The Rev. Al Sharpton reportedly challenged the National Rifle Association for not defending the gun rights of two black men killed by police last week, chiding the group for seeming to suggest "the Second Amendment is for whites only."
In a weekly address the activist minister delivers at his headquarters in Harlem, Sharpton declared punishing police officers for misconduct is the only way to prevent incidents like last week's fatal encounters involving Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota,
Politico reports.
"Both of them were killed by police based on 'they had a gun,'" Sharpton said.
"Now I missed the NRA coming out and defending the gun rights they legally had. Where is the NRA? Where is [NRA president] Wayne LaPierre now? Do you have a Second Amendment right or did you not get down, Mr. Pierre, to the 14th, 15th and 16th amendments? Maybe you mean the Second Amendment is for whites only."
"Where was the gun rights for Castile? Where were the gun rights for Sterling?" he added. "You came to fight for gun rights when gays were played in Orlando. But are you going to meet me in Baton Rouge to stand up for Alton Sterling?"
Sharpton said officers must be punished for misconduct, and pushed back at the assertion of New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio that training and neighborhood policing are making a difference nearly two years after the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, during a police arrest.
"When the video comes out, you say wait a minute, the issue is we need training," Sharpton said. "No, the first issue [is] we need justice. Because once police understand that there is a penalty if you break the law, then you have a new environment to talk about training and changing the culture. But as long as a policeman feels that no matter what he or she does, they will not have to pay for it, they will not take training and they will not take the culture seriously."
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