Black
women
are
increasingly
considering
gun
ownership
for
personal
protection,
according
to
industry
experts
and gun
rights
advocates.
(Sept.
1) |
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In this
Aug. 21,
2021,
image
taken
from
video,
firearms
instructor
Wayne
Thomas
instructs
women
the
proper
stance
in
firearms
shooting
at the
Recoil
Firearms
store in
Taylor,
Mich.
About
1,000 or
so
mostly
Black
women
taking
part in
free
weekend
gun
safety
and
shooting
lessons
at two
Detroit-area
ranges.
Black
women
are
increasingly
are
considering
gun
ownership
for
personal
protection,
according
to
industry
experts
and gun
rights
advocates.
(AP
Photo/Carlos
Osorio) |
|
Black
women
seeing
guns as
protection
from
rising
crime
By COREY
WILLIAMS
apnews.com
TAYLOR,
Mich. -
Valerie
Rupert
raised
her
right
arm,
slightly
shaking
and
unsure
as she
aimed at
the
paper
target
representing
a
burglar,
a robber
or even
a
rapist.
The
67-year-old
Detroit
grandmother
squeezed
the
trigger,
the echo
of her
shot
blending
into the
chorus
of other
blasts
by other
women
off the
small
gun
range
walls.
“I was a
little
nervous,
but
after I
shot a
couple
of
times, I
enjoyed
it,”
said
Rupert,
among
1,000 or
so
mostly
Black
women
taking
part in
free
weekend
gun
safety
and
shooting
lessons
at two
Detroit-area
ranges.
Black
women
like
Rupert
increasingly
are
considering
gun
ownership
for
personal
protection,
according
to
industry
experts
and gun
rights
advocates.
Fear of
crime,
especially
as
shootings
and
murders
have
risen in
cities
big and
small,
is one
driver
of the
trend.
But a
new
motivator
is the
display
of
public
anger in
the last
15
months
beginning
with
confrontations
in the
wake of
George
Floyd’s
death in
Minneapolis
under
the knee
of
police
officer
Derek
Chauvin.
Worries
about
the
anger
over
COVID-19-related
restrictions
and the
outrage
over the
outcome
of the
presidential
2020
election,
driven
by lies,
are
contributors,
too. In
Michigan,
that
anger
led to a
plot to
kidnap
the
governor,
as well
as
instances
where
armed
protesters
descended
on the
state
Capitol.
In April
2020,
hundreds
of
conservative
activists,
including
some who
were
openly
carrying
assault
rifles,
flocked
to the
Michigan
Capitol
in
Lansing
to
denounce
Democratic
Gov.
Gretchen
Whitmer’s
stay-home
order.
Some
demonstrators
— mostly
white
and
supporters
of
President
Donald
Trump —
entered
the
building
carrying
guns,
which is
legal in
the
statehouse.
The
sight of
white
men
wearing
body
armor
and
holding
guns at
the
Capitol
still
sticks
with
Rupert.
“They
went up
to the
Capitol
with all
those
guns.
You need
to be
ready,”
she
said.
About
8.5
million
people
in the
U.S.
bought
their
first
gun in
2020,
the
National
Shooting
Sports
Foundation
says.
The
trade
association
for the
firearms
industry
adds
that gun
purchases
by Black
men and
Black
women
increased
by more
than 58%
over the
first
six
months
of last
year.
Gun
ownership
tends to
increase
when
people
lose
faith in
government
and the
police,
said
Daniel
Webster,
professor
of
American
Health
in
Violence
Prevention
at the
Bloomberg
School
of
Public
Health
and
director
of the
Johns
Hopkins
Center
for Gun
Violence
Prevention
and
Policy.
“We’ve
seen
such an
increase
in white
nationalist
violence,”
Webster
said.
“Some
combination
of the
lack in
faith in
police
protecting
you and
hate
groups
has
motivated
a lot of
Black
people
to arm
up.”
Black
firearm
owners
still
represent
a
relatively
small
portion
of the
gun-owning
population,
with
9.3% of
gun
owners
being
Black
men and
5.4%
Black
women.
Nearly
56% of
U.S. gun
owners
are
white
men.
Over 16%
are
white
women,
the
Newtown,
Connecticut-based
National
Shooting
Sports
Foundation
says.
Still,
2020 saw
“a
tectonic
shift in
gun
ownership
in
America”
where
there
was “a
huge
increase
of
African
Americans
taking
ownership
of their
Second
Amendment
rights,”
said
Mark
Oliva,
its
director
of
public
affairs.
Beth
Alcazar,
who is
white,
got
involved
with
shooting
about
two
decades
ago and
says it
was rare
to see a
Black
woman
taking
target
practice.
“Honestly,
not more
than one
image
pops up
of
seeing a
Black
woman at
the
range,”
said
Alcazar,
now a
certified
shooting
instructor
in the
Birmingham,
Alabama,
area and
U.S.
Concealed
Carry
Association
associate
editor.
“With
more
involvement
in the
last
five
years, I
see
Black
women on
almost
every
occasion
I go to
the
range,”
she
said,
adding
that
it’s
exciting
for
women
learning
how to
shoot to
see
other
women,
especially
women of
color.
For many
Black
women,
it’s
about
taking
care of
themselves,
said
Lavette
Adams, a
licensed
firearm
instructor
who
participated
in the
free
Detroit-area
training
sponsored
by gun
advocacy
group
Legally
Armed In
Detroit.
“Crime
against
women is
nothing
new.
Women
protecting
themselves,
that’s
new,”
said
Adams,
who is
Black.
That’s
the
premise
behind
the
training
that
launched
10 years
ago with
50 women
attending.
Last
year,
more
than
1,900
participated,
according
to Rick
Ector,
Legally
Armed in
Detroit’s
founder,
who says
he
started
it “to
bring
awareness
and
training
to women
who are
the
favorite
preferred
targets
of bad
guys,
rapists
and
killers.”
Ameena
Jumail,
who
joined
dozens
of other
women
outside
Recoil
Firearms
in
Taylor
for the
training,
said she
is
working
to
overcome
her fear
of guns.
Jumail,
a
30-year-old
kindergarten
teacher
from
Detroit,
said
crime is
one
reason
she
came,
but she
admits
that the
desire
to learn
how to
use a
firearm
includes
concern
over the
rise in
white
nationalism
and
their
open
display
of
firearms
in
public
places.
“During
the 2016
election
I was
worried,
also
during
the 2020
election,”
Jumail
said.
Hopkins’
Webster
said
whatever
the
reason,
it is an
open
question
whether
the
women
who are
buying
the
firearms
now are
safer.
“Having
a loaded
firearm
with you
is going
to
change
your
response
in a
number
of
situations,”
he said.
“It’s
going to
alter
your
behavior
and
perspective.”
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