Watch out for “Those Other People!”

Watch out for “Those Other People!”
by Jeff Knox

Gun control is all about fear of “those other people.” Responsible, law-abiding voters who know gun owners − and even some gun owners themselves − have allowed the dismantling of liberty all based on what “those other people” might do. The conversation typically begins with a statement of support for gun rights and gun owners, followed as inevitably as night follows day with the “but.” “But,” the speaker opines as to how they believe that some “reasonable” restrictions are needed because, while “you and I” are responsible, law-abiding citizens, there are “those others” who need closer scrutiny and control.

Throughout history fear of “those other people” has lead free people to forge their own chains. It’s a twist on the old parable of the frogs in the slowly warming pot of water, not noticing that they are being cooked until it’s too late. But it turns out that the frogs in the pot are themselves adding fuel to the fire in the name of defense against “those other people.”

At various time in America’s historic drift toward gun control “those other people” have been Blacks, Irish, Italians, Eastern Europeans, Jews, Communists, racists, anarchists, Hispanics, illegal aliens, Muslims, radical Christians, military veterans, union organizers, gun nuts…Virtually any group imaginable has been pointed to as the threat that justifies the latest scheme to limit liberty.

The early days of our Republic saw unrest leading to the Alien and Sedition Acts, but it was Black Freemen in the years leading up to and after the Civil War that became the original excuse for gun control laws. In the infamous Dred Scott decision, Justice Taney, writing for the Court majority declared that Scott, who was trying to sue for his freedom, did not have standing to file the suit because he was not a US Citizen. Taney went on to explain that Blacks could not be citizens because citizenship would give them rights to “go where they pleased at every hour of the day or night without molestation, […] and it would give them the full liberty of speech in public and in private […]; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went.” And that would obviously be a terrible thing because there’s just no telling what “those people” might do with so much liberty.

The 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution changed the game by declaring that Blacks were indeed citizens entitled to all of the privileges and immunities of citizenship. That meant that the only way to keep guns and other dangerous liberties away from Blacks was to pass laws restricting those liberties from all citizens. Gun control laws were among the first Jim Crow laws passed and remain as one of the last vestiges of that racist system.

The original gun laws were enacted with a nod and a wink to upstanding White citizens and were very selectively enforced to only impact “those other people.” The Supreme Court did its part with decisions like the Slaughterhouse cases and Cruickshank which gutted the 14th amendment and stripped rights enumerated in the Constitution from all citizens leaving them at the mercy of their local governments with no recourse to federal law or authority.

Meanwhile in the North, “those other people” were “anarchists” − a code word for European immigrants who the wider society saw as low class and often criminal. The KKK, a major political force within the Democrat Party, widely promoted gun control as one of their leading and most successful initiatives. Many states, both North and South, adopted the KKK’s Permit to Purchase scheme requiring prospective gun buyers to first obtain permission from local authorities. Permission was, and in some places still is, routinely denied to the “lower classes” and other “undesirables” while middle and upper class White folks have no trouble.

Concealed carry permits are similarly doled out in “may issue” jurisdictions, or the law prohibiting concealed weapons may be enforced selectively. During the debate over Arizona’s concealed carry permit system a high-ranking law enforcement official sidled up to a pro-rights lobbyist and asked him why he was going to all this trouble. “After all, you’re white and wear a tie.” In other words, our lobbyist wasn’t one of “those other people.”

The issue of “those other people” shows no sign of going away. The hottest “gun control” idea these days is to “close the gun show loophole,” that is, insert government bureaucracy into private gun trades. It’s dangerous because on the surface, it can seem so reasonable. People who think they support the Second Amendment know that the vast majority of gun show transactions are above-board, but they worry about illegal aliens, bikers, gangsters and all “those other people.”

Another scheme that has gotten traction this year is the idea of banning sales of guns to people on the “No Fly” and “Terrorist Watch” lists. Surely you don’t want “those people,” Muslim militants, who can’t fly to be able to buy guns. It sounds so reasonable until you consider that the process of who, how, and why names are added to the No-Fly and Terrorist Watch lists of “those other people” is a government secret. It’s also well to keep in mind that to the politicians and bureaucrats who control the lists, “those other people” are you and me: conservatives, libertarians constitutionalists, proponents of smaller government, opponents of abortion, patriots, flag wavers, and all those millions of responsible, law-abiding, heavily armed “gun nuts” with their military looking guns and high-powered “sniper” (previously known as “hunting”) rifles.

To paraphrase that great philosopher Pogo: “We have met those other people and they is us!”

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©Copyright 2008 Neal Knox Associates