While Gun Violence Continues to Destroy Our Communities, Where’s Our Resolve to End It?

Friday, April 22, 2005 at 02:00PM
TheSpook

Having just wrapped up its annual convention in Houston, the National Rifle Association has reaffirmed its wisdom in naming me, among hundreds, to its “blacklist” – a designation reserved for gun control advocates. Actually, I belong in a special category because the gun control I propose would be total and absolute. Under my plan, the number of Americans with legal possession of guns would be reduced to a few thousand, if that. The truth is, I despise the guns and, increasingly, the people who defend their accessibility. Not even the “just for hunting” and “just for sport” arguments sway me. As a citizen of the most homicidal country on the planet –- and, not coincidentally, the highest per capita ownership of firearms –- how can I justify the human tragedies as a fair trade-off for the right to stalk game or shoot at targets? No doubt, my blackness has only intensified my resolve. In my community, gun violence is the number-one killer of 15- to 24-year-olds, mainly males. In effect, gun violence is helping wipe out posterity. It’s another strike against the number of free, healthy and hopeful young black males -– half of the equation that makes the future of the black family a win or lose proposition. [more]

Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).