Black men did so in the 60s in the South.

Not the Panthers, but the Deacons for Defense and Justice. Robert Hicks was one of the members who protected their families and civil rights workers with weapons. They were not mentioned very often due to MLK not wanting them around, but they did act and died for the cause of civil rights. They showed up at civil rights rallies at a time when the sherrif would either not protect them or be the ones who killed them had they not been armed.

Today they are not well remembered but they did protect their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by invoking the Second Amendment .