Pro-Gun, Pro-Background Check - Contradiction - no

This will be a short piece written out of boredom.

I have written about my views on guns in several pieces in my gallery but this came from a discussion that I had with a man earlier… he takes the 2nd amendment a bit differently than I.

He considers himself a “strict constitutionalist” and believe a background check is an infringement on the right of the people to keep and bear arms. According to this guy, as long as you are a US citizen you should be able to buy a firearm and the “only” thing you should have to prove is that you are a citizen.

I, of course, differ in this view. While in the several pieces I have written I have said that I am against gun and ammo bans  - I also am a huge supporter of background checks.

While there are several people who are not allowed to own a gun for good reason – if you have been convicted of rape, child abuse, etc you are usually not allowed to own a firearm…

While insane, if you are on the terrorist watch list, you cannot get on an airplane but… you can go buy all the firearms you want, why? No clue.

Anyway, I do not believe it is a contradiction for someone to be both pro-gun and support background checks. I think I have said it before that I come from a huge military and law enforcement family - - plenty of military people in every branch, many Police Officers in many states.. and even my conservative relatives have no issue with background checks.

Nor do I think, it is a violation of the 2nd amendment to have background checks.

Though I admit this guy seemed a bit ..off - - but he kept engaging me for nearly 30 mins and his page had all of the usual anti-government this and that.

I admit, if you are pro-gun because you think one day you will have to go against the US military in some ultimate fight!!! .. um .. okay have fun with that.

He is also of the view that “any regulation” is a violation of the 2nd amendment even though the text itself says well-regulated … and of course the militias at the time of the Founding Fathers were indeed, well regulated ..

I mostly enjoy target shooting – either still targets, or running a course and shooting at targets as they pop out [been a while since I did this one since none of these type of courses in the NYC area]

yes, yes I know for the pro gun people that read my stuff.. NYC is not the best place if you like guns… that perhaps might be an understatement given the 1911 Sullivan Act.. .given the 2013 NY SAFE ACT and the

What got you into guns?
I was also asked this after my conversation with them man above - -

As I have already said above, my family, especially on my father’s side are overwhelmingly and for the most part all military and law enforcement so since I was young, around six my father, uncles and other relatives started teaching me proper gun safety and use. So I have never shied around firearms … since I was young was taught fire arms and also taught me the use of bows and arrows, throwing knives.. so I have always been into weaponry or varying types.


Dred Scott v Sanford decision, which my uncle actually had me read in my early teens the entire decision but a part that always stuck out to me, though ethnically mixed [Russian, German, Irish, Native American- Cherokee, Jewish and African-American] though appearing as a Black man and generally referring to myself as such.. .anyway, the part that stuck out to me is even in their claiming that Dred Scott was not a citizen, the right to gun ownership was one of the things they explicitly chose to cite as a “right” that he did not have unless he was a citizen.

In the decision, which can be read in full here:
www.law.cornell.edu/supremecou…
“It would give to persons of the negro race, who were recognised as citizens in any one State of the Union, the right to enter every other State whenever they pleased, singly or in companies, without pass or passport, and without obstruction, to sojourn there as long as they pleased, to go where they pleased at every hour of the day or night without molestation, unless they committed some violation of law for which a white man would be punished; and it would give them the full liberty of speech in public and in private upon all subjects upon which its own citizens might speak; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went. And all of this would be done in the face of the subject race of the same color, both free and slaves, and inevitably producing discontent and insubordination among them, and endangering the peace and safety of the State.”


I let a friend read this, a friend who is considering getting a Lifetime NRA membership for herself…
Do you think the NRA is a great group?
This is a very broad question, I would say I agree with many of the actual NRA members, though disagree greatly with those that are on the board of the NRA.

If you ask most NRA members should people get a background check – most of the members say no – Wayne LaPierre used to be for this a decade ago and now he seems to be against this.

I also, am not ignorant of the NRA and blacks in the South. I make no secret that I am a fan of Robert F. Williams, Williams was a man that when he returned home from the war… that he saw how the Ku Klux Klan was beating people up, lynching people and in the South most of the gun dealers and clubs literally considered themselves private “clubs” – they did this because a private club can refuse any member they want – which generally meant they refused blacks, liberals etc..

Williams thanks to the National Rifle Association was able to obtain an NRA Charter and was able start his own gun club, which allowed him to train blacks in weaponry to protect the local Black people who were falling victim to the Ku Klux Klan  - - So, if someone wants to get a lifetime or membership for themselves, have it. That is not a choice for me to make or anyone else.. it is a choice for you.


I am unsure what else to add since I had originally wanted to write a short piece saying that one can be both pro-gun and pro-background checks and that is not a contradiction