Is Jim Carey Against the Civil Rights Movement?

There has been a lot of hubbub about Jim Carey in the last week.  While he is famous for talking out his ass and green vaccines (the same thing), lately he joined the chorus of Hollywood liberals speaking out against gun control. In his video Carrey goes after the late actor and former NRA president Charlton Heston, suggesting that gun owners are compensating for a small penis at the risk of children.

In the early 1960's Charlton Heston risked his career by supporting the Civil Rights Movement.  In 1961 he picketed a restaurant in Oklahoma, angering his employer Allie Artists.  In 1963 participating in a televised round-table on civil rights.  This was a brave act, most of Hollywood was not actively involved in the Civil Rights Movement and people in Hollywood were still in fear from the black lists a decade earlier.

Jim Carrey did not exhibit such courage, by sticking to the established liberal position that all guns are bad and the way to end gun violence is to ban all guns.

This is important, because the modern gun rights movement arose out of the Civil Rights Movement.  In Louisiana, the Deacons for Defense and Justice carried firearms when confronted by the police departments which used violence to disrupt protests against Jim Crow. By displaying firearms, the deacons created the threat of violent confrontation becoming deadly to police.  This meant that the police were required to allow protests to remain peaceful.

In 1966 Huey Newton responded to what he saw as a combination of inaction and harassment by Oakland police, by forming the Black Panthers Party, which among other things encouraged self policing by blacks.  In turn California passed laws prohibiting the open carry of loaded firearms.  This was so offensive that fellow Black Panther Bobby Seale lead a protest where loaded rifles and shotguns were carried into the viewing gallery of the state legislature.

Although Dr. Martin Luther King opposed the black power movement in favor of non-violent protest, he did apply for a gun permit and when denied armed black neighbors defended his home.

Gun politics have always been about power.  It is over whether people have a right to defend themselves, or if that right belongs only to a certain class.  It is about whether one group of p

The 14th amendment was intended to provide important civil liberties to Americans like the freedom to run a business of their choosing or to defend themselves.  It arose out of stories of murders, like that of Robert Church who offended whites in his community by simply being a black man who owned a tavern.  Many states began to enact black codes, that limited the rights of blacks.  When the 14th amendment's "privileges and immunities" clause was written out of the constitution, was it possible to have Jim Crow.

The Supreme Court decisions Heller and McDonald, both deal with urban gun use by people needing to defend themselves.  The issue was not rural rifle owners but people who lived in inner cities and faced gun violence.  bought an apartment in neighborhood she thought was gentrifying.  When she found gangs to be causing crime and unrest, she responded by organizing the community for which she was threatened by gangs and wanted a handgun after her home was broke into.    

Another supporter of Heller was Tom G, Palmer, a gay man who in 1981 was confronted by a group of young men who threatened to kill him.  Palmer believes that the only reason he was not killed, was that he displayed a handgun.  Indeed the Pink Pistols has long viewed the private carrying of firearms to be a gay rights issue, because it allows gays the means to defend themselves from those who would use violence against them based on their sexual orientation.

Carrey claims that we should look to guns instead of guns.  He is right about one thing, America has too much gang violence because of gangs, but these gangs exist because of the 40 year war on drugs. Banning guns simply makes the problem worse by creating a new black market for gangs to control.  If Jim Carrey wants to end gun violence he should speak up on the real issues causing gun violence.

Jim Carey should read the history and philosophy of issues instead of talking out his ass and making fun of dead people.