Gun control, Emancipation, and Eugenics

[Hoi Polloi]

I recently watched a movie called Maafa 21. It is about the history of the eugenics movement and it says that white wealthy American elite used the eugenics movement as their response to the end of slavery out of their fear that the millions of slaves-turned-freemen would bankrupt the American economy and diminish their wealth. The movie details the political actions taken by this group of elite in order to preserve their wealth and the philosophical motivations behind their actions and it spans the period from the end of slavery through to present day.

I came home and told my husband about the movie because the direct connection between eugenics and the end of slavery was a real eye-opening piece of information I'd never learned before and my husband's response was that the end of slavery was also the beginning of gun control for the same exact reasons. Wow. I knew the history of the American eugenics movement from the 1920s forward, but it had never occurred to me that it started with emancipation and that realization made everything else in our political arena slide into place.

I also recently had a conversation with a forum member here who said, in my paraphrase, that he doesn't understand why so many political liberals are opposed to guns because he considers the right to keep and bear arms as a women's rights issue as guns really level the playing field between the sexes and empower women.

However, it would make perfect sense how come the same people are in favor of gun control as are in favor of other politically liberal ideas such as reproductive choice if they both have their foundation in the American eugenics movement led by the wealthy elite of both parties. Now I'm just fascinated with this topic and would like to read more.

Do you, forum members, have any information on the origins of the gun control movement arising out of the end of slavery, having its foundations in the eugenics movement, or other information regarding a small group of wealthy elite using it as a means of controlling the populace, especially the poor and the minorities, in order to protect their wealth and status? Maybe that isn't the history at all and you can share with me what it was instead. Whatever would shed light on this topic would be of great interest to me!

[seamusTX]

It is well known that "gun control" came into being to control free blacks, and to a lesser extent Indians. The first "gun control" laws were explicitly racist. Later the statutes themselves were made race-neutral, but they were enforced in a discriminatory manner. In other words, sober white people of the correct political affiliation were always "traveling" and not subject to weapons laws.

http://www.firearmsandliberty.com/cramer.racism.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.guncite.com/journals/cd-reg.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't know how this would tie into the eugenics movement, other than eugenics also being racist.

- Jim

[Oldgringo]

The Hoi Polloi's OP caused a little reading on the Oldgringo's part.

Like seamusTX I'm not sure how "gun control" ties into Eugenics; however, I did learn that the practice of "eugenics" could be applied racially, but it was not automatically racsist. A lot of things have happened in my three score and eight years. For instance; when my cousin Vinney and I were yoots in the 8th grade, there were only three races. Are there more now?

Is this "rascism" thinghy being overplayed and overworked? Is the word "race" being used when "ethnicity" is really the question/subject? I get so tired....

[Ashlar]

**edit, I see that SeamusTX already linked Clayton Cramer's excellent article.

Google "Black Codes"- brings up a lot of information about mostly southern states' reconstruction efforts to disarm newly freed (and frequently armed in the case of union soldiers) blacks.

In the late 1800's, in much of the west (most notably California), it was anti-chinese sentiment that led to discriminatory gun regulation.

In the early 1900's, the fear wasn't blacks, but immigrants, especially in the northeast. Xenophobic pandering is one of the reason for 1911's "Sullivan Act"- sicilian and napoli mobsters were displacing the irish and jewish mobs who put Sullivan in power.

January 27, 1905 New York Times Editorial -
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-fr ... 946497D6CF" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
{The proposed gun control} measure would prove corrective and salutary in a city filled with immigrants and evil communications, floating from the shores of Italy and Austria-Hungary. New York police reports frequently testify to the fact that the Italian and other south Continental gentry here are acquainted with the pocket pistol, and while drunk or merrymaking will use it quite as handily as the stiletto, and with more deadly effect. It is hoped that this treacherous and distinctly outlandish mode of settling disputes may not spread to corrupt the native good manners of the community.”

Other gun control laws passed in the 1920's had a lot to do with organized labor, and fear of communism (much of Europe's various gun control schemes come from that time as well.)

Fast forward to the late 1960's. Many states passed ordinances superficially about carrying guns 'during declared states of emergency'- see NC's 1968 law for an example. What they actually addressed were race tensions. The summit of this inanity is 1967's Mulford Act in CA, signed by then-governor Ronald Reagan. (This was the bill that the Black Panthers protested in the Capitol building, not the other way around as _some_ like to tell it.)

[Oldgringo]

Good post, Ashlar!

EDIT:

Great post!

[Texas Size 11]

Wow...I feel like I have been sent back to the classroom at school. Interesting post.

[Ashlar]

Good post, Ashlar!

Thanks! Another good read is the McDonald decision. There's a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo in there, but a heaping big dollop of history, too, since one of the core questions at hand was whether the framers of the 14th amendment considered the second amendment 'in scope' of the 14th's protections.

[Paladin]

...the Rockefeller family dynasty, who funded eugenic scientists decades before Hitler put eugenic theories into practice and who supported many of the leaders of the American Eugenics Society.

The Rockefellers' support for eugenics began early in the twentieth century, and included support for the Eugenics Record Office. In 1913 John D. Rockefeller, Jr. ("Junior") incorporated a group, which became a major force in supporting birth control clinics and played a pioneering role in the modern field of population studies.

http://www.catholicleague.org/printer.php?p=rer&id=118


Billionaire club in bid to curb overpopulation

SOME of America’s leading billionaires have met secretly to consider how their wealth could be used to slow the growth of the world’s population...

UN honours Bill and Melinda Gates with population award

[i8godzilla]

I have not seen Maafa 21, as such, I cannot comment much about eugenics and the emancipation of slaves in the United States. What I do know about eugenics is that much of the world abandoned the movement after WWII because of the relationship to Hitler's Nazi Germany. Whether or not this was a movement in the mid-1800s I do not know.

More to the point: You asked about the correlation between freeing the slaves in the United States and gun control. IMHO I do not believe the two are related. There is evidence of some forms of gun control prior to this. Some towns in the 'Old West' were gun free. You came to town and had to check your firearm. At the time, when two men "took it outside", they did so with guns on their side. Thus the reasons to require folks to disarm. Even before, there were places where you were required to disarm--courtrooms and churches come to mind.

The biggest control changes took place after 21st Amendment was ratified. (The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment. The 18th Amendment banned intoxicating liquors--Prohibition.) In 1934, Congress passed laws governing the sale of fully automatic weapons as a direct result of their common use among organized crime. Next, in 1938, Congress passed laws governing the sale of firearms by only licensed dealers. Numerous states passed various control measures both prior to and after the 1930s, however, the Federal government was mum on gun control until 1968. The Gun Control Act of 1968 set tighter limits on importation and licensing. This act also made it illegal for certain felons to own firearms. Congress also passed major controls in 1986, 1990, and 1994.

So, on a Federal level, I do not believe there was much in the way on gun control based on the ending of slavery.

To quote Dennis Miller, "That's just my opinion I could be wrong."

[Paladin]

I would also like to show there is a link between the U.N. who gives out awards for population control as well as being involved in gun control:

[Hoi Polloi]

I would also like to show there is a link between the U.N. who gives out awards for population control as well as being involved in gun control:

The movie specifically addresses how the UN is used to further the eugenics goals and why the UN is used. If we're talking the same people, of course they'd use the same successful ways for promoting different means of their same aim.

I'd forgotten that my husband had referenced the McDonald decision. I'm reading what's been posted so far and will add that to the list!

[seamusTX]

Like seamusTX I'm not sure how "gun control" ties into Eugenics; however, I did learn that the practice of "eugenics" could be applied racially, but it was not automatically racsist.

I can't argue with that, but eugenics has become so identified with the Nazis other white supremacists that the association has to be dealt with. Black legislators did not pass the anti-miscegenation laws or formulate the "one drop" rule.

Is this "rascism" thinghy being overplayed and overworked?

Maybe, at the moment. I can't imagine why.

But ignoring the problem does not make it go away.

Is the word "race" being used when "ethnicity" is really the question/subject?

No. You can't tell whether someone is Norwegian or Swedish by looking, nor Hutu or Tutsi.

Race is a curious concept. It cannot be defined objectively, but everyone knows what it means.

Nods to Ashlar and Paladin. I would also like to point out that eugenics and its current-day incarnation as population control always means limiting the number of children that other people have. Preferably people who live in other countries. Very few people will say that their own family is too large, and those who do have severe emotional problems or a warped sense of humor.

- Jim

[terryg]

Wow, this all great reading. Thanks to the OP and subsequents posters ...

[Oldgringo]

seamusTX wrote:

...I would also like to point out that eugenics and its current-day incarnation as population control always means limiting the number of children that other people have....

Is population control a bad thing?

[seamusTX]

Is population control a bad thing?

How far off topic are we allowed to get?

Controlling the personal lives of individuals for goals set by the ruling class is always and everywhere a bad thing.

Providing information for making informed decisions is not.

BTW, it has been proved time and again that the best way to limit family size is to educate girls. After that, cheap, effective means of reducing infant mortality, such as vaccination and mosquito nets.

- Jim