> LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK (516) 767-4688
> PO BOX 728, BELLPORT, NY 11713         website: http://www.ny.lp.org/
> Media Contact: Richard Cooper (516) 333-4840x15 (o)     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> email: lpnymedia@hotmail.com    John Clifton jclifton@onebox.com; (work)
> 718-276-4630 x139; (biz) 917-344-3781 x6325
> 
> BLACK HISTORY MONTH HIGHLIGHTS GUN CONTROL AS RACIST.  LIBERTARIANS CALL FOR
> INVESTIGATION OF RACIAL PROFILING IN GUN PERMITS.
> 
> Bellport, NY 2/11/02-- Gun control is racist, evil and unconstitutional
> according to black Libertarian leader John Clifton, Treasurer of the
> Libertarian Party of New York.  He and State Chair Richard Cooper call for
> hearings and civil rights  investigations to find out whether there is
> racial profiling in the issuance of gun permits under New York's Sullivan
> law.  The law gives discretionary authority to permitting authorities, who
> need not give any reason for denying a permit.  The Libertarians call for
> repeal of the  Sullivan  Law, and advocate a "right to carry law" providing
> that any eligible person be automatically granted a permit.
> 
> John Clifton is a Navy veteran, social worker and former drug counselor.  He
> ran for US Senate as the Libertarian candidate in 2000.  He draws lessons
> for Black History month on what he and other Libertarians term "victim
> disarmament."  He challenges "Restrictions on the right of black Americans
> to self-defense go back at least to the original gun control laws of the
> Reconstruction period, which were explicitly enacted to deprive freed slaves
> from access to firearms. These regulations often rendered law-abiding blacks
> defenseless in the face of racist gangs and lynch mobs. Lamentably, too many
> blacks have forgotten this legacy of victimization by gun control, and have
> chosen "neo-slavery," or dependency on state control to contain crime.  In
> truth, gun control steals our freedom, our safety, and our capacity for
> self-defense. When more black Americans recognize that government dependency
> has made us less safe, we will become more empowered to reclaim our stolen
> liberties, and to restore a higher quality of life to our communities."
> 
> The Libertarians will nominate candidates for Governor and the other
> statewide offices at their convention April 13-14 in Rochester who will
> defend the right to bear arms and the entire Bill of Rights, championing
> fiscal discipline and social tolerance.
> -30-