Civil Rights and guns

Black Codes (United States) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Negroes might not carry knives or firearms unless they were licensed so to do."

Black Panther Party - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of black people.
We believe we can end police brutality in our black community by organizing black self-defense groups that are dedicated to defending our black community from racist police oppression and brutality. The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States gives a right to bear arms. We therefore believe that all black people should arm themselves for self defense."

Mark Comfort
"The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense calls upon the American people in general and the Black People in particular to take careful note of the racist California Legislature now considering legislation aiming at keeping black people disarmed and powerless at the very time that racist police agencies throughout the country intensify the terror, brutality, murder and repression of Black People. As the aggression of the racist American Government escalates in Vietnam, the police agencies of America escalate the repression of Black People throughout the ghettos of America. Vicious police dogs, cattle prods, and increased patrols have become familiar sights in Black communities... The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense believes that the time has come for Black people to arm themselves against this terror before it's too late."

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
"Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., who, unlike the Black Panthers, was famous for nonviolent civil disobedience, also understood the need to protect himself. After his house was bombed in 1956, he applied for a permit to carry a concealed firearm. He was denied, but from that day on armed supporters guarded his home, a home which was described by Glenn Smiley as an “arsenal”."