Second Amendment Support Growing in Black Community

An article in The Florida Courier, which labels itself as "Sharing Black Life, Statewide",  illustrates that black citizens of the United States' attitudes toward guns and the Second Amendment are changing.  Nowhere in the article did I detect a sentiment in favor of more legal restrictions.  From fcourier.com:

“For the average responsible Black person I believe it is very beneficial to have a CCP. I believe that many Blacks are afraid of guns. The reason is they have never been properly trained on how a firearm works. Once they get that understanding, they are eager to own and carry a firearm,” he added.

“If enough Blacks obtained a CCP and were properly educated, then many of our neighborhoods would safer – one street at a time,” Barrs concluded.

Barrs is also an NRA supporter.

“There are a lot of benefits of NRA membership,” he said. “They not only advocate for Second Amendment rights, but also provide insurance for one’s weapons along with other perks. I’ve been a member for two years and strongly advise becoming a member,” he continued.

This article is part of a trend that has accelerated in the last few years.  With President Obama's push for ever more legal restrictions on the ownership and sale of guns, the Second Amendment and infringements on it have gotten a lot of attention.  The more people learn, the more they are converted to Second Amendment supporters.  There is even a name for this effect.  It is called "the shooting cycle".  In this last cycle, the effect was dramatic.  From the PewResearchCenter:

Over the past two years, blacks’ views on this measure have changed dramatically. Currently, 54% of blacks say gun ownership does more to protect people than endanger personal safety, nearly double the percentage saying this in December 2012 (29%). By contrast, whites’ views have shown less change: 62% now view guns as doing more to protect people, up from 54% in December.

Most black people are not criminals.  But the black population has a much higher percentage of criminals.  Honest black people bear the brunt of the crimes committed by those criminals. 

Once someone is able to get beyond the propaganda that it is guns that are causing the crimes, they have ample reason to support the right to arms and self defense. 

The rise of black stars in the gun culture, such as Ken Blanchard,  Colion Noir, Rick Ector, Sheriff David Clarke of Milwaukee, and Police Chief James Craig of Detroit primed the pump.

Black Criminals in the hood are not interested in the Second Amendment, taking concealed carry classes, and being safe while using exercising their rights to defense of self and others.  A recent study in Chicago emphasised the point.

The population of Chicago is majority black, and criminals in Chicago are overwhelmingly black.   From the recent Chicago Crime Lab study,  a survey of criminals whose crimes involved guns in Chicago:  

Still, it is interesting to note that the majority of respondents demonstrated little knowledge of firearms. Many of the comments by Rs demonstrated ignorance of the manner in which firearms function, the ammunition requirements and the capabilities of their weapon of choice. Rs never discussed safe handling or storage practices, nor did they mention efforts to improve their knowledge of the firearms they possessed.⁹

The gun culture welcomes responsible black people.  When people in a community accept the rule of law and cooperate with police, violent crime rates drop dramatically.

Being legally armed is a strong indicator that the rule of law applies to you, that you have rights, and a reason to support the system that supports your rights.  The Crime Prevention Research Center has evidence that the number of minority permit holders is growing fast.   From the CPRC:

-- Some evidence suggests that permit holding by minorities is increasing more than twice as fast as for whites.

It remains to be seen what effect black Second Amendment supporters will have on the politicians who have them as constituents.



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