KOPEL'S KOMMENT by David Kopel Copyright 1991 Gallant/Charger Publications, Inc. (Excerpted from the October 1991 issue of GUN WORLD magazine under the fair use doctrine of U.S copyright law) HANDGUN CONTROL, INC., & THE KKK Ever wonder how Handgun Control, Inc., raises all that money? The organization's fund-raising techniques are vicious, fraudulent -- and effective. One HCI print advertisement, unveiled in 1990, purported to show a Klansman in full-hooded regalia carrying an AR 15-type semi-automatic rifle. "Why is the NRA allowing him easy access to assault weapons?" demanded the ad. Of course, just the opposite was true. The NRA introduced a law which passed -- over HCI opposition -- mandating federal prison sentences for persons like Klansmen engaged in illegal, violent conspiracies involving any type of firearm. The NRA law requires a mandatory sentence, even in cases of mere carrying during any phase of the conspiracy, not just after the crime has One of the great ironies of the Handgun Control summer campaign is that the Ku Klux Klan and HCI draw support from a common legal heritage! During Reconstruction, Congress passed the "Enforcement Acts," which forbade private citizens to violate people's constitutional rights. A leader of a racist gang named William Cruikshank was arrested and tried under this law when he led a riot against a group of black protestors. Cruikshank was convicted of violating the blacks' right to assemble and their right to bear arms. In United States v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 (1876), the United States Supreme Court set Cruikshank free and held the enforcement Acts unconstitutional. The Court said that the Bill of Rights -- including the right to assemble and the right to bear arms -- was only a limit on the federal government. If a state government or a private citizen interfered with a person's right to assemble or right to bear arms, the Constitution did not matter (the Court said). Hence, Congress had no power to legislate against state or private assaults on Constitutional rights. Cruikshank gave the Ku Klux Klan a green light for its campaign of terror, with no fear of federal punishment. The Cruikshank decision -- and its racist implications -- has been largely abandoned by the modern Supreme Court, but the case never has been overruled explicitly. Thus, Handgun Control's "educational material" contending that there are no constitutional restrictions on gun prohibition relies heavily on Cruikshank. In other words, Handgun Control bases its arguments on a case that said the federal government couldn't stop the Ku Klux KIan from disarming blacks. Since you probably aren't on Handgun Control's mailing list, you may imagine that their mailings are all about why guns are bad. Not at all. Their mailings are about why the NRA is bad. You see, Handgun Control needs the NRA as a hate object. Eric Hoffer's book, The True Believer, explains why people join totalitarian mass movements: "Hatred is the most accessible and comprehensive of all unifying agents...Mass movements can rise and spread without belief in a God, but never without a belief in the devil." The unifying principle of the Ku Klux Klan is hatred of Jews, blacks, foreigners -- and anyone else considered different. The unifying principle of Handgun Control is hatred of the National Rifle Association and its members. A few years ago, Handgun Control even put a picture of NRA Patriarch Harlon Carter on HCI envelopes. HCI screamed that Carter, a man who has devoted his life to preserving Constitutional rights "has seen to it that thousands of life- loving people like you and me DIE every year -- shot with a handgun." The Handgun Control letter continued: "Fifty years ago, Carter shot and killed a 15-year-old boy and was convicted of murder." The letter omitted the fact that Carter was defending his mother's ranch against a gang of intruders led by the "boy," and that the "boy" was menacing Carter with a knife. At the trial, the judge was the prosecutor's father-in-law and he refused to let Carter introduce evidence of self-defense. Most people would think that a citizen's shooting of a criminal should be judged by whether the citizen was acting in self-defense. But Handgun Control considers proper jury instructions about self-defense to be a mere "technicality." In other words, innocent persons who shoot criminals are the same as common murders and any claim of self-defense is only a "technicality." HCI's advertising for the waiting period this year continues the hate campaign. HCI ads featuring Jim Brady claim that only terrorist organizations, drug pushers, and the gun lobby oppose a waiting period. The hate campaigns of the Klan and HCI do work, at least, in the short run. If you lived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 1951, and belonged to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, most people would think you were a communist. That's because Klan propaganda had convinced many people that NAACP was a communist-fringe group. Like the Klan, HCI supports the idea of registering people exercising their constitutional rights. During the 1950s and 1960s, several Southern states passed laws requiring organizations like the NAACP to register all their members with the government. Likewise, government employees were required to register which organizations they belonged to. Registration supporters claimed that the purpose was innocuous -- just some simple record-keeping to which no reasonable person would object. The true purpose, in fact, was to frighten people out of joining the NAACP. People knew the sheriff might well turn the NAACP list over to the head of the local Klan; the two offices often were occupied by the same person. The Klan then would intimidate or even murder the NAACP members. Likewise, HCI touts registration of gunowners and claims that no reasonable person could object. What's the harm of registration? The fact is, registration is the first step to confiscation. Right now in California, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is going to gun dealers and collecting the names of persons who have bought "assault weapons." By federal law, the BATF is forbidden to collect such information, except in investigation of a specific crime. But it's happening anyway. The Klu Klux Klan, like Handgun Control, specializes in inventing spurious panics to avoid the real issues. The Klan wasn't interested in a genuine debate on whether the government should treat people equally, without regard for color. Instead, the Klan specialized in emotional non-issues, like frightening parents into thinking the objective of the NAACP was promoting interracial sex between teenagers. Something else HCI and the Ku Klux Klan have in common: The Congress on Racial Equality has been fighting them every step of the way. CORE, a Brooklyn-based civil rights organization, led the battle for integration in the South at a time when supporting civil rights meant risking your life. Today CORE still fights for the civil rights of all people and CORE Director Roy Innis has developed into one of America's most forceful advocates for the right to bear arms. Indeed, CORE supported the lawsuit against the California gun ban and has filed other pro-gun rights cases elsewhere. One final thing that HCI and the Klan might have in common: The Klan eventually lost its hate campaign to destroy the Constitutional rights of the American people. Handgun Control can be beaten, too, if Americans have the will to turn back this hate lobby. If enough gunowners and other Constitutionalists join the NRA and support its lobbying efforts, freedom could win again; or the HCI hate campaign could succeed. It's all up to you. To join the National Rifle Association, call 1-800-722-4672. The staff at Handgun Control, Inc., has devoted thousands of hours to persuade you not to make this call. GW