Once Again, a Racial Divide

And the NRA position lines up more with that of the black aldercreatures, though for different reasons:

• Mayor Rahm Emanuel has touched a nerve with his demand for a mandatory minimum, three-year sentence for gun crimes with a requirement that defendants serve 85 percent of their sentences.
  
  That much was obvious Wednesday when a City Council bitterly divided along racial lines went on record urging the Illinois General Assembly to impose stiffer sentences for gun crimes.
  
  The resolution talked about truth-in-sentencing. It made no mention of the three-year minimum. But it triggered a debate aldermen were itching to have.
  
  White aldermen were all for the bill championed by Emanuel and Police Supt. Garry McCarthy.
  
  African-American aldermen had such reservations, they threatened to send the resolution back to committee. They argued that mandatory minimum sentences failed miserably in the war on drugs and a similar approach to gun crimes would result in more of the same.

So the African-American aldercreatures oppose the law on the basis that too many black and brown folks/people will bear a disproportionate brunt of the penalties because....well, they aren't saying it's because a disproportionate amount of black and brown persons are committing the crime. They don't want you to look at that. Just ignore that fact that police are targeting guns crime, not black/brown crime, and remember guns are evil!

And the NRA position:

• The National Rifle Association is stepping up its campaign against a proposed gun control measure in Illinois that supporters argue will help combat and prevent street violence by increasing penalties for gun crimes.
  
  The bill, sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Mike Zalewski, calls for more time behind bars for possessing illegal weapons. It increases penalties for unlawful use of weapons, including by felons or gang members. It would make probation less likely, imposing minimum prison sentences of three years in many cases. It would also require that offenders serve at least 85 percent of their sentences, up from 50 percent.
  
  The NRA's Institute for Legislative Action wrote in a website post that the bill will jeopardize concealed carry in Illinois by imposing tough penalties for individuals who carry a firearm without a concealed-carry permit or firearm owner's identification card.
  
  "This specific provision incorrectly targets otherwise law-abiding citizens, rather than deterring violent criminals with harsher penalties," the group said in an Oct. 10 statement.

The NRA recognizes that decent people, especially those living in crime-ridden neighborhoods might have more need of a gun than those in lower crime areas. And due to the racial makeups of crime-ridden neighborhoods, the decent people are going to be disproportionally minority. That isn't the NRA's contention - the NRA doesn't mention race in their position - that's our observation of reality.

And that is greatly amusing to us, that an organization painted by the left as a rich, white, oppressive, Republican stalwart is actually fighting for the Rights of poor, minority, victimized Democrats to be able to protect themselves without being subject to a three-year prison minimum for first time offenders who might not understand all the intricacies in the new laws governing Concealed Carry and gun ownership.

This is a very exploitable opening for the NRA to peel away a section of a monolithic voting bloc. Pro-gun, pro-self defense, pro-responsible gun owners who happen to be black? That would terrify Rahm more than anything we can think of at the moment.