MLK Day is no time to argue for gun rights

[OakRidgeStars]

I guess the fact that MLK was a supporter of the Second Amendment and the RTKBA is irrelevant when you have an agenda to push.

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http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/ ... 03/318535/

http://tinyurl.com/ykek2kh

Michael Paul Williams: MLK Day is no time to argue for gun rights

By Michael Paul Williams
Published: January 19, 2010

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. didn't die so that an angry, firearm-toting crowd could take the day off to lobby for gun rights.

It just seemed that way yesterday morning at the Bell Tower of the state Capitol during what has become an annual debasement of King's legacy.

Patrick M. McSweeney, a former chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, seized the occasion to perform a pre-emptive strike on those who would attend a prayer vigil for gun-violence victims yesterday afternoon.

"They will swear he was for letting people die helplessly," McSweeney said.

Some gun-rights supporters like to make the case that King is really one of them.

As evidence, they cite a speech in which the civil-rights leader said: "It goes without saying that people will protect their homes. This is a right guaranteed by the Constitution and respected even in the worst areas of the South."

But they leave out this part of the same 1966 King speech,
"Nonviolence: The Road to Freedom":

"Violence, even in selfdefense, creates more problems than it solves. Only a refusal to hate or kill can put an end to the chain of violence in the world and lead us toward a community where men can live together without fear."

Without fear, indeed.

The gun-and-states'-rights gathering yesterday was punctuated by on-cue boos and derision for the "antis" to follow. The gun-violence vigil featured about 50 people doing a "lie-in for peace" on the damp state Capitol lawn to the strains of gentle acoustic music. Also, participants filled a basket with hearts bearing the names of gun-violence victims.

A woman in the crowd at the rally held a sign that read: "People w/o Guns = Slaves." The inability to carry a concealed handgun into a restaurant or a church apparently is viewed as akin to slavery.

Frankly, I doubt King would be supportive of House Bill 106, sponsored by Del. Mark L. Cole, R-Spotsylvania, which would allow concealed handguns in a house of worship. King's mother, Alberta Christine Williams King, was fatally shot in Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church six years after her son's assassination.

At the gun-violence vigil, Jermal Mabine, a Norfolk State University student, read in King's own words how he could not reconcile gun ownership with his leadership of a nonviolent movement.

"When I decided that I couldn't keep a gun, I came face to face with the question of death and I dealt with it," he quoted King as saying after his home was bombed. "Had we become distracted by the question of my safety, we would have lost the moral offensive and sunk to the level of our oppressors."

Some of us have become so distracted by questions of safety that we've lost perspective. We are slaves not to state and federal laws that regulate gun use, but to a culture of gun violence that pervades our society.

It's one thing for 1,000 people to assemble at a pro-gun, states'-rights rally.

What's sadder is that a crowd only a fraction of that size could be amassed to honor the memory of the gun-violence victims.


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Contact Michael Paul Williams at (804) 649-6815 or mwilliams@timesdispatch.com.

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[VBshooter]

Boo Hoo ! Wah! Snivel Snivel! and whatever else will shut Mr Williams up!

[Rumson]

Another dimwitted reporter with a political agenda.

MLK day is an official day of business for the VA State Legislature. Any and all citizens of VA have the legal right and responsibility to petition the State on that day for whatever legislation they choose.

The f@#kwit nonobjective Leftists reporter can't see past his hatred of all things that represent self sufficiency and non-reliance on government. How dare he attempt to suppress our rights to petition the State over a Constitutional issue.

Stay vigilant.

[jadedone4]

I've got no quarrel with attending a "victim of gun-violence" gathering; to help those who survived, know, acknowledge and accept their rights and responsibilities to protect themselves.

Gun ownership and gun violence are TWO very different elements; and in this instance/application, opposites. I am sure the gun violence that the writer speaks of = illegal guns in the hands of criminals who otherwise could NOT legally own/possess a firearm.

Part of the success of Dr. King's movement was the ability to show the brutality of racism during that period. Some of that same racism exists today; but is hidden in other forms. I'd rather have the ability to defend myself and not need to; then to need it and not have it. But that article is just shamefully pimping out Dr. King's name/honor, for the sake of attempting to make a illogical point.

[GS78]

I've got no quarrel with attending a "victim of gun-violence" gathering; to help those who survived, know, acknowledge and accept their rights and responsibilities to protect themselves.

Gun ownership and gun violence are TWO very different elements; and in this instance/application, opposites. I am sure the gun violence that the writer speaks of = illegal guns in the hands of criminals who otherwise could NOT legally own/possess a firearm.

Part of the success of Dr. King's movement was the ability to show the brutality of racism during that period. Some of that same racism exists today; but is hidden in other forms. I'd rather have the ability to defend myself and not need to; then to need it and not have it. But that article is just shamefully pimping out Dr. King's name/honor, for the sake of attempting to make a illogical point.

nothing new, some nobody hack reporter trying to use Marty's legacy to get some attention. Nothing to see here folks, just move along......

[Eagle4second]

Everyday is a good day to argue for gun rights
MLK: Died fighting for what he believed in.
You: Keep your mouth shut.

[Palladin]

Michael Paul Williams is a joke - Walter Williams is a bird of a different feather...

[VBshooter]

Another reporter looking to escalate his career using a shock piece...You would think he'd know after the last election that attacking gun rights and gun owners in this state is not a good idea,

[KaosDad]

What is this MLK day of which you speak? I celebrate Lee/Jackson Day.

[wylde007]

I celebrate Lee/Jackson Day.

Thankfully they are on separate days now.

One was for a man who plagiarized his way to the top "fighting" for the civil rights of a select group.

The other were a pair of patriots who fought for the rights of an entire NATION of people.

[KaosDad]

I celebrate Lee/Jackson Day.

Thankfully they are on separate days now.

One was for a man who plagiarized his way to the top "fighting" for the civil rights of a select group.

The other were a pair of patriots who fought for the rights of an entire NATION of people.

I am ashamed I did not know this!!!! Thank you, Wylde, for the education!

(And either I am blind, or there is no "Beer toast" emoticon.)

[zephyp]

One on this page - link below. Just click on it and copy the tag at the top of the page and paste it in your post.

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/drink/trink39.gif

[KaosDad]