For years, I have been writing that the black community is a natural place to recruit Second Amendment activists. The people in urban communities are some of the most in need of using their right to keep and bear arms for self defense. John Lott came to the same conclusion with academic studies showing who benefits most from less restrictive concealed carry laws.
Second Amendment activists have long professed that firearms training increases responsibility and maturity. It has worked in rural areas. It should work in urban centers, too.
Maj Toure (above), who founded Black Guns Matter, decided to take that concept and run with it. Toure is one of a number of black firearms activists that teach in support of furthering Second Amendment rights.
The BGM leader educated the YESPhilly students through various workshops, covering topics like conflict resolution, de-escalation, firearm safety, their rights as citizens and the Second Amendment.
Maj Toure founded Black Guns Matter in 2015 and tours across the country providing Second Amendment education and information to urban communities according to the BGM website.
“I don’t think there’s a black gun culture or white gun culture, I think there’s an informed gun culture and an ignorant gun culture,” Toure said.
These efforts are part of a sea change in attitudes about guns in black communities. John Lott has documented and anecdotal media reports confirm that more black people are getting concealed carry permits than ever before.
A majority of Black Americans now see firearms ownership as a positive thing. More than 16 million Americans now have concealed carry permits, about 6.5% of the total adult population. And black concealed carry permits are growing faster than among whites.
Women are largely fueling the increase. Among the eight states that had data from 2012-16, permits for men grew by 22% and permits for women soared by 93%. In the 14 states with 2016 data on sex, women now make up 36% of permit holders.
Over those same years, the number of blacks with permits increased 30% faster than the number of whites with permits. Blacks now make up 11% of permit holders. A few states provide a breakdown for Asian-Americans, and in those states they accounted for the largest percentage increase in permits.
Black people, especially black women, are realizing the right to keep and bear arms had been taken from them. With few exceptions (California) that realization is making draconian gun control laws virtually impossible to pass, particularly at the federal level.
Despite their claims to the contrary, enactment of gun control laws grew out of the the need to keep slaves subjugated, and the racist desire to keep freed blacks disarmed. Integrating responsible gun ownership and Second Amendment rights into the urban black culture would help to undermine that.
A member of Arizona Citizens Defense League attended an Black Guns Matter event in Avondale, Arizona, earlier this year. Here are his comments:
Maj Toure had an event in Avondale, AZ earlier in the year. The man is a highly skilled motivational speaker and gave a very good presentation. The audience was mostly Black Americans and seemed to come away with his positive attitude.
Among the guest speakers was Dave Kopp, President of the AZCDL.
After Dave spoke, Maj interrupted the program and told the audience that “These folks are who you need to be in contact with”.
I was a volunteer at the AZCDL table and we garnered a few new members at that event.Maj Toure has a great message and Black Guns Matter needs all of our support.
At Black Guns Matter, they embrace the necessity of educating urban minority communities about their rights and responsibilities. It’s a goal that all Second Amendment activists can embrace.
The Black Guns Matter mission is to educate urban communities on their 2nd amendment rights and responsibilities through firearm training and education.
Those pushing for civilian disarmament depend on blacks and women as core sources of support for their anti-civil rights efforts. It appears that they are losing at least some of that support.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.