Ronald Reagan & Gun Control

[SteyrAUG]

The Black Panthers were walking around their neighborhoods, following the police and keeping an eye on them. They carried cameras to record what the police officers did (especially when they harassed blacks in their neighborhoods) and guns to defend themselves against the police.

This was about the same time as the Watts riots (which white law enforcement officials in California compared to fighting the Vietcong and "guerrillas fighting with gangsters") and Prop 14 (a proposed Constitutional amendment to the California Constitution that would have legalized discrimination in housing on the basis of race).

While I'm certain the LAPD claimed that the Black Panthers were intimidating bystanders with their firearms, I'm not finding anything from anyone actually saying anything of the sort ever occurred - either as claimed by the LAPD or as having actually occurred.

And I like that you chose 50 years, because that keeps us from using John F. Kennedy, who might have been the most pro-gun president since TR:

"By calling attention to 'a well regulated militia,' the 'security' of the nation, and the right of each citizen 'to keep and bear arms,' our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although it is extremely unlikely that the fears of governmental tyranny which gave rise to the Second Amendment will ever be a major danger to our nation, the Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships, in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important."
-(Then-)Sen. John F. Kennedy (D-MA), April 1960

First of all I disagree with your assessment of the Black Panthers and their activities. I had family members who lived in San Fransisco in the 60s. Here they are patrolling their neighborhood.



Second I didn't say 50 years to exclude Kennedy, he was another NRA Life Member and would probably rank right up there with Reagan. I chose 50 years so we wouldn't have to mention Theodore Roosevelt.

[MountainRaven]

First of all I disagree with your assessment of the Black Panthers and their activities. I had family members who lived in San Fransisco in the 60s. Here they are patrolling their neighborhood.

https://www.liberationnews.org/wp-co...fbed80cd_o.jpg

Second I didn't say 50 years to exclude Kennedy, he was another NRA Life Member and would probably rank right up there with Reagan. I chose 50 years so we wouldn't have to mention Theodore Roosevelt.

The photograph is from when the Black Panthers went to protest the Mulford Act, isn't it?

Here's Texas a couple of years ago:


Washington the same year:


Pennsylvania the year before:


I'm sure that we'd both agree about the stupidity of open carry in proximity to state capitols, as such protests lead directly to the Mulford Act passing in California and, more recently, the banning of open carry in/near the capitol of Washington.

But I'm not certain I'd describe any of these as being any more or less intimidating for a member of the public, especially one opposed to the politics of the people carrying the firearms openly. (Although, to be honest, at least the Black Panthers are dressed like adults, in shirts and ties or turtlenecks.)

And did these family members have direct knowledge, or was it second- (or third-)hand?

[jsbhike]

Don't think it is stupidity. The predecessors of the people inside those buildings indicated that was how things are supposed to be.

[Moose-Knuckle]

(Although, to be honest, at least the Black Panthers are dressed like adults, in shirts and ties or turtlenecks.)

It was the 60's, EVERYONE dressed like adults then . . . well except for their Black Identity Extremist berets which were all the rage with various Marxist radical groups.

[SteyrAUG]

The photograph is from when the Black Panthers went to protest the Mulford Act, isn't it?

Here's Texas a couple of years ago:


Washington the same year:


Pennsylvania the year before:


I'm sure that we'd both agree about the stupidity of open carry in proximity to state capitols, as such protests lead directly to the Mulford Act passing in California and, more recently, the banning of open carry in/near the capitol of Washington.

But I'm not certain I'd describe any of these as being any more or less intimidating for a member of the public, especially one opposed to the politics of the people carrying the firearms openly. (Although, to be honest, at least the Black Panthers are dressed like adults, in shirts and ties or turtlenecks.)

And did these family members have direct knowledge, or was it second- (or third-)hand?

One group is race based and considers other races the enemy, the other group is protesting for their rights. If Kings march and Washington was armed, I wouldn't use that example because it's not about hating another race.

And yeah, my family members had first hand knowledge, basically parts of San Francisco were considered off limits because of armed, racial intimidation by the BPs. They were the black Klan and nothing more.

[SteveS]

Reagan really wasn't the president the Conservative types think he was He really sucked big time.

[SteyrAUG]

Reagan really wasn't the president the Conservative types think he was He really sucked big time.

Based on?

[26 Inf]

Based on?

I'm not Steve S. and I'm on the fence about whether to agree or disagree.

PROS - Won cold war; revitalized military.

CONS - Supply side didn't work; massive deficit; bloated federal bureaucracy; judging by convictions one of the more corrupt administrations; amnesty to illegal aliens; gun control issues

Of course a lot of that depends on your viewpoint. Many will vociferously defend supply side, just as many will denigrate it.

The reason I'm on the fence is that marvel of 20/20 hindsight. I thought things were going pretty well as I raised a family through that era, despite believing his tax policies were wrong.

I think both sides of the issue have legitimate points.

[SteyrAUG]

CONS - Supply side didn't work; massive deficit; bloated federal bureaucracy; judging by convictions one of the more corrupt administrations; amnesty to illegal aliens; gun control issues

Supply side economics - Subjective based on opinion. Economics isn't really science and when put up against things like New Deal Economics it's about as conservative as you get.

Massive deficit - It wasn't free to rebuild our military and outspend the Soviet Union into oblivion. But that was the cost of ending the Cold War and it's probably the most important thing we spent money on since the Manhattan Project. The potential alternatives were literally the end of everything.

Bloated Federal Bureaucracy - He tried, but was up against a Democratic majority Congress. https://www.cato.org/policy-report/m...ment-1980-2010

Amnesty for illegals - I agree with you, he was the first to do it. But he also was the first to try so he had no idea that it would be a massive failure.

Gun Control - He was the first and ONLY President to eliminate some of the most serious parts of the 1968 Gun Control Act.

Make no mistake, the man was hardly perfect and I have a laundry list of issues with him, but it's a shorter list than I have with most Presidents. And just so we are on the same page, Iran - Contra. It's the worst thing Reagan ever did as President and maybe he was kidding himself about dealing with a terrorist state in order to fight communism, but at the end of the day he was selling arms to Iran to fund a war against communism in South America. Maybe he truly believed it was the lesser of two evils but I'm unsure and it's still his lowest point.

There were four great Presidents of the 20th century, Teddy Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, but for all their greatness and potential they all made mistakes and sometimes did horrible things despite knowing better. But they are still greater than all the lesser President who came before and after who mostly did nothing great and basically made a mess of everything. Eisenhower is probably a wash, not a bad President but nothing I consider great.

[Firefly]

Reagan wasn’t Mondale or Carter.

He gets points for that alone