An easy to read short article about the importance of the 2nd Amendment in the Civil Rights Era.

Quote:When the campus of Tougaloo College was fired on by KKK-type racial night-riders, my home was shot up and a bullet missed my infant daughter by inches. We received no help from the Justice Department and we guarded our campus — faculty and students together — on that and subsequent occasions. We let this be known. The racist attacks slackened considerably. Night-riders are cowardly people — in any time and place — and they take advantage of fear and weakness.

http://volokh.com/2010/02/08/how-the-rig...rotesters/

didn't it also hurt in the fact that the KKK could have guns too?

(02-09-2010 09:51 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  didn't it also hurt in the fact that the KKK could have guns too?

By definition, criminals don't obey laws.

The KKK probably would have had guns regardless. The 2nd amendment made it a straightforward thing that the innocent could meet the lawless on fair terms.

I once had dinner with the guy who drove Fred Shuttlesworth around Birmingham in the early 60s. At some point in the conversation, I asked him if he'd ever feared for his own safety. He said no. I said, "Really? How did you manage that, given that Reverend Fred had had not one, but two houses blown up, and a constant stream of threats of violence?"

He said, "I had the grace of God in my heart, and a .357 in my coat pocket."

(02-09-2010 10:39 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  

(02-09-2010 09:51 AM)flyingswoosh Wrote:  didn't it also hurt in the fact that the KKK could have guns too?

By definition, criminals don't obey laws.

The KKK probably would have had guns regardless. The 2nd amendment made it a straightforward thing that the innocent could meet the lawless on fair terms.

i can agree with that.

and for the record i'm pro-2nd amendment, i was just curious about the semantics