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Gun Rights Advocates Are Silent on Cop Who Shot a Legally Armed Black Man

Philando Castile was killed by a Minnesota police officer yesterday evening, not long after a Louisiana cop killed a black man named Alton Sterling.
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On the National Riffle Association's (NRA) policy website, the right to bear arms is, naturally, touted as sanctity. Nothing, not even the worst mass shooting in American history, can shake the lobbying organization's fierce defense of the "rights of law-abiding Americans to defend themselves."

Then what of Philando Castile, a law-abiding citizen and school nutrition services supervisor who was fatally shot by an unnamed Minnesota police officer while he was driving with his fiancée and her 4-year-old daughter last night. While pulled over for a busted taillight, Castile allegedly informed the cop that he was licensed to carry a firearm and had it on him. As he was reaching for his wallet in his back pocket to get his ID, he was shot and killed. The horrific aftermath is shown in the video of the incident filmed, live, by Castile's fiancée, Diamond Reynolds: Castile's white shirt is covered in blood as the officer hovers outside the car window, his gun drawn.

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"They killed my boyfriend. He's licensed…so he's licensed to carry. He was trying to get out his ID and his wallet out his pocket and he let the officer know that he had a firearm and he was reaching for his wallet and the officer just shot him in the arm," Reynolds said to the camera.

Read more: How Racial Bias Influenced Stanford Swimmer's Rape Case

That another black life was unduly taken by law enforcement should be an outrage to anyone. Policy makers everywhere should be speaking up about racially biased policing in America and how communities of color are forced to perceive police as attackers, not protectors.

But perhaps the NRA, an organization with prolific political influence, should be the most outraged. In Minnesota, it is completely legal for both residents and non-residents to carry a concealed weapon with a permit. Castile was a law-abiding citizen who was not only subject to a minor inconvenience as a gun owner or a philosophical threat to his "right to bear arms"—he was murdered by the state because of it.

Instead, pro-gun groups have been silent. Broadly reached out to the NRA multiple times, via phone and email—as well as Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF)—for comment on Philando Castile's murder. No one responded.

The NRA has often highlighted how gun control hurts black people, offering reading suggestions on the topic and even dedicating an entire section of their "War Against Handgun Fact Sheet" to "the racist history of handgun bans."

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Read more: Accused of Clearing 68 Killer Cops, Top Chicago Prosecutor Fights to Keep Her Job

It is indeed true that gun control laws have historically and presently hurt people of color the most. Black people are disproportionately affected by all facets of our criminal justice system. From post-Civil War "Black Codes" that barred newly freed slaves from owning firearms to laws like the Mulford Act—which was passed to disarm and derail the Black Panther movement—it's clear that the policing of guns goes hand in hand with the policing of blackness.

Though the pro-gun group might not actually care about the latter. Like the anti-abortion activists accuse abortion providers—and the procedure itself—of being racist in order to peddle the movement's ideology, it appears that the NRA, too, just uses black people as props for its cause.

We will update this post if they respond.

Update: Here is a statement from the NRA on "the reports from Minnesota." It does not mention Philando Castile by name. The SAF also released a statement yesterday.

The reports from #Minnesota are troubling and must be thoroughly investigated. #2A #NRA pic.twitter.com/Z7wEQNBs0y
— NRA (@NRA) July 8, 2016