“The Second Amendment Wasn’t Written With Me in Mind: A Black Man’s Take on the Racist Roots of U.S. Gun Laws”

By: A Black American Man

I’m a law-abiding Black man. I’ve paid taxes, served my country, gone through the hoops to legally own a firearm—and yet, somehow, I’m still considered the threat. Every time I step into a gun shop or talk about the Second Amendment, I get side-eyes, background questions, and the kind of scrutiny that makes TSA look like a welcome wagon.

Why? Because let’s be real: the Second Amendment was never meant for folks who look like me.

I’m not supposed to be armed. I’m supposed to be afraid, grateful, and unarmed. That’s not just some paranoid theory—it’s baked into the very history of American gun laws. And trust me, that history isn’t about “keeping communities safe.” It’s about keeping Black folks in check.

Step One: Enslave the Labor, Disarm the Threat

Let’s go all the way back to the 1600s, when Virginia passed laws forbidding enslaved Black people from owning weapons. Because nothing screams “confidence in your moral system” like making sure the people you’re oppressing can’t fight back. The 1680 Virginia Slave Code reads:

“No Negro or slave may carry any gun or weapon whatsoever without his master’s license.”

So there it is. The original American background check: Are you property? No? Then who do you belong to?

This wasn’t about safety. This was about control. A disarmed slave was a manageable slave. A disarmed free Black person was just a slave-in-waiting.

Reconstruction: Free-ish But Still Unarmed

After the Civil War, Black Americans thought they had rights. Funny, right?

Newly freed men started exercising their Second Amendment rights, especially Union veterans who had fought, bled, and earned the right to protect themselves. But the South had other plans. Enter: the Black Codes.

Take Mississippi’s Black Code of 1865. It banned Black folks from owning guns unless they had a license from local authorities—who, of course, weren’t handing those out like candy.

“No freedman shall keep or carry firearms… unless he obtains a license.”

— Mississippi Black Code, 1865

Translation: You’re free, just not free to defend yourself. Let’s not get carried away with the freedom thing, okay?

And if Black people were caught with a weapon? Enter the local police, the Klan (often the same people), or a friendly neighborhood lynch mob.

Supreme Court: “Good Luck With That, Freedmen”

You’d think the federal government would step in and protect Black Americans’ rights, right? That’s adorable.

In United States v. Cruikshank (1876), after over 100 Black men were massacred in Louisiana by a white mob, the Supreme Court basically shrugged. They ruled that the federal government had no authority to protect citizens from other citizens—even when those citizens were committing mass murder over voting rights and gun ownership.

“The right to bear arms is not granted by the Constitution…”

— U.S. v. Cruikshank, 1876

Ah yes, nothing says “equal protection under the law” like the highest court in the land saying, “Not our problem.”

The Panthers and the Great Gun Flip-Flop

Fast forward to the 1960s, when the Black Panther Party dared to read the Constitution—and carry firearms openly and legally in California. The horror.

You see, the Panthers weren’t waving guns around. They were patrolling their neighborhoods, monitoring police abuse, and demanding dignity. Naturally, white lawmakers lost their collective minds.

Enter: the Mulford Act of 1967, signed by California Governor Ronald Reagan, which banned open carry.

“There’s no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons.”

— Ronald Reagan, 1967 (suddenly a gun control guy)

Amazing, isn’t it? The same conservatives who today scream, “Shall not be infringed!” were tripping over themselves to pass gun control the minute Black folks showed up legally armed. It’s almost like gun rights were fine—until we tried to use them too.

Modern Day: Same Playbook, New Packaging

You might be thinking, “But that was then. Surely things are different now.” Sure they are—Black people can now legally carry guns and get killed for it.

Case in point: Philando Castile.

In 2016, Castile told a Minnesota police officer that he was legally carrying a firearm, just like all the pro-Second Amendment folks say you’re supposed to. He followed the rules. He informed the officer. And he was shot dead anyway—in front of his girlfriend and her four-year-old daughter. And the officer? Acquitted.

You’d think the NRA would have something to say about that. You’d think wrong.

The same organization that turns into a fireworks display every time a white guy gets a magazine limit ignored Castile’s death like it never happened. Not a tweet. Not a press release. Just crickets.

Apparently, the Second Amendment stops just short of melanin.

Racially Biased Enforcement: Arrest First, Ask Questions Later

A 2017 American Journal of Public Health study found that Black Americans are disproportionately arrested and convicted for gun possession—even in places where carrying a firearm is legal.

So let’s do some math:

• Legal gun ownership + Black skin = probable cause.

• Illegal gun ownership + white skin = “It’s complicated, let’s not jump to conclusions.”

And let’s not forget Ahmaud Arbery. A Black man jogging through a neighborhood, chased and murdered by white men with guns who assumed he didn’t belong. That wasn’t “stand your ground.” That was hunt your target.

The NRA’s Magic Disappearing Act

Can we just admit the obvious? The NRA doesn’t stand for all gun owners. It stands for white, rural, conservative gun owners. Their silence on Black gun ownership is so loud it echoes.

They were silent when Castile was killed.

Silent when Black militias legally patrolled protests.

Silent when state governments passed laws that disproportionately affect inner-city gun ownership.

But let a white rancher wave a rifle in Nevada or a suburban dad cry about red flag laws, and suddenly it’s DEFCON 2 in the gun rights world.

Wrapping It Up: Claiming What Was Never Meant for Us

I don’t want special treatment. I want equal treatment. I want the same right to defend my family that’s celebrated in country music and gun magazines. But history—and current events—make one thing clear: America only trusts armed citizens when they look a certain way.

The Second Amendment wasn’t written with me in mind. But I’m claiming it anyway.

Not because I want to play cowboy, but because my ancestors were disarmed, terrorized, and murdered for not having that right.

So when you tell me gun control is about safety, forgive me if I ask, “Whose safety?”

Historical Sources:

1. Clayton E. Cramer, “The Racist Roots of Gun Control,” Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy, 1995.

2. Black Codes (Mississippi, 1865) — https://www.freedmen.umd.edu/

3. U.S. v. Cruikshank, 92 U.S. 542 (1876)

4. Adam Winkler, “Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America” (2011)

5. American Journal of Public Health (2017): “Racial Disparities in Firearm Possession Arrests”

6. Mulford Act, California State Archives

If the Constitution is for all Americans, then the Second Amendment is mine, too. You don’t get to rewrite history or cherry-pick who the Founders had in mind. Because whether they wanted it or not—I’m here. Armed, legal, and unapologetically Black.