Colorado Lawmaker Reveals Allegiance to the South’s Historically Racist Gun Laws as Basis to Deny Rights
This is not the first year we have heard testimony exposing the racist history of gun control. Each year, the voice gets a little louder, but is still widely ignored by the legislative committees hearing the message. On February 24th, Colorado Representative Javier Mabrey acknowledged the history of the bills he has consistently supported during the hearing for HB25-1164, Constitutional Carry of a Handgun – but in the most damaging and revealing way possible for his party.
Mabrey, in his closing statements to justify his NO vote, stated “..by 1800, four states had enacted gun carry restrictions…” just briefly before citing an 1837 Georgia Statute banning the carry of various types of bowie knives and pistols. He neglected to mention that very law was overturned in Nunn v. Georgia 1846 for being unconstitutional. He also neglected to mention that the vague slew of laws he grouped together for dramatic effect were largely racist laws originating in southern states with the express intent of limiting the rights of free Black people.
Unfortunately for Mabrey, he missed the mark in capturing the greater context of the laws he cited completely. In doing so, he revealed the typically carefully tucked-away utter contempt for Black Americans and Black Coloradans that many progressives of his pedigree hold. The singular focus on banning guns at all costs blinds the progressive legislator to the reality of the world, thrusting them into the same bucket of those with terminal white privilege they often decry. The good news is that now the quiet part is out loud and we can start to see these progressives for what they really are – a more salient threat to freedom than the raging overt racists they point to as the enemy. Now we can confidently act and vote accordingly.
To understand why Black Coloradans are taking a stand against all of the Colorado gun laws, one must understand that while the 1837 law was overturned, the 1834 Law prohibiting free persons of color never was. The thin line that allows us many rights is only the 14th amendment- which some would argue is being slowly eroded. The constant attack on gun rights, and under the guise of saving (about 8) lives in any given year, will cost approximately 36 Black lives over a similar time period should access be kept behind a pay and administrative discretion wall as proposed in Senate Bill 003 and House Bill 1133. This is the trade our legislators are proposing. Our Governor has been silent on the issue.
Sometimes, the arguments for gun control might seem compelling, often parading children out in front of testimony crowds or displaying the tattered clothing of departed loved ones. What we don’t see is the cost of leaving people unprotected. Imagine if Black Coloradans did the same – bringing in jars of the blood soaked Colorado soil from the uninvestigated, unreported, lynchings that would push the number of dead far above the 4000+ reported cases; the clothes of loved ones killed for the color of their skin from the 2000’s to today. These people were unprotected – either by mechanism of law or circumstance. There would be ridicule and confusion from all sides of the aisle. Some warn against this brand of gun control from pre-American history or constitutional theory. We, however, warn from time memorial; from the grave, and from the tree as strange and bitter fruit. We know the cost of a disarmed population.
We are a momento mori to the greater American population: Never trust a power that seeks to disarm you.
Listen to the clip of Representative Mabrey:
This article is clearly written by a man with lived experience. The right to bare arms is only common sense for all American. More importantly so to the Black American who has been terrorized and brutalized on our own soil.
Well said, Dr. Lanier! Much of our legislature opposes bills that would make many of their darkest nightmares come true: that the people of the Black American community become a truly free populace. This is blatantly evident in Representative Mabrey’s opposition to the bill by trumpeting markedly racist laws (all of which have been overturned and ruled unconstitutional as you point out) as his justification. His statements simply show us that our legislature is unwilling to support bills that free Black Americans from their tyranny and authoritarianism.