Recently, the United States of America has been plagued by a wave of domestic terrorism. First, there was a racially motivated massacre in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York that claimed the lives of 13 individuals. Next, domestic terrorism struck again at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas when an 18-year-old male opened fire at an elementary school claiming the lives of 19 children and two teachers.  With this series of unfortunate events taking place, many people are swiftly demanding that the United States government implement additional legislation that further restricts the Second Amendment right of Americans to keep and bear arms. This approach is both short-sighted and fraught with peril. Over time, the United States government has implemented more and more laws restricting the ability of an individual to purchase and maintain guns. This legislation has resulted in stiffer penalties for illegal gun possession, illegal gun purchasing, and the commission of a crime while in the possession of a gun. The end result has been increased gun violence, mass incarceration, and a decrease in the ability of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves when confronted by an armed criminal.

The key question to ask is “why?” The primary reason is something that people do not and refuse to understand: criminals and mentally insane people are not concerned with the law. The shooting that happened in Buffalo, New York happened in a place where the victims didn’t have a chance to defend themselves because it is extremely difficult for a law-abiding citizen to carry a gun legally due to New York’s extremely strict gun laws. For context, I have attached an excerpt from a website that explains the intricate process that goes into obtaining a firearm in the State of New York.

The website the for the excerpt below  is:https://web.archive.org/web/20181015021705/https://newyorkcityguns.com/getting-a-nyc-handgun-permit/   This link explains the process to obtain a firearm in New York City 

This link here covers the process required for the entire state of New York:https://web.archive.org/web/20201207182814/https://www.troopers.ny.gov/FAQs/Firearms/Recertification/

“GETTING A NYC HANDGUN LICENSE

The process for obtaining a handgun license in New York City is long (between 3 – 6 months, and waits up to 8 months are not uncommon), and compared to many other jurisdictions, rather expensive. It’s not particularly difficult, but it is tedious and incredibly time-consuming. It tests your patience, and there is a lot of bureaucracy to deal with.

The Application There are 2 ways to complete the application itself. You can type it, or you can download it, fill it out electronically, and print it. Handwritten applications are not accepted, nor are photocopies. The majority of the questions are straightforward. Be sure to include your driver’s license and passport number (if you have either) on your Application Addendum in answer to Question 19, as these are a “license or permit issued to you by any City, State or Federal agency.”

Along with the application itself, you will need the following:

• Fees – 2 US Postal Money Orders, made payable to New York City Police Department are required, one for $340 (for the application), and one for either $94.25 (electronic fingerprints) or $105.25 (ink fingerprints), depending on how you are being fingerprinted. These fees are non-refundable. The NYPD now accepts credit cards as well.

• Photographs – 2 recent “passport” (1.5″ square) color photos.

• Birth Certificate – required to prove your birth date. Other acceptable forms proving your birth date include a military record, US Passport, or Baptismal certificate.

• Proof of Citizenship/Alien Registration – if you were not born in the US, you must submit your naturalization papers, other evidence of citizenship, or your Alien Registration Card. AND for those living here less than 7 years, you must submit a good conduct certificate from your country of origin.

• Military Discharge – your separation papers (DD 214) and your discharge papers.

• Proof of Residence – this can be a real estate tax bill, ownership shares in a co-op or condo, or a lease. You may also be asked to bring your driver’s license, NY State Income Tax return, or a utility bill.

• Arrest/Summons/Order of Protection Information – related to question 23 on the application, any arrest information (even if the case was dismissed or the record sealed) must be divulged. Any summons received for any violation other than things like a parking ticket must be divulged, i.e any “summons in lieu of arrest” that requires you to appear in court at a later date. If you ever had an Order of Protection or a Restraining Order issued against you, you must divulge the name/address/phone number of the complainant, their relationship to you, and the reason the Order was issued.

• Proof of Business Ownership (for business licenses) – see the details in the application for the appropriate documentation, depending on your circumstances.

Letter of Necessity (for carrying permits) – you won’t get a carry permit without showing cause, and if you have cause, you should probably already know what is required. Follow the instructions on Page 3 of the application.

As you can see the people who lost their lives in Buffalo, New York did not benefit from the increased legislation in the State of New York. In fact, one could argue that the victims in Buffalo were unable to defend themselves because the tyrannical actions of the state made it so difficult and expensive for an average citizen to obtain a firearm to protect themselves. 

The perpetrators of these evil tragedies had their minds made up to cause death and destruction regardless of what laws are in place. The people in Buffalo, New York were a soft target because they did not have the means to protect themselves accordingly. After all, the law did not permit that. The only person who was armed outside of the perpetrator was the lone security guard who was hired to protect the store. If there were people in the store that were allowed to carry there would not have been that many lives lost.

As for Texas, the laws are a lot less strict in Texas compared to New York. Texas is a constitutional carry state which means one does not need a license or permit to carry firearms. People may feel like the laws may need to be more strict in Texas, but I appreciate the fact that Texas doesn’t depend on tyranny to keep its citizens from exercising their second amendment right to keep and bear arms. Please keep in mind that no one is permitted to carry a firearm in an elementary school so there was no opportunity for the individuals in the school to protect themselves. Also, please consider the reports that police remained outside of the school for over an hour without entering or making any effort to stop the bloodshed. 

I am a law-abiding gun owner that is not willing to be punished for the negligence of evil criminals because people are upset about gun violence. If people truly believe that the solution to gun violence is a piece of legislation, I ask them to consider the history of legislation and its impact. Did the Civil Rights Act end racism? Have strict gun laws curtailed violence in the United States? Did the government’s strict crack laws help or hurt the community?

I have never been aware of a time when a government that constantly exercises tyrannical measures and it has resulted in the citizens changing their behavior entirely. Citizens in the United States Of America are not aware of the rights we have here; there are places in the world where they are not allowed to keep and bear arms so we as Americans are extremely privileged and we have a lot of rights and we need to honor, respect, and protect these rights or they will be snatched away from us because people are begging for tyranny out of desperation for “safety” from a government that has no intention on truly protecting them. 

As Black Americans, we should not be calling for stricter gun control and further measures that will restrict our freedom considering that there are already plenty of laws put in place to restrict our freedom and ability to protect ourselves. We are the most at-risk group in our society so it does not make any sense to advocate for more restrictions on our ability to protect ourselves. Black people need to educate themselves about guns and take initiative instead of complaining and begging tyrants for solutions to issues that only we can solve within our community.  Unfortunately, people lose their lives to senseless gun violence and that breaks my heart because it creates this stigma that guns are bad. The only way a gun can fire is if a living soul pulls the trigger, a gun can not fire on its own. To heal and come to a common understanding, we must open our hearts and minds so we can understand what we are faced with. There are a lot of people dealing with mental health issues and it breaks my heart how disingenuous we are as a society when it comes to dealing with mental health and the serious implications that come with mental illness.

I do not have all of the solutions but I am a man of god with a sound mind and I have been blessed by the grace of god to see things from a spiritual perspective versus a worldly perspective. I pray that we can come together and find solutions to the many issues we are facing as a human family but to reach these solutions we must be honest, vulnerable, transparent, and willing to listen to one another. We are not always going to agree but we can disagree without being disingenuous and disrespectful to one another. We are in this together, united we stand but divided we fall.