[David Rosenthal]

Quincy,

First of all, if a bunch of people on the BART platform where Oscar Grant was shot had firearms and brandished them at the cops, it is much more likely that many more people would have died than that Grant would have been spared. Secondly, the Oakland cops often approach suspects with the assumption that the suspects are armed and that many standersby are as well. Often this assumption is correct. It doesn't seem to stop them, or make them "think twice." Nor do many of the armed standersby ever fire on the cops. Why? Because they don't want to be slaughtered by a much superior force, which is not to beg your point again, but suggest that RTC laws would not come close to creating a balance of force.

Secondly, If the problem is that the state has a massive armed apparatus at its disposal, that this apparatus is used and institutionally predisposed to be used in oppressive ways, and that individuals occupying roles in that apparatus are susceptible to grandiose exercises of force (and I do heartily agree that all of that is a huge problem), then the answer is not to arm the citizenry but to disarm the state. The problem with the latter solution is not that is impractical, but that the armed apparatus is a definitive aspect of the state. No military/police force, no state. It's like saying the way to end economic oppression is to give everyone access to the means of production so they can have an equal shot at exploiting each other. That leads to Ayn Rand, not equality. No, the answer is to change the mode of production so that the means are shared. But then it isn't a state anymore, unless you actually believe in the fantasy of the "dictatorship of the proletariat." Oppose oppression, Quincy, don't adopt its strategies and methods in an attempt to even the playing field.

David R.

P.S. -- I too am a Malcolm X fan. Remember he said the ballot or the bullet, not the bullet no matter what. He was prophesizing violence more than advocating it. In the same interviews and speeches where he advocated for protestors and civil rights workers to defend themselves against Citizens Councils, he also said things like "the only real power a poor man in this country is the power of the ballot."