Eleanor Roosevelt carried a revolver to protect herself as she worked to promote civil rights. Firearms were the best way for civil rights activists to protect themselves from the Klan. Glenn Reynolds has heard similar tales as noted at InstaPundit. Eventually this led to the new Concealed Carry law in Minnesota, written by an original black activist from the sixties.
All our rights are important. The Second Amendment is designed as a defense against the tyrannical actions of our own government. You may scoff, saying that there is no way a bunch of rednecks with rifles are going to take on the U.S. military. You are probably right. But in my lifetime, armed civil rights activists were able to restore their rights against their own hostile government. Hostile governments also include the local sheriff and his best buds dressing up in bed sheets and terrorizing the local populace. The original gun control laws were defacto racist, since they were only enforced against blacks. I submit to you that gun-banning laws, such as those in Washington, DC, New York and Chicago are also abusive to human rights. I believe in the freedom of the press I am exercising in the virtual world and the right to bear arms that I exercise in the physical one. If you don't believe in an individual's right to bear arms, I hope you will consider the history noted above and reconsider.
I recommend Kevin Baker, Kim du Toit, Mrs. du Toit and Rachel Lucas for more information. Don Kates is also recommended by Matt Rustler.
