The National Rifle Association is still silent about the death of Philando Castile, and this is yet more proof that the NRA is all about gun rights...except when they aren't.
Last Friday, Officer Jeronimo Yanez of St. Anthony, Minnesota was acquitted of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Castile, a 32-year-old black cafeteria worker.
In July 2016, Yanez pulled Castille over for having a brake light out. Castille’s girlfriend and young daughter were in the car with him. The officer asked for Castille’s driver’s license and proof of insurance. Castille handed the officer his insurance document, then Castille reached down to his pants, presumably to get his driver’s license out of his wallet, and said “Sir, I have to tell you that I do have a firearm on me.” The officer starts yelling and within seconds, fires seven shots into the car point-blank range, killing Castille.
Dashcam footage of the incident was released Tuesday.
Castille’s gun was still in his pocket when paramedics started loading his dead body into the ambulance.
Castille was licensed to carry. He possessed this firearm completely legally. He disclosed the firearm to the officer. The dashcam footage shows he posed no threat. This was a so-called good guy with a gun, and he was still killed anyway.
But Castille was a black man, which apparently makes all the difference to the NRA. Why else wouldn’t they come to his defense?
Many gun owners, including NRA members, are outraged about this from a gun rights perspective, but interestingly, we haven’t heard much from the NRA, which is usually very quick to come to the defense of gun owners who make the national news for having their rights violated.
Shortly after the shooting, the NRA released a statement saying “the NRA will have more to say once all the facts are known,” leaving open the possibility that the shooting was Castille’s fault.
Well, all the facts are known now. The investigation is over. The trial is over. The dashcam footage has been released. And still, we’ve heard nothing from the NRA. Many major news outlets have asked for their comment, and they have refused to respond.
Does the NRA only care about the gun rights of white people? Even though Castile had done nothing to deserve being shot, does the NRA just see this guy as a young thug and think “he shouldn’t have a gun”?
The police officer’s actions sent the message that the second amendment doesn’t apply to him, and apparently the NRA tacitly agrees If this was a 50-year-old white guy, the NRA would be having a field day, probably filing lawsuits.
The NRA bends over backwards for cops and white people having their gun rights violated. A black guy getting his gun rights violated? That’s a difficult grey area for the NRA, I guess. Disgusting.
