By Dustin Houston | In New York City, being caught with a gun carries a minimum 3 to 5-year prison sentence for first time offenders. Young minority men and women who have done nothing to interfere with others’ liberty are being carted off to prison for simply owning a gun in their home to defend their family without any intention of carrying out a crime. The consequence of these strict laws is a disproportionate number of minorities being jailed, leaving behind broken homes and families in record numbers.
And now we hear politicians demanding even greater restrictions on guns. How many of the poor from high-crime cities can afford to spend thousands of dollars in permits and new mental evaluations? As we make it harder to own a firearm, we invite underground markets to flourish where guns go unregistered and untraced. Many believe there are more guns in NYC than ever before, but we have no idea because they all flow on the underground market.
We are asking the criminal elements in inner cities to disarm (won’t happen) and to make those who want to defend their family, criminals. To these citizens, we say, “Because you are poor, you have no right to defend yourself, even though you live in the most violent crime ridden areas in the country.”
If we make the case that $20 is too burdensome for inner-city dwellers to pay for a photo ID before they’re allowed to vote, then we are essentially telling those same people that because they’re poor, they have no right to defend themselves as the rest of us do.
So, today, please do some reflecting.
(Editor’s Note: The writer is from Gwinnett County, and the son of occasional contributor Debra Houston. Do I need to add that his views are not necessarily the views of the editor? —eeb)
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