Oregon Law Review : Vol. 89, No. 1, p. 001-080 : Quick on the Draw: Implicit Bias and the Second Amendment
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Date
2010
Authors
Benforado, Adam
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon Law School
Abstract
African Americans face a significant and menacing threat, but it is
not the one that has preoccupied the press, pundits, and policy makers
in the wake of several bigoted murders and a resurgent white
supremacist movement. While hate crimes and hate groups demand
continued vigilance, if we are truly to protect our minority citizens,
we must shift our most urgent attention from neo-Nazis stockpiling
weapons to the seemingly benign gun owners among us—our friends,
family, and neighbors—who show no animus toward African
Americans and who profess genuine commitments to equality.
Our commonsense narratives about racism and guns—centered on
a conception of humans as autonomous, self-transparent, rational actors—are outdated and strongly contradicted by recent evidence
from the mind sciences.
Advances in implicit social cognition reveal that most people carry
biases against racial minorities beyond their conscious awareness.
These biases affect critical behavior, including the actions of
individuals performing shooting tasks. In simulations, Americans are
faster and more accurate when firing on armed blacks than when
firing on armed whites, and faster and more accurate in electing to
hold their fire when confronting unarmed whites than when
confronting unarmed blacks. Yet, studies suggest that people who
carry implicit racial bias may be able to counteract its effects through
training.
Given recent expansions in gun rights and gun ownership—and the
hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of private citizens who already
use firearms in self-defense each year—this is reason for serious
concern. While police officers often receive substantial simulation
training in the use of weapons that, in laboratory experiments, appears
to help them control for implicit bias, members of the public who
purchase guns are under no similar practice duties.
In addressing this grave danger, states and local governments
should require ongoing training courses for all gun owners similar to
other existing licensing regimes. Such an approach is unlikely to run
into constitutional problems and is more politically tenable than
alternative solutions.
Even with the murders that have already occurred, Americans are
not paying enough attention to the frightening connection between
the right-wing hate-mongers who continue to slither among us and
the gun crazies who believe a well-aimed bullet is the ticket to all
their dreams.1
– Bob Herbert
Description
80 p.
Keywords
Race discrimination -- United States, African Americans -- Civil rights
Citation
89 Or. L. Rev. 1 (2010)