Racist Gun Control Laws, Statues and Ordinances

"Prohibiting negroes, slave and free, from carrying

weapons including clubs." (The Los Angeles Times, "To

Fight Crime, Some Blacks Attack Gun Control," January

19, 1992)

"That all such free

Mulattoes, Negroes and Indians...shall appear without

arms." [7 The Statues at Large; Being a Collection of

all the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of

the Legislature, in the Year 1619, p. 95 (W.W. Henning

ed. 1823).] (GMU CR LJ, p. 67)

"An Act for Preventing

Negroes Insurrections." (Henning, p. 481) (GMU CR LJ,

p. 70)

"An act for the better

ordering and governing of Negroes and slaves." [7

Statutes at Large of South Carolina, p. 353-54 (D.J.

McCord ed. 1836-1873).] (GMU CR LJ, p. 70)

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to

the security of a free State, the right of the people

to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Uniform Militia Act of 1792 "called for the enrollment

of every free, able-bodied white male citizen between

the ages of eighteen and forty-five" to be in the

militia, and specified that every militia member was

to "provide himself with a musket or firelock, a

bayonet, and ammunition." [1 Stat. 271 (Georgetown Law

Journal, Vol. 80, No. 2, "The Second Amendment:

Toward an Afro-Americanist Reconsideration," Robert

Cottrol and Raymond Diamond, 1991, p. 331)]

Black

Code, ch. 33, Sec. 19, Laws of La. 150, 160 (1806)

provided that a slave was denied the use of firearms

and all other offensive weapons. (GLJ, p. 337)

Act of April 8, 1811, ch.

14, 1811 Laws of La. 50, 53-54, forbade sale or

delivery of firearms to slaves. (Id.)

Act of Dec. 18, 1819, 1819 Acts of S.C. 28, 31,

prohibited slaves outside the company of whites or

without written permission from their master from

using or carrying firearms unless they were hunting or

guarding the master's plantation. (Id.)

"An Act to Govern Patrols," 1825 Acts of

Fla. 52, 55 - Section 8 provided that white citizen

patrols "shall enter into all negro houses and

suspected places, and search for arms and other

offensive or improper weapons, and may lawfully seize

and take away all such arms, weapons, and

ammunition...." Section 9 provided that a slave might

carry a firearm under this statute either by means of

the weekly renewable license or if "in the presence of

some white person." (Id.)

Act of Nov. 17, 1828 Sec. 9, 1828 Fla. Laws 174, 177;

Act of Jan. 12, 1828, Sec. 9, 1827 Fla. Laws 97, 100

- Florida went back and forth on the question of

licenses for free blacks; twice in 1828, Florida

enacted provisions providing for free blacks to carry

and use firearms upon obtaining a license from a

justice of the peace. (Id.)

Act of Jan. 1831, 1831 Fla.

Laws 30 - Florida repealed all provision for firearm

licenses for free blacks. (Id. p. 337-38)

In the December 1831 legislative session, Delaware

required free blacks desiring to carry firearms to

obtain a license from a justice of the peace.

[(Herbert Aptheker, Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion, p.

74-75 (1966).] (GLJ, p. 338)

In the December 1831

legislative session, Maryland entirely prohibited free

blacks from carrying arms. (Aptheker, p. 75) (Id., p.

338)

In the December 1831

legislative session, Virginia entirely prohibited free

blacks from carrying arms. (Aptheker, p. 81) (Id., p.

338)

Act of Feb. 17, 1833, ch. 671, Sec. 15,

17, 1833 Fla. Laws 26, 29 authorized white citizen

patrols to seize arms found in the homes of slaves and

free blacks, and provided that blacks without a proper

explanation for the presence of the firearms be

summarily punished, without benefit of a judicial

tribunal. (Id. p. 338)

Act of Dec. 23, 1833, Sec.

7, 1833 Ga. Laws 226, 228 declared that "it shall not

be lawful for any free person of colour in this state,

to own, use, or carry fire arms of any description

whatever." (Id.)

Act of Feb. 25, 1840, no.

20, Sec. 1, 1840 Acts of Fla. 22-23 made sale or

delivery of firearms to slaves forbidden. (Id. p. 337)

"An Act Concerning

Slaves," Sec. 6, 1840 Laws of Tex. 171, 172, ch. 58

of the Texas Acts of 1850 prohibited slaves from using

firearms altogether from 1842-1850. (Journal of

Criminal Law and Criminology, Northwestern University,

Vol. 85, No. 3, "Gun Control and Economic

Discrimination: The Melting-Point Case-In-Point," T.

Markus Funk, 1995, p. 797)

In State v. Newsom, 27 N.C. 250 (1844), the

Supreme Court of North Carolina upheld a Slave Code

law prohibiting free blacks from carrying firearms on

the grounds that they were not citizens. (GMU CR LJ,

p. 70)

Act of Jan. 1, 1845, ch.

87, Sec. 1, 2, 1845 Acts of N.C. 124 made sale or

delivery of firearms to slaves forbidden. (GLJ, p.

337)

Act of Jan. 6, 1847, ch. 87 Sec. 11,

1846 Fla. Laws 42, 44 provided that white citizen

patrols might search the homes of blacks, both free

and slave and confiscate arms held therein. (Id. p.

338)

In Cooper v. Savannah, 4 Ga. 68, 72 (1848),

the Georgia Supreme Court ruled "free persons of color

have never been recognized here as citizens; they are

not entitled to bear arms, vote for members of the

legislature, or to hold any civil office." (GMU CR LJ,

p. 70)

Act of Mar. 15, 1852, ch.

206, 1852 Laws of Miss. 328 forbade ownership of

firearms by both free blacks and slaves. (JCLC NWU,

p. 797)

U.S. Supreme

Court held that descendants of Africans who were

imported into this country and sold as slaves were not

included nor intended to be included under the word

"citizens" in the Constitution, whether emancipated or

not, and remained without rights or privileges except

such as those which the government might grant them,

thereby upholding slavery.

Act of Dec. 19, 1860, no.

64, Sec. 1, 1860 Acts of Ga. 561 forbade sale or

delivery of firearms to slaves. (GLJ, p. 337)

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United States Emancipation Proclamation -- President Lincoln issued

proclamation "freeing all slaves in areas still in

rebellion."

Mississippi Statute of 1865 prohibited

blacks, not in the military "and not licensed so to do

by the board of police of his or her county" from

keeping or carrying "fire-arms of any kind, or any

ammunition, dirk or bowie knife." [reprinted in 1

Documentary History of Reconstruction: Political,

Military, Social, Religious, Educational and

Industrial, 1865 to the Present Time, p. 291, (Walter

L. Fleming, ed., 1960.)] (GLJ, p. 344)

Louisiana Statute of

1865

prohibited blacks, not in the military service, from

"carrying fire-arms, or any kind of weapons...without

the special permission of his employers, approved and

indorsed by the nearest and most convenient chief of

patrol." (Fleming, p. 280)(GLJ, p. 344)

13th

Amendment abolishing slavery was ratified. Reads:

"Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,

except as a punishment for crime whereof the party

shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the

United States, or in any place subject to their

jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power

to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."

Black Code of Alabama in

January 1866 prohibited blacks to own or carry

firearms or other deadly weapons and prohibited "any

person to sell, give, or lend fire-arms or ammunition

of any description whatever" to any black. [The

Reconstruction Amendments' Debates, p. 209, (Alfred

Avins ed., 1967)] (GLJ, p. 345)

North

Carolina Black Code, ch. 40, 1866 N.C. Sess. Laws 99

stated "All persons of color who are now inhabitants

of this state shall be entitled to the same

privileges, and are subject to the same burdens and

disabilities, as by the laws of the state were

conferred on, or were attached to, free persons of

color, prior to the ordinance of emancipation, except

as the same may be changed by law." (Avins, p. 291.)

(GLJ, p. 344)

CRA of 1866 did away

with badges of slavery embodied in the "Black Codes,"

including those provisions which "prohibit any negro

or mulatto from having fire-arms." [CONG. GLOBE, 39th

Congress, 1st Session, pt. 1, 474 (29 Jan. 1866)

Purpose was to terrorize blacks

who voted; temporarily disbanded in 1871;

reestablished in 1915. 

Report noted with particular emphasis that under

the Black Codes, blacks were "forbidden to own or bear

firearms, and thus were rendered defenseless against

assaults." (Reprinted in H. Hyman, The Radical

Republicans and Reconstruction, p. 219, 1967.) (GMU CR

LJ, p. 71)

Reads, in part:

"Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the

United States, and subject to the jurisdiction

thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the

State wherein they reside. No state shall make or

enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or

immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall

any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or

property, without due process of law; nor deny to any

person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of

the laws.

In the first legislative session in which they

gained control, white supremacists passed "An Act to

Preserve the Peace and Prevent Homicide," which banned

the sale of all handguns except the expensive "Army

and Navy model handgun" which whites already owned or

could afford to buy, and blacks could not.

A report on violence in the South

resulted in an anti-KKK bill that stated "That whoever

shall, without due process of law, by violence,

intimidation, or threats, take away or deprive any

citizen of the United States of any arms or weapons he

may have in his house or possession for the defense of

his person, family, or property, shall be deemed

guilty of a larceny thereof, and be punished as

provided in this act for a felony."

In United States v. Cruikshank, 92

U.S. at 548-59 (1875) A member of the KKK, Cruikshank

had been charged with violating the rights of two

black men to peaceably assemble and to bear arms. The

U.S. Supreme Court held that the federal government

had no power to protect citizens against private

action (not committed by federal or state government

authorities) that deprived them of their

constitutional rights under the 14th Amendment.

Tennessee revamped its economic handgun ban

nine years later, passing "An Act to Prevent the Sale

of Pistols," which was upheld in State v. Burgoyne, 75

Tenn. 173, 174 (1881). (GMU CR LJ, p. 74)

Arkansas followed Tennessee's lead by enacting

a virtually identical "Saturday Night Special" law

banning the sale of any pistols other than expensive

"army or navy" model revolvers, which most whites had

or could afford, thereby disarming blacks. Statute

was upheld in Dabbs v. State, 39 Ark. 353 (1882) (GMU

CR LJ, p. 74)

Alabama placed

"'extremely heavy business and/or transactional

taxes'" on the sale of handguns in an attempt "to put

handguns out of the reach of blacks and poor whites."

("Gun Control: White Man's Law," William R. Tonso,

Reason, December 1985)

The state banned all

pistol sales except to sheriffs and their special

deputies, which included the KKK and company

strongmen. (Kates, "Toward a History of Handgun

Prohibition in the United States" in Restricting

Handguns: The Liberal Skeptics Speak Out, p. 15,

1979.) (GMU CR LJ, p. 76)

Mississippi enacted the first registration law for

retailers in 1906, requiring them to maintain records

of all pistol and pistol ammunition sales, and to make

such records available for inspection on demand.

(Kates, p. 14) (GMU CR LJ, p. 75)

laced "'extremely heavy business and/or transactional

taxes'" on the sale of handguns in an attempt "to put

handguns out of the reach of blacks and poor whites."

("Gun Control: White Man's Law," William R. Tonso,

Reason, December 1985)

 "Sullivan

Law" enacted, requiring police permission, via a

permit issued at their discretion, to own a handgun.

Unpopular minorities were and are routinely denied

permits. ("Gun Control: White Man's Law," William R.

Tonso, Reason, December 1985) "(T)here are only about

3,000 permits in New York City, and 25,000 carry

permits. If you're a street-corner grocer in

Manhattan, good luck getting a gun permit. 

.

 "was passed when there was a great influx of negro laborers in this State....The same condition  existed when the Act was amended in 1901 and the Act  was passed for the purpose of disarming the negro laborers....The statute was never intended to be applied to the white population and in practice has never been so applied...". Watson v. Stone, 148 Fla. 516, 524, 4 So.2d 700, 703 (1941) (GMU CR LJ, p. 69)