It isn’t often that the NAACP, a civil rights group focused mainly on issues of race, comments on guns and the right to bear arms but as a result of Biden’s latest aims at gun control they have.
The Biden Administration is pushing a new plan to increase policing efforts in major cities, in particular, the Biden administration would like to see that gun crimes are addressed first and foremost. This would mean that funds and task forces are going to focus on the illegal sales of firearms as well as the illegal use of firearms.
The NAACP has raised concern over this because they feel it will disproportionately affect African-Americans.
From WoodTV:
“This is an ongoing problem that is occurring not only in Grand Rapids, but in cities all across the country,” said Carlton T. Mayers II, the policing reform advisor for the Grand Rapids NAACP. “It encourages over-policing of Black and brown communities, which ultimately results in the unnecessary harms and deaths of Black and brown people.”
Biden’s plan is suggesting cities use some of their COVID-19 relief funding to get the job done.
Mayers says the community should be involved in the decision before money is allocated.
“We are very much so not in support of just arbitrarily giving money to law enforcement and not to community resources to deal with gun violence and violent crimes. They can use the money not only to hire more police officers, but also to use and purchase technology and other equipment. We’re very concerned about that,” said Mayers.
This issue with Biden’s new plan to curb violent crime is not that it inherently infringes the 2nd Amendment rights of Americans, particularly African-Americans, but that the entire operation is a scapegoat for poor policy decisions made by local officials and a years-long movement to defund the police.
Whether a gun or knife was used in a crime is irrelevant, this policy makes the tool used in a crime the main issue and the focus of efforts to reduce crime.
