In 2015, a group called the National African American Gun Association formed with the intention to “promote self-protection.” Since the 2016 election, this organization has seen its membership soar, in some measure due to the concern (I would argue the fact) that the president of the United Sates is a racist who is emboldening racism in our society. The more black Americans embrace or utilize their Second Amendment rights in public, however, the more you see alarm being expressed by people who are traditionally “pro-gun.”
The most recent example came from Sen. Kelly Loeffler. Loeffler recently described Americans who were lawfully, and peacefully, carrying weapons as “totally unacceptable” and an example of “mob rule.” As Scott Shackford points out in his piece in Reason, it is not against the law to carry guns openly in public in Georgia, where Loeffler serves as a senator. In fact, Loeffler never accuses the armed individuals of breaking any laws, and in the very recent past, she has been an outspoken proponent of gun rights and expressed the need to “protect and defend” the Second Amendment. So, asks Shackford, “[w]hat could possibly make a pro-gun-rights senator suddenly take such a dim view of citizens’ rights to bear arms?” The only logical, and rather obvious answer is that in Georgia, the people legally carrying guns in public happened to be black.
It is simply stunning how the narrative around the right to bear arms can still change today, on national television no less, depending on the race of the gun owner. For example, when it was white armed Americans in Michigan who were protesting in their state capitol building, the president offered praise and a message of support. Yet, when the group is Black Lives Matter, even unarmed protests are described by this same president as “hate coming down the street.” Again, the inference for why there is such a difference in reaction between the two protests is absurdly obvious.
One of the most common narratives coming from “pro-gun” rights groups is that the only way to stop a bad person with a gun is a good person with a gun. Although I happen to agree, it must also be acknowledged that this narrative can backfire when it’s a good black man with a gun stopping a bad guy trying to harm others. However, as activist Michael Render (otherwise known as Killer Mike) recently argued, such instances of injustice should not dissuade black people from owning guns. In fact, according to Render, it should encourage legal ownership in order to normalize it and to “defend what you care about.” Moreover, gun ownership is a right and, to Render, it is imperative that black Americans embrace all of their rights to use like “tools in a toolbox.”
Of course, gun ownership being viewed wildly different depending on the race of the owner is nothing new. Irrational and downright bigoted fears of black Americans possessing arms to defend themselves was the primary cause of this country’s first gun control laws. Laws, it should be said, that are not applied evenly to this day. Which is why I have argued that gun laws are, as a general matter, destructive, ineffective, and unnecessary.
The good news is that American views on race are increasingly improving, and hopefully, normalization of black gun ownership can inevitably increase. But as Loeffler and the president often demonstrate, there is still a lot of work to be done in regard to viewing black gun ownership in a positive light, or even just a neutral light.
Tyler Broker’s work has been published in the Gonzaga Law Review, the Albany Law Review, and is forthcoming in the University of Memphis Law Review. Feel free to email him or follow him on Twitter to discuss his column.