Furthermore, although white people view the right to bear arms as sacrosanct, it can always be taken from Black people when we begin to resist against racial terror and state violence. When the Black Panthers declared their intentions to protect themselves with firearms, widespread gun control targeting our communities was enacted after being advocated for by the National Rifle Association (NRA), which notoriously loathes even the most basic of gun control laws. If we do buy guns at higher rates and express our intentions to protect ourselves, the government may retaliate with increased policing, regulation, and even state-sanctioned murder.
Still, I believe that for many Black people, especially those living in predominantly white areas, firearms might prove necessary. And not just for defense, but for food sustainability, which will become more important as the climate crisis worsens. In fact, home birth, natural medicine, farming, hunting, and fishing, are all skills I believe Black people should turn to as we prepare for the seismic shift that political upheaval and environmental collapse may bring.
America is a gun country, and it’ll destroy itself before it lays down its arms. With the storm that’s already here and with the storms that have yet to come, the idea of my people laying down ours first terrifies me.
– Nylah Burton in As A Black Woman In This Country, I Feel I Need To Bear Arms