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OPINION: James Walker: Cowboys? Is urban America the new Tombstone?

New Haven Register - 3/10/2019

March 10-- Mar. 10--A long time ago in a country where lawlessness ruled with six-shooters on the hip, a group of lawmen and a group of lawless men who called themselves cowboys kicked up the dust during a gunfight at the OK Corral.

It was the late 19th century and history has immortalized the legendary lawmen and cowboys who engaged in shootouts before law and order tempered the wild frontier.

It was a time when men kept shotguns over the fireplace, bullets in the drawer and habitually slung holsters around their hips or shoved guns down their pants as they walked the town and conducted everyday business and chores.

That was how men protected their families against outlaws -- and guns were as common in households as apple pie on the sill and fire roaring in the hearth.

But that critical early American instillation of the right to own a gun to protect oneself and one's family has never been the case in the urban community. While gun ownership is more prevalent in suburban and rural areas, only 19 percent of people in urban areas say they own a gun.

And guns have a different meaning in the black community, where they are viewed not as protection but as weapons of destruction. In the black community, guns mock death with arrogance, attitude and indifference -- and mark their territory with the ghosts of their spoils that are used as intimidation.

But despite bullet-ridden bodies, the constant headlines and the news conferences where vows to the public are made, guns in black households are about as uncommon as black mothers calling friends to get a recipe to put schnitzel on the dinner table.

Maj Toure wants that to change.

Toure, a conservative, is the founder of Black Guns Matter -- a group that educates people in urban communities on their Second Amendment rights -- and he is taking on the National Rifle Association for leaving inner-city people out of the conversation on gun rights.

"The conservative room has, honestly, not done enough for urban America," Toure told NRA board member Willes Lee at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, according to Fox News. "It's just what it is. That doesn't mean that's where we stay. That means we have to create liaisons."

Toure said he wants to arm individuals in urban communities with guns to protect themselves from the onslaught of gangs and gun violence striking down youths and making low-income neighborhoods a haven for crime. According to his Facebook page, he believes by arming people and educating the gun owners, conflicts can end without someone getting killed.

He has been touting that message for more than a year as he makes the rounds of conservative media.

"More so than just giving young urban people, of all races, firearms, giving them education about Second Amendment rights, giving them more education about conflict resolution and de-escalation tactics, 'cause that's completely missing in urban areas like the city of Chicago," Toure told Fox Business in 2017.

Toure also sees it as a way to keep young, black men out of the prison system, as many walk around with unlicensed guns they're carrying to protect their lives, not to commit a crime.

I am not sure how that will play out in Peoria, but much of what Toure says I agree with.

I love his message of providing urban America with knowledge of Second Amendments rights and educating young men and women about conflict resolution and de-escalation tactics, which Project Longevity in Connecticut has had success with.

I love his message that conservatives have failed to create and support urban liaisons and that has allowed Democrats to essentially paint any conservative gathering as a rally for klansmen.

And I love his message that too many people in the high-crime communities where he brings his message have slave mentalities.

All of that I agree with.

But arming individuals in urban communities?

I have to swallow real hard on that one.

I happen to be a man who strongly believes in nonviolence and I know putting guns in people's hands puts ideas in their heads -- no matter how well intended the theory may be.

I grew up and continue to live in urban America where there is always a tinge of fear and mistrust of black men in general. Unlike white men, every time a black man pulls the trigger, it casts suspicion on other black men.

I wonder what would happen if all urban men were legitimately armed. I wonder what would happen if two men got into a heated argument that got out of control? No matter the color of skin, many men are hot-headed and would be quick to pull the trigger -- and regret the action as soon as they cooled off.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, gun deaths per 100,000 people in the United States increased from 563 in 2010 to 691 in 2017, a figure that also includes a rise in suicides.

So, there is reason to worry.

I started this column recounting the most famous showdown in the Old West between lawman Wyatt Earp, his brothers and Doc Holliday and the lawless McLaurys and Clantons.

That happened nearly 138 years ago in Tombstone, Arizona, which was then considered the most dangerous town in the West by many.

There are parts of urban communities under siege with violence and getting worse. Police are overwhelmed and understaffed. Innocent people are being shot dead. Children are dying, mothers are crying, families are angry. People are being robbed on the streets. Homes are burglarized, stores broken into. And plea deals continue to put felons caught with guns back on the streets again and again.

Eventually, something has got to give.

We now call men like the McLaurys and Clantons criminals and felons but we use to call them cowboys.

Urban communities may not be Shangri-La but they have yet to become the OK Corral.

But that could be coming if people in urban communities decide they have had enough and start to arm themselves.

What goes around, comes around.

And that is a worrisome thought in a country where many people believe we are heading back to lawlessness.

Cowboys? Is urban America the new Tombstone?

James Walker is the New Haven Register's senior editor and a statewide columnist for Hearst Connecticut newspapers. He can be reached at 203-680-9389 or james.walker@hearstmediact.com.

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