Policy makers are confounded. A recent report by The Hill showed that African Americans are the most directly impacted by what they call “gun violence.” At the same time, firearm purchases by African Americans rose steeply in recent years. Those two facts are not mutually exclusive and are linked in ways that gun control groups don’t want to admit.
In other words, it’s the crime, stupid. And African Americans are refusing to be willing victims to criminals that have no respect for life or law. They also won’t be victims to when elected officials put soft-on-crime policies ahead of protecting communities.
The Hill reported that a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll “found that Black adults were roughly twice as likely as white or Hispanic adults to report that they’ve had a family member killed by a gun, including by suicide, at 34 percent — compared to 17 and 18 percent of white and Hispanic adults.”
The poll further reported that a third of black and Hispanic adults worry “daily” or “almost daily” about violent crime, compared to just 10 percent of white adults. Seventeen percent of black adults surveyed said they don’t feel safe “at all” in their neighborhoods. Hispanic adults surveyed said the same at just nine percent and white adults at just two percent.
Root Causes
While some politicians seek to divide the nation along racial and ethnic lines, this survey reveals that safety is a primary concern for all Americans. The Hill report didn’t explore the reasons why African Americans and Hispanic Americans are worried about crime and lack of community safety. However, it doesn’t take much more digging to uncover those answers.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was trounced in her bid for re-election largely over concerns of rampant crime. San Francisco’s Mayor London Breed was roasted over her letter to federal authorities to assist the city’s police to gain a foothold against the crime wave victimizing her city.
New York City saw record levels of felony crimes last year. Washington, D.C.’s crime is so out-of-control that the U.S. Congress blocked a crime reform bill that would have lowered penalties for violent crimes. Virginia’s Attorney General Jason Miyares said Washington, D.C.’s “crime explosion” is pouring over the border and becoming a concern for Virginia.
These are all metro areas that embraced “defund the police” policies and soft-on-crime approaches by district attorneys funded by progressive antigun billionaire George Soros. Those calls were echoed by gun control groups.
Americans of all walks of life are concerned about their safety, especially in the midst of a crime wave that’s coupled with lax prosecution of crimes. When lawmakers reduced police presence in their communities and prosecutors refused to lock up criminals, it is easy to understand why African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans started buying firearms in record numbers to protect themselves.
Gun Ownership Increases
NSSF surveys of firearm retailers showed that African Americans purchased firearms in 2020 at a rate of 58 percent higher than 2019. Hispanic Americans, at the same time, were purchasing firearms at a 49 percent higher rate and Asian Americans at a 43 percent higher rate.
That trend continued into 2021, where 60 percent of firearm retailers surveyed said the increased traffic from African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Asian Americans remained the same. Nearly 45 percent of firearm retailers reported an increase of African American gun buyers in 2021 and Hispanic Americans were reportedly buying firearms at 37 percent higher rates, along with a 27 percent increase of Asian Americans.
NBC News reported on this increase of more minorities buying guns last year and the reasons why. Spoiler alert – it is because these Americans are concerned for their safety. Philip Smith, President of the National African American Gun Association (NAAGA), told NBC News it is “an awakening.” The reasons, he added, were all rooted in personal safety.
“Having a gun is OK as long as it’s done in the right way,” Smith explained to NBC News. “We try to use a lot of images and imagery that really connects our people to good experiences and positive images for families, for husbands, for mothers, for kids. It’s something we should embrace and use that positive energy in a legal, law-abiding way.”
Americans, no matter their race, creed or color, have the right to protect themselves. Polls that show their elected officials are failing to deliver on promises of safe communities explain why lawful firearm ownership of these communities continues to grow.
Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
Liberal head explodes in 3…..2…..1
Stop mass shootings! Don’t let Democrats get guns!
Kind of like take rockets away from Palestine and see what happens to Palestinians. Take rockets away from Israel and see what happens to Israeli’s
Boils down to you want to take my weapons away from me? FUCK YOU NO!
well when you have idiots like this radicalizing and already radicalized community and a bunch of mentally ill left-wingers/woke/liberals …> Lori Lightfoot warns the LGBTQ+ community, ‘The Supreme Court is coming for us next’ > https://www.foxnews.com/politics/lightfoot-warns-lgbtq-supreme-court-coming-for-us-next
” ‘To my friends in the LGBTQ+ community—the Supreme Court is coming for us next,” Lightfoot wrote on Twitter. ‘This moment has to be a call to arms. We will not surrender our rights without a fight—a fight to victory! ‘ ”
With democrat idiots like that its a wonder many more left-wingers/woke/liberal are not mass shooters (excluding the four trans people school-shooters in the last few years and Antifa and the hundreds of trans people who have committed other violent crimes in the last few years and the entire radical trans movement sector that is intentionally radicalizing kids into basically terrorists and calling for violence.)
that’s right. once you have been a victim of crime, it is natural to wish to protect yourself. the police are not there to protect you. they are there to apprehend criminals. if i lived in a high crime area i should certainly have a concealed weapon.
I don’t live in a high crime area yet, I certainly have a concealed weapon. Just doing my part to keep it a low crime area.
LazrBeam,
For my entire life I have lived in VERY safe locations. Nevertheless, human attackers have jeopardized my life no less than four times, a criminal sexually assaulted and then kidnapped a girl from my rural property, and large dogs threatened me at least once.
While I was not armed for the first two attacks and the assault/kidnapping from my property, I was armed for the second two attacks and the large dog attack and successfully repelled them because I was armed.
Pro tip: if you can make it readily apparent to human attackers that you armed without having to draw or even brandish (I will leave it up to your imagination to figure out how to do that), virtually all of them will immediately break-off their attack. And the confidence/body language of being armed and ready to shoot dangerous dogs running toward you to attack you also tends to stop them in their tracks.
The instructors at the Recoil Firearms Store don’t appear to know how to instruct on a proper support hand grip. Probably NRA certified.
Fair enough 2A…
Except for the fact that they are in the middle of instruction.
2A4ever, It is doubtful that the instructors at the RECOIL Firearms Store are teaching an improper support of a hand gun. From the PICTURE is you look at it, the instructor is trying to correct the student’s handgrip. But then I am a NRA certified instructor in 8 disciplines. You are certified by what organization?
The photos? Yeah, Senile Joe is always looking for another photo op with another liberal kweer who hates America.
finally found a noggin’ he didn’t want to sniff.
That there’s a brillo pad.
“Worry” about violent crime, not so much as being concerned with it.
Of course, I never set a foot out the door without a pistol, “Be Prepared” was the old Boy Scout motto.
It’s The Right Of The People. The people who lead the charge to infringed on that right are democRats. For that reason and a host of historical reasons law abiding Black Americans have no business whatsoever belonging to the democRat Party. Not to say the Republican Party is great but it is far, far better than the democRat Party. And there the independent option.
African Americans are the most directly impacted by what they call “gun violence.” At the same time, firearm purchases by African Americans rose steeply in recent years.
This is a “BIT” from the “Babylon Bee”, right?
the use of the term ‘gun violence’ is deceptive because there is really no such thing. guns do not commit violence, Its ‘people violence’ and black criminals prey on black communities more than any other.
They don’t want to say that black criminal people is what is really impacting the black community, so the call it ‘gun violence’ to avoid saying it.
the use of the term ‘gun violence’ is deceptive because there is really no such thing.
NOT my words, taken from the article, YOU are preaching to the choir…
I live in a very low crime community thats why there is a gun on my hip, a gun in my glove box, a gun in my trunk and guns all over my house. And no there are no children living here and none ever visit. The goverment can take their safe storage laws and pound sand with them.
The only reason the left is surprised that many minorities are buying firearms to defend themselves, is that the left spent so many decades assuring minorities they would take care of them. A lot of people no longer like the taste of that kool aid. The thing in the article about African-Americans committing suicide with firearms? Never saw it. I mean I never saw an African-American commit suicide. Remember, I worked and live in the only predominantly black county in Florida. I know of a couple. They tended to be well educated. I don’t know if it’s a cultural thing, or an oddity of where I live. There’s probably a multimillion dollar tax payer funded study in there somewhere.
in their defense
the people
in the media and gun control orgs
are easily confounded
because when they went to university
they were not programmed to think
they were programmed to feel
They were programmed to follow orders.
Go figure: many minorities in high-crime areas are purchasing firearms in droves.
Something about an “open market” and “voting with your wallet” is ringing in my head.
“…largely over concerns of rampant crime.”
really? then why subsequently elect a police defunder?
closing the wide open lakefront went too far.
Let me get this straight: minorities beating down the doors at firearm stores to purchase firearms as a hedge against violent crime in urban Hellscapes? It’s almost like they don’t buy into the bull$hit that Democrats and the legacy media are peddling.
But they still vote for them anyway.
I don’t get it….
Not sure what it will take to change minds.
hope springs eternal.
Hunger and no livable housing. Get hungry enough and cold enough and you come around to being a responsible adult. Crime is not nor ever has been a determining factor. But when the kids are crying because of an empty belly and all you can do is sit and shiver, you just might start to think there could be a better way.
This minority hatred thing is a mostly made up thing by gov and media. The law abiding people in those areas are just as fed up as any other law abiding people with crime and want to be able to protect themselves.
We need to silence this made up BS and all be citizens – do not buy the devisive bs put out by the people that want to control us.
They use fearmongering to control people. They’ll never stop as long as it keeps working for them. “Vote for me so I can protect you from whitey.”
Arming up to defend against the thugs or criminal actions is something to consider. But, the true issue is the mindset needed to actually pull the trigger if the threat is urgent.
In my 75 years I’ve been in 3 shooting incidents. Once as the unarmed victim. Promised myself in the hospital it would not happen again. Second time was a home invasion and the third was a couple of punks thinking the guy walking down the street would be an easy victim for an armed robbery. Not their best decision.
All 3 incidents were in Dementiacrat controlled cities. Add in 2 incidents where putting my hand on my weapon was enough to turn the potential attacker around. I still have the knife 1 of the deterred idiot dropped. Didn’t pull the pistol because he stopped and dropped his knife about 20 feet away. Had he come another step or 2 he would have been perforated.
And yet, vast majorities of them keep voting for leftist Democraps who want to take those guns away, and not put in prison those that are responsible for the crime.
Will they ever wise up?
Exactly. Look at Illinois and Washington State this year with their Assault Weapon Ban laws they enacted.
The Opposition in the Legislature Hearings were about a 65% mix mostly, young, minority, and Democrat leaning with 35% being Center-Right Voters, both Independents and GOP. The Democrat Party told their very own Voters, who were the most ardent OPPONENTS, to fuck off and pound sand.
Soros is a sick in the head mthrfcker.
The 3rd Reich is strong in that Jew.
it’s delusional to say that Lightfoot was defeated because of high crime. Her replacement, Brandon Johnson, takes her failed policies and turns them up to 11. He was a defund the police supporter, although he’s tried to distance himself from that and claims to want to promote 200 detectives and $25M on police reform (not hiring). Besides too many police, he thinks not enough money is being given to the criminals and red flag laws need to take more guns away from the victims. He blames crime on divestment, and his policies will drive businesses away, not attract them.
Democrats get elected based on who promises to spend (waste) the most money.
Why didn’t the author mention the narrative the media has been using to explain away the increase in gun sales among minorities? I’ve been pointing this out since 2020. Follow the link in the story to the NBC article. It begins with:
A rise in hate crimes and anti-Black vitriol sparked a 58 percent increase in Black people purchasing firearms in 2020. The spike seems to have continued.
They can’t mention the real reason minorities have been arming up. They’re arming up due to the government failing to do their job of keeping the peace. Not only that, but the powers that be literally stoked the violence to begin with. This is the (intended) effect of the St. George Color Revolution.
The NSSF, and it’s anti-2A redflag law-loving head Larry Keane, have a lot of nerve pretending to be something they are not after backing the likes of Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn with A-grades on their legislative report cards this year. I can’t read a word this guy writes without seeing this traitor for who he really is.
The media campaign to disarm Americans is not working, why? Because everyone is entitled to the right of self defense, nowhere in the Constitution does it say anything about race, education or income level as part of the requirement. Poor people are not going to toe the line the media and the leftist want them to. They may not have much, but what they do have is just as important to them as anyone else.
WHEN GUNS ARE OUTLAWED, THE OUTLAWS WILL HAVE GUNS!