Not helpless

Robert VerBruggen has a superb Civil Rights 101 column over at National Review:

…in the process of making their arguments, both opinions emphasize the racial history of the Fourteenth Amendment — the story of the post–Civil War South and the federal government’s crusade to ensure fair treatment for blacks therein.

The heart of the problem was that, in an effort to stave off rebellion and maintain the racial caste structure that had developed under slavery, state and local governments refused to respect freedmen’sconstitutional rights. Crucial to the South’s efforts were gun-control laws that applied to blacks and blacks alone.

…when a government has the ability to forbid gun ownership, it has the ability to render groups it dislikes helpless to defend themselves. Regardless of whether modern gun control accomplishes its purpose of reducing crime — and for the record, there is no evidence it does — a free society should fear a government with such power.

You may read the McDonald v. Chicago decision here, and the justice’s opinions here. But perhaps only after reading VerBruggen’s piece.