What needs to be explained, to my mind, is the persistence of the width and depth of racism in the U.S., especially against people of African heritage. That issue colors, if you will, the whole of the political process, the process of effecting the choices that make the community what it is. In this nation there are too many people who will forego benefits to themselves (such as better public health care, education, and transportation) to deny them to people of African heritage--and racism has a great deal to do with attitudes toward guns.