LETTER: History of the NRA is anything but racist

I am offended by the racist statement made by Susan Estrich in her Thursday commentary, “Paralysis: Doing nothing about gun violence. Ms. Estrich wrote, “If the death rate among young white men were what it is among young Black men, would we let the National Rifle Association block common-sense solutions?”

The NRA was founded as a civil rights and anti-racist organization, and was founded by military leaders of the North after the Civil War to protect and defend the recently freed slaves from persecution from soldiers of the South. The first gun control laws were attempted just after the Civil War to stop freed slaves from acquiring guns, and the NRA fought against all gun control laws so that the newly freed could be armed to protect themselves.

The NRA fought side-by-side with newly freed slaves in a famous gun battle in Tennessee to fend off former southern soldiers from killing the slaves and taking their guns. I wish Ms. Estrich and the many others who wrongly malign the NRA would take the time to educate themselves about the origins of the NRA and the fact that the NRA was one of the first true civil rights organizations.