Cracks in the black community on concealed carry

O's home Chicago, the city in the only state in the country that doesn't allow it. A liberal columnist listens:

A West Side state legislator with a predominately African-American constituency says he is leaning toward breaking ranks with his fellow Chicago lawmakers to support allowing individuals to carry concealed weapons in Illinois.

Rep. La Shawn Ford, a third-term Democrat, told me he is prepared to become the first black legislator from the city to vote for a concealed carry law — if sponsors of the bill will add a provision requiring the National Rifle Association to pay for sensitivity training for police officers.[snip]

If you’ve read this space over time, then you know I’m not in favor of anything that puts more guns into the hands of more people.

But I recognize there is another point of view, and it intrigues me to see that other perspective being expressed in minority communities that bear the brunt of the impact of gun violence.

The lead plaintiffs in the lawsuit that struck down Chicago’s handgun ban were black, Otis McDonald and Colleen Lawson. Allowing concealed carry in Illinois is the next stage to liberate the 2nd amendment for we the people.

More on Ford's townhall and another community meeting here:

Vernon was just one of four panelists that spoke at the South Side meeting. Others included Lori Meriweather, a single mother and member of the Second Amendment Sisters and U.S. Army veteran Shawn Gowder. The event was moderated by talk show host Cliff Kelley. Kelley favors passing the legislation. “When I was a member of the city council back in 1982 I voted against then Mayor Jane Byrne’s ordinance to ban handguns because I saw it as an attempt to disarm law-abiding Black people,” Kelley said. “I came to this position after reading about a case in Washington D. C. where a man called to police to report a man broke into his home and was raping his wife and the cops never responded. When he sued the police, the courts threw out the case saying the police are not responsible for your personal protection.”
[snip]
Meriweather said she was a victim of a serial stalker who showed up inside her home one day while her kids were there. She said the experience showed her just how vulnerable she and other single women are.

“Just about every woman I know is not going to be able to stop a man from assaulting her in a one on one situation,” Meriweather said. “The gun evens the fight. You can’t deny that fact. I think what Illinois is doing is criminal towards women, seniors and others who are at a physical disadvantage to some thug who wants to do them harm.”

Last time the vote was six votes short.

Deterrence works. Let the bad guys think twice.

...It's a matter of civil rights, after all:

It’s true that Thomas’ landmark concurring opinion in McDonald v. Chicago provided a sweeping history of the 14th Amendment's roots in the anti-slavery movement—but that’s only because the 14th Amendment was specifically designed and ratified to counteract the predatory actions of the former Confederate states, who sought to deny the civil, political, and economic rights of black Americans and their white allies—including the right to keep and bear arms. Anybody who really followed McDonald and the battle over Second Amendment incorporation against the states would have learned at least that much legal history. If Toobin really thinks that gun rights are “scarcely related” to civil rights, that’s only because he wasn’t paying attention.

It's time, Chicago. Let's come together on the right course.