Bill Quick, in commenting on the recent appeals court ruling in Ohio, notes that the gun-control law in question (and many others of that era) were written for the purpose of keeping minorities unarmed. He’s right. And another dirty little secret is that the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage law was implemented to keep them from working (and thus taking jobs away from white men).

This, to me, in addition to being an argument for more exposure of the history of these oppressive laws, is also an argument for sunset provisions in all laws, so that harmful laws that arise from peculiar (and often unjust) circumstances are not perpetuated indefinitely. Requiring sunset for all congressional legislation (including all existing legislation) is one of my top candidates for a new constitutional amendment.