Earl Ofari Hutchinson, writing at the Huffington Post, explores what he says is an unconvincing argument by the National Rifle Association.
The NRA has not and never has made a convincing argument that putting more guns in the hands of law-aiding citizens is the best way to stop the thousands of annual murders in the country, and that especially includes minority victims, let alone the easy access to guns. That includes the legal access to guns that have been used by killers in the recent spate of mass killings. Then there's the study by the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence which found that states with the most restrictive laws have lower rates of gun-related deaths than states that have few or lax limits.
The Children's Defense Fund in a 2012 report well-documented the colossal toll of gun violence on young blacks. It put forth specific measures that could at least curb some of the violence. It did not advocate that legal gun owners give up their guns or suggest anything that would prevent law-abiding citizens from possessing a gun for their personal protection and safety.
The Kaiser Foundation also found that 20 percent of Americans knows a person who has been a victim of gun violence and that a majority of them said they were good friends or family members, and some were even a victim themselves.
The NRA's minority outreach campaign is in its infant stage and there's no indication how serious it really is in trying to recruit more minorities, and even if it's successful in ramping up the numbers of minorities, that they would play any effective role in the organization. But that's less important than the fact that the NRA's effort will allow it to present itself to the public as a non- partisan, non-ideological organization whose sole concern is the defense of the second amendment. This alone makes it a ploy worth trying."
Read Earl Ofari Hutchinson's entire piece at the Huffington Post.
The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.
Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.