Black Mayors/City Councils and are one party, (Democrat) cities.
I think one reason why many think it’s OK to discriminate against gun owners, is that they choose to be gun owners, while humans do not have a choice in their ethnicity.
Humans also have the capacity to decide whether to behave in a civil manner or not. Clearly, not all humans are up to the task.
I agree. I was responding to the question about discrimination against groups.
“while humans do not have a choice in their ethnicity.”
Yes they can... since we have “choice” in this country, they can choose “none of the the above”.
??? Choice in our parents?
Michael Jackson chose his color :)
“??? Choice in our parents?”
No, the parents choice not to have the offspring at all...
If the weapons used were obtained illegally, what good would another law do?
We cannot stop crime by creating new laws. We must eliminate unwarranted and unnecessary laws, pare down the books, and use the remaining laws to their fullest.
Drug lords and transporters should not go to jail, they should die. Drug users should he held until clean, only, and then be put under the direction of a drug enforcement unit to correct their lives.
Guns are not the problem here, wasted useless lives are. These people need a feeling of self worth, without fear, and the ability to trust, not hate, one another.
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I think one reason why many think it’s OK to discriminate against gun owners, is that they choose to be gun owners, while humans do not have a choice in their ethnicity.
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In allowing this argument we allow that human rights can be different depending upon ethnic or other factors. Of course that is sophistry, for all humans have unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Indeed, there is a whole spectrum of rights we retain only some of which were enumerated in the Bill of Rights.
I may not have a choice over my skin color, but for example, I have a right to express my opinion, which I have full control over, and which does not depend on my appearance. When I don’t express myself, it does not diminish my right to do so when I please.
Likewise, I have the right to self defense, and the right to defend my family and community. To deny me the right to own and use the means to effect that right would be like saying I have the right to a free press, but the ownership and use of equipment to print newspapers is only to be granted to a limited number of specially trained government employees.
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If the weapons used were obtained illegally, what good would another law do?
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We would then fall back to relying on the laws against murder and assault to stop these crimes.
Dayum!
That's nothing new, certainly not to me and many long time residents of Philadelphia, and has been going on at least since the late fifties. It won't be changing there for years to come and will continue to get worse. Philly is and has been for many years now, a lost cause.
Bump.
Skin color is just a correlation to the real problem - CULTURE.
You can choose to change your value system.
Undeniable truth about liberalism, #1: Liberalism is about using force to make the innocent pay for the consequences of the guilty's choices.
That’s what you meant by ‘none of the above’?
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