What We are Fighting for is Targeting Minorities

This war we have on guns is amazing and is really important, but have you ever thought about the casualties? We are calling for change in gun control and are finally getting it. However, these regulations seem to be targeting us instead of protecting us. Such as the project safe neighborhoods where the police have a reason to target African Americans communities.

Now that we are getting the gun control we asked for, we see that it’s not what we expected at all. These laws that are being passed end up targeting us and making it harder for us to get guns. These laws that make it harder for people who have a criminal record to get their hands on a gun which sounds good in theory. However when you consider that "According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in 2013 black males accounted for 37% of the total male prison population, white males 32%, and Hispanic males 22%. White females comprised 49% of the prison population in comparison to black females who accounted for 22% of the female population." It seems like their targeting the African American community.

Philadelphia is most likely one of the most diverse cities in America, making it a huge problem that these laws and policies are being passed. Since Philadelphia is so populated and majority of people aren’t white that means that a lot of people will be targeted by these laws. Laws like these that are being passed are riling up the masses and must be prevented here in Philadelphia. There has been talk of this problem for years but it has been overshadowed by the need for gun control. If we are going to make more gun control laws then we have to make sure we do it right.

How could we possibly pass a law knowing that it will target a group of people. These laws are being called “racist” and a modern K.K.K rule. One of these old racist laws they got to pass was "known as the "Black Codes", which disarmed and economically disabled African Americans in order to sustain enforcing white supremacy." In places like Pittsburgh there are African Americans that are scared they will be “more vulnerable to both racist and state-sanctioned violence while giving police yet another pretext for arresting and locking up young black people.”Their fears are justified because they have been arrested or killed for way less than a gun.

When You really sit there and think about it this is a major problem. These laws are most definitely a modern form of racism. Imagine living in a world that consistently targets minorities and changes our way of living just because of our skin color? We can not let these policies stand because it is taking leaps back in time with race and with gun control making all the progress we made mean nothing. Forcing us to live in fear once again.