I feel the need to both support and dismantle this argument.

The Civil Rights movement in the 60s was not at all peaceful. That is mostly revisionist history pushed as part of Black History Month. There were MANY groups involved but two of the most well known are The Black Panthers and those associated with Martin Luther King Jr. With the general nonsense being that MLK et al were actually anti-violence while the Black Panthers were borderline terrorists.

That is very incorrect. MLK et al were very much pro gun because they understood what they were facing. But they also were very very aware of what the US Government had already done in places like Tulsa and the many many times that Native Americans were slaughtered. Carrying a gun to a protest just gives the cops/soldiers an excuse to unload on you. Hence, there were very very VERY different protocols when marching versus… for lack of a better term, surviving in between marches. Terrified black and brown people desperate to live? Yeah, they’ll show up. The white masses who are sympathetic but not to the point of wanting to eat a bullet? Maybe keep them away from the bullets if you want the numbers?

Which gets to the other side that ALWAYS angers me when the gun nuts bring them up: The Black Panthers. Yes, they were a group with militaristic tendencies that engaged in “open carry patrols” to fight back against the cops. But… that isn’t what made them so successful. It was actually all of the community outreach programs. The student lunch program (specifically breakfast) actually owes a LOT to The Black Panthers, funny enough. As one of their tactics was to actually organize and feed kids in communities.

Which, again, is what the gun nuts forget. There is no “we are going to take off our masks and blend into the populace after shooting the bad guys” nonsense. If you engage in violence, you are putting a target on you and your family. And all the government has to do is say “We have reason to believe John Smith is hiding in this neighborhood. Turn him over”.

You know how you don’t get your ass beat and lynched in a heartbeat? By being part of your community. When they come for you, they come for everyone. And you do that through outreach and actually protecting your community. Not just going to the range and practicing your quick draw shooting. And that is why people genuinely loved the Black Panthers (… and it is a model that has been used by organized crime the world over…).

When the cops and state won’t protect a community? You look to those who do. And when the cops and state decide they want to hurt the people who have been protecting you? You return the favor. Because Jamal and Muhammed aren’t just black power activists who openly carry rifles. They are the guys who walked all those kids home from school when the cops (and the whites…) were raiding the neighborhood. They are the people who helped you fix your door. They have been there for you. Are you going to be there for them?

Guess who you don’t care about? That dipshit who waved a gun at a cop and got the Johnson family killed in the crossfire.

And modern day protests very much come out of the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement (with many of the oldhats having actually marched in that… and been regularly investigated by the cops ever since). Protests are peaceful. End of story. Anything that might not be peaceful? Never heard of it and anyone who claims otherwise is a liar. But maybe go get to know your local community organizers and, when they trust you, ask them about what nonsense that is.