The history of gun control in America has an ugly component: discrimination and oppression of African-Americans, other racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, and other "unwanted elements," including union organizers and agrarian reformers. Firearms laws were often enacted to disarm and facilitate repressive action against these groups. Another American prejudice supported such gun-control efforts, that is, that poor people, especially the black poor, are not to be trusted with firearms. The obvious effect of gun bans and prohibitions is to deny law-abiding citizens access to firearms for the defense of themselves and their families. That effect is doubly discriminatory, because the poor, especially the black poor, are the primary victims of crime and often lack the political power to command as much police protection as richer neighborhoods. In the final analysis, potential victims must protect themselves and their families or property from criminal attack at the moment the criminal strikes. The need for the ability to defend oneself, family, and property is much more critical in the poor and minority neighborhoods ravaged by crime and without adequate police protection.