Donald Trump Proposes Racist National Gun Control Program
Second Amendment supporters should reconsider their embrace of Donald J. Trump. The Republican presidential nominee has proposed a national gun control program -that would be both racist and unconstitutional.
On September 21, Trump called for the nationwide implementation of New York City’s controversial Stop and Frisk program. Stop and Frisk is an attempt to enforce the Sullivan Act; a New York State law that requires a permit to own a handgun. It works by having police officers pat down; or frisk, anybody on the street for a weapon regardless of whether they are suspected of a crime.
Trump Supports Racist and Unconstitutional Gun Control
The New York Civil Liberties Union labeled Stop and Frisk racist because around 83% of the five million people subjected to the procedure between 2002 and 2015 were black or Hispanic. Even though more than 50% of New York City’s population is belongs to other groups.
To make matters worse; 89% of those stopped and frisked were innocent, but every time the NYPD conducted the procedure an officer filled out a report that was entered into an electronic database. The idea behind Stop & Frisk is to prevent gun crimes.
Stop and Frisk is a direct violation of the Fourth and 14th Amendments to the US Constitution, U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin ruled on August 12, 2013, in a case called Floyd, et. al vs. The City of New York. Scheindlin labelled Stop and Frisk indirect racial profiling which violates the 14th Amendment’s equal protected clause. She also ruled that the policy of violating the Fourth Amendment’s ban on “unreasonable search and seizure.”
The city appealed Scheindlin’s ruling in Floyd, but withdrew from the appeal when Mayor Bill De Blasio; a staunch critic of Stop and Frisk took office. Since then the practice has apparently continued, under close watch by De Blasio. Police unions continue to resist the ruling; because it mandates the use of body cameras which they oppose, Newsweek reported.
Stop and Frisk could violate the Second Amendment
To make matters worse Stop & Frisk can be seen as a violation of the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. In the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Heller decision[1] the late Justice Antonin Scalia; a conservative icon, wrote that the Second Amendment gives citizens the right to own handguns for self-defense.
Stop & Frisk can be seen as a violation of that doctrine by depriving an entire class of citizens of their Second Amendment rights. Worse it can also be seen as racially motivated gun-control; by depriving men of color of their Second Amendment rights.
There is an ugly historical allusion to Stop and Frisk all Americans that care about law and freedom need to consider. It is the Reconstruction period after the Civil War; when the Ku Klux Klan and former Confederate soldiers systematically seized guns from African Americans, particularly Union Army veterans.[2] The purpose of the seizures was to deprive African Americans of the right to self-defense, and make them more vulnerable to Klan terrorism.
Why Second Amendment Supporters Need to Oppose Trump
“Stop-and-frisk is a very positive thing,” Trump said in an interview with Philadelphia TV station NBC 10 on September 4.
Like the former Confederates during Reconstruction; Trump claims blacks must be disarmed to prevent crime and protect whites. The racial overtones are ugly and the contempt for the Constitution frightening.
What is more disturbing is that The New York Times reported that the largely white audience erupted into applause after Trump’s Stop and Frisk announcement. Second Amendment supporters, libertarians, conservatives and believers in the Constitution should take note. Not only does Trump hold the Constitution in contempt; but a large segment of the American population and the Republican base seems to agree with him.
Is Trump Proposing Martial Law?
The most chilling aspect is that Trump is effectively proposing a suspension of basic constitutional rights in the name of public safety. Yet his supporters are applauding a plan to trample their rights. This should frighten everybody because Trump’s suggestion actually goes a lot farther than simple law enforcement as at least one critic has pointed out.
“The idea of creating a national stop-and-frisk policy is the equivalent of advancing martial law and is beyond the constitutional power of the presidency,” Marc H. Morial, president of the National Urban League, wrote in an email to The New York Times.
Constitutionalists and Second Amendment supporters need to take a close look at Donald Trump and his supporters. The Republican Party has nominated a man who is hostile to the whole concept of Constitutional Rights. Do you really want such a man nominating Antonin Scalia’s replacement on the U.S. Supreme Court?
Why Second Amendment Supports Should Vote Libertarian
Worse, it looks as if a large segment of Republicans would welcome national gun control; suspension of Constitutional rights, institutionalized racism and militarized law enforcement of the variety Mayor Bloomberg tried to impose on New York.
Organizations like the National Rifle Association need to take a hard look at the Republican Party and demand changes now. Members of such organizations need to press their leaders to challenge Trump; and tell him if you promote Stop & Frisk we will drop our support.
Persons who value the Second Amendment should consider voting for Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson. Johnson unlike Trump; and his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, is a strong supporter of the entire Constitution. Perhaps it is time for you to send the Republican Party a message; the Second Amendment is more important than winning the votes of soccer moms.
Trump’s embrace of Stop & Frisk proves that anti-gun hysteria and hostility to the Constitution exist on both sides of the political aisle. Second Amendment supporters need to realize that they are a small minority in America, and in the Republican Party. If they do not they might find their rights trampled by the man they voted for.
[1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/07-290.ZS.html
[2] For a good view of that policy see Douglas R. Egerton’s excellent book The Wars of Reconstruction: The Brief, Violent History of America’s Most Progressive Era available from Amazon and at public libraries.
