ACLU slammed for arguing racism is ‘foundational’ to the Second Amendment, its inclusion in the Bill of Rights

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The American Civil Liberties Union faced withering criticism Sunday for claiming that racism is "foundational to the Second Amendment and its inclusion in the Bill of Rights." 

The ACLU enlisted Ines Santos, a communications intern according to her byline, to pen a news and commentary piece headlined, "Do Black Americans Have the Right to Bear Arms?" The intern declared that "anti-Blackness determined the inclusion of the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights, and has informed the unequal and racist application of gun laws."

Santos wrote the "vigilantism of widespread gun ownership puts Black Americans in an especially vulnerable position" because of brutality and the human cost of discriminatory policing. 

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"The gun violence epidemic continues to spark debate about the Second Amendment and who has a right to bear arms. But often absent in these debates is the intrinsic anti-Blackness of the unequal enforcement of gun laws, and the relationship between appeals to gun rights and the justification of militia violence," she wrote. "Throughout the history of this country, the rhetoric of gun rights has been selectively manipulated and utilized to inflame white racial anxiety, and to frame Blackness as an inherent threat."

The piece was only three paragraphs and ended by plugging the latest episode of ACLU’s "At Liberty" podcast, which featured a discussion on the same topic. But when the ACLU shared the story on social media, critics quickly slammed the concept. 

"The ACLU has completely lost the plot. Meanwhile, the the National African American Gun Association, which began in 2015 with a single chapter in Atlanta, now comprises more than 75 chapters with 30,000 members," Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby responded. 

"You’re an embarrassment to your own history," Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor wrote. 

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"No, the first gun control laws were created to prevent slaves from revolting, and to keep freed slaves fearing for their lives," the Libertarian Part of Texas responded. "Restricting minorities right to bear arms has been the calling card of American racism, not the other way around." 

Many others responded with thoughts on the ACLU's tweet:

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