(ThyBlackMan.com) Another mass shooting and another round of heated debates between “gun safety” advocates and proponents of “Second Amendment rights”. But it’s not accurate to say that nothing ever happens on the issue of guns. Consider where we are now:
All 50 states allow carrying a concealed firearm
In 46 states a permit is required
31 states allow the “open carry” of firearms without a permit
4 states, Alaska, Arizona, Wyoming and Vermont require nothing at all for its residents to carry a firearm.
Since the Ronald Reagan era, “gun rights” advocates and the National Rifle Association (NRA) have been steadily expanding the availability of guns to the general population and the places where they can be carried. Last December, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 38 (aptly named for the ubiquitous .38 revolver I suppose) or the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. Announcing the largely party line vote for its passage, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said, “Concealed carry laws save lives.” Simply put, under 
provisions of this bill, people allowed to carry a gun anywhere in the United States would be allowed to carry a gun everywhere. Imagine that. So, in one of the four states that don’t have any requirements for carrying a gun for example, those people would be lawfully allowed to carry a gun in every major city and metropolitan area in the country.
Police Chiefs in virtually all of the country’s major cities have vehemently opposed this legislation. Chief Elected Officials, Mayors and County Executives, have been a bit more muted in their opposition; perhaps because they face election by some of these same “gun rights” advocates, or because of their reliance on their congressional delegations to bring home federal funds. But they have expressed their concerns nonetheless.
But where is the Congressional Black Caucus, whose communities have been ravaged by ongoing gun violence? Just a few weeks ago they stood behind the Democratic “leadership” loudly voicing their support to shut down the government to protect the “Dreamers”. Where are the NAACP and Urban League, whose constituency has been disproportionately affected by gun violence? Why have they been silent about the passage of H.R. 38? Where is the black media, educating the community about the dangerous precedent this bill would set allowing people from largely rural states, with little or no gun regulations, to carry guns in heavily regulated urban areas where the brothers and sisters cannot?
When nameless young black men are being gunned down in America’s cities every day scant attention is paid. But like the “opioid crisis”, when the people affected look like “mainstream” America, the politicians and the media are all over it. In a country that sees over 30,000 gun deaths every year, we all need to be speaking out against the epidemic of gun violence we face.
To be sure, gun ownership, for home or personal protection and recreational purposes, is well and good. But to have military grade weapons in the hands of the general populace is insane. To speak about mental health issues, like the president does when these mass shootings happen, but to take the opportunity as one of his very first acts in office to roll back an executive order by his predecessor that would have kept weapons out of the hands of people who were not mentally competent to handle their personal financial affairs is sheer hypocrisy.
Like so many other laws and policies being promulgated today, one of the major fixes lies in the ballot box. Until we change who is supposed to be “representing” us in the halls of local, state and federal legislatures, not only will nothing change, but things will keep changing for the worse.
Vote 2018.
Staff Writer; Harry D. Sewell
