CNN sees increase in African American gun ownership

[roscoe]

An surprisingly pro-gun article from CNN on an increase in African American gun ownership. This shows an interesting flip side to the trend of conservatives buying guns when Democrats get into power:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/27/us/african-american-gun-club-trump/index.html

 

[gun_with_a_view]

Don Lemon with a gun? Nah.

 

[RPRNY]

CNN only covered it positively because it conforms to their "resistance fantasy" narrative. They will likely be disappointed to learn that most members of the National African American Gun Association (btw, replace AA with "Caucasian" and watch a media China Syndrome, but that's another matter) do not think Anderson Cooper is The Greatest and aren't buying guns and joining gun clubs to save panty-wasted Alt-Left hipsters in the Loon Cocoon when Trump's fascist bully boys come calling.

I think it's great that African Americans are choosing to exercise their Second Amendment rights and hope they don't feel the need to self-segregate in race specific clubs. More gun owners, better. The Alt-Left Twitterati are going to freak however when they figure out black gun owners are just as disgusted by them as white gun owners...

 

[slumlord44]

This is obviously slanted to show that the blacks are buying guns to protect themselves from the racist Trump supporters. A lot of liberals think Trump suporters are KKK and going to start attacking blacks on the street. That is a fanticy in my opinion. I have no worry about any black who buys a gun legally. The Heller case in Chicago was a black man. Met him. Neat guy. I questioned the NRA years ago why they weren't recruting black members. Never got a good answer. The more legal gun owners the merrier.

 

[Oolong]

This isn't just because of trump, but having a republican in office. The media only brings up black gun owners to try to allude that they only own guns when they're scared. I can't tell if this is a canary in the coal mine story where the goal is to make the hipsters for Hillary think it's the end of the world or if it's goal is to make it seem like black people (as vague of a term that is) are arming themselves just because we're savages. Either way I find it funny that they go to a gun club in ferguson like millions of black people live there and it's the capital of the black community.

 

[hq]

Knowing the typical agenda of CNN, an article like this may well be well planned permalink material for future "black gun violence on the rise!" -reports, disregarding the fact that the vast majority of armed crime is perpetrated by convicted felons who haven't got the right to possess a gun in the first place.

Call me a cynic but that's exactly what I'd do if given a task to demonize guns on the long run.

 

[MedWheeler]

I agree that this is largely slanted to the left, and is a result of the continued baiting of the so-called "race war" both sides have claimed is brewing.

What is different, though, is that, when it was conservatives (read: "white guys") buying guns during left-leaning political tensions, those buyers were ridiculed, vilified, and excoriated in the media. Today, this newest group of buyers is apparently commended, not for merely exercising a right they could have been all along, but for doing it for political reasons, essentially the same ones conservatives were.

 

[GAF]

[

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald_v._City_of_Chicago

Chicago was McDonald

This is obviously slanted to show that the blacks are buying guns to protect themselves from the racist Trump supporters. A lot of liberals think Trump suporters are KKK and going to start attacking blacks on the street. That is a fanticy in my opinion. I have no worry about any black who buys a gun legally. The Heller case in Chicago was a black man. Met him. Neat guy. I questioned the NRA years ago why they weren't recruting black members. Never got a good answer. The more legal gun owners the merrier.

 

[wally]

I questioned the NRA years ago why they weren't recruting black members

The NRA recruits American gun owners and gun rights supporters. Not black gun owners, or white gun owners, etc.

I see the article references the Philando Castile shooting. The officer has pleaded not guilty, its been reported that Castile had a carry license, and its been reported that marijuana was found in his system. If he was a drug user, he bought his gun illegally and committed perjury on the 4473. I'd like the real facts to come out -- that is what a trial is for.

 

[GBExpat]

... The more legal gun owners the merrier.

There it is.

 

[Acera]

And I thought that Trump would spell disaster for many small gun shops. Well maybe a 'leftist' gun buying frenzy will keep a few of them in operation.



.

 

[Sam1911]

I see the article references the Philando Castile shooting. The officer has pleaded not guilty, its been reported that Castile had a carry license, and its been reported that marijuana was found in his system. If he was a drug user, he bought his gun illegally and committed perjury on the 4473. I'd like the real facts to come out -- that is what a trial is for.

It would be mostly unlikely that any facts about marijuana in P.Castile's system would come out in a trial over the shooting. They wouldn't be relevant. The officer couldn't have known that information at the time and, even if he had, his actions in firing at Castile would only be judged based on whether a fair and impartial jury felt that they were reasonable, in that moment, based on what the officer saw and what Castile did.



There was a line in one of the The Naked Gun movies where Leslie Neilsen's character is being given an award for killing his 1,000th "druggie." In his acceptance speech he mentions that "...to be honest, the last two I backed over with my car, but it turns out they were druggies, so it's OK!" In real life it doesn't work like that. Neither the presence of trace THC in the victim's system, nor the fact that his possession of that firearm might have been decided to be illegal had he ever been arrested and tried for that, would be even remotely considered compelling arguments in favor of the use of lethal force.

 

[gulogulo1970]

This is a good thing.

 

[Dog Soldier]

Any gun owner who joins a legitimate gun club is likely responsible. The facts are working families of any color knows when they are endangered. All statistics show Black on Black crime is of prime concern.

 

[Hokkmike]

Saw it coming up. I am at a point where I don't trust either the motives nor the "facts" as presented on CNN. The other outlets are not any better.

 

[Mitlov]

The NRA recruits American gun owners and gun rights supporters. Not black gun owners, or white gun owners, etc.

I see the article references the Philando Castile shooting. The officer has pleaded not guilty, its been reported that Castile had a carry license, and its been reported that marijuana was found in his system. If he was a drug user, he bought his gun illegally and committed perjury on the 4473. I'd like the real facts to come out -- that is what a trial is for.

Even if it's the case that Philando Castile had a false statement on his form 4473, that's not a basis for an officer to use lethal force during a traffic stop. It's completely irrelevant to whether use of force is justified. It's also not evidence that he was high during that traffic stop, as urine tests positive up to 30 days after consumption, whereas psychoactive effects last a couple hours.

There are a metric ton of periodic recreational marijuana users in Oregon, Washington, and Colorado who technically might be violating 11(e) on form 4473. I'm not one of them, but we all know they're out there in great numbers. That's not a reason to use lethal force.

 

[ATLDave]

This is very good for gun rights. The current Democratic party - which, of course, is the party pushing for gun control in about 99% of instances - is heavily dependent upon black voters. If a substantial portion of those voters are no longer interested in gun control (or, better, affirmatively opposed to it), that party is likely to lose interest in the topic (as they do, periodically, when they figure out that gun control is bad politics outside the megalopolis).

 

[Middletown]

I can't open the link probably because of my out of date browser and operating system so maybe I shouldn't comment but I am going to add this.

If African Americans or any other ethnic group is buying firearms in greater numbers than before I don't think Trump has anything to do with it. I give all the credit to Obama and the attention he gave firearms during his time in office.

Me and my wife are both White and nearing retirement age. When we went for CHL license training over two years ago Whites were in the minority with Black, Hispanic and Asian also there. I think there were 16 in the class. Instructors were all White but there was not hint of prejudice anywhere that I detected.

I had a conversation with a Black man and he told me the people he worked with talked about guns a lot. That got him interested, He bought a home protection firearm and was now getting his CHL and planned to start carrying.

The indoor range we were at is in the edge of a Minority Majority area which probably had lots to do with the makeup of the class.

The outdoor range I frequent has had increasing numbers of Minorities both as customers and working there long before Trump even announced his POTUS run. Or at least that is my observation.

 

[Dog Soldier]

Over 5,000 Banks are robbed each year. That is also a metric ton of people violating Federal laws. Should we forgive these violations? As long as Marijuana possession is a Federal violation should it be ignored? Owning a simple firearms Suppressor without a permit will put you in prison.

 

[ATLDave]

That is also a metric ton of people violating Federal laws. Should we forgive these violations?

You're missing the point. Violating a law doesn't mean the nearest LEO shoots you. We could save a lot of time and money on courthouses and prisons and jury duty and all that if it worked that way, but there are some drawbacks to it and we've tried to go a different direction as a society. So if the question is whether an officer should have used lethal force against someone, their criminal behavior at some other time and place can't be the basis of the answer.

 

[Sam1911]

Over 5,000 Banks are robbed each year. That is also a metric ton of people violating Federal laws. Should we forgive these violations? As long as Marijuana possession is a Federal violation should it be ignored? Owning a simple firearms Suppressor without a permit will put you in prison.

Does this have something to do with the subject of the thread? Or something to do with what I posted about Mr. Castille?

...their criminal behavior at some other time and place can't be the basis of the answer.

Indeed. To be even more to the point, their potentially criminal behavior, which was neither a) of a violent nature, nor b) something the deceased had even been accused of let alone convicted of, nor c) in any way known to to the officer in that moment, cannot be used to prop up a justification for the use of lethal force.

 

[Mitlov]

Over 5,000 Banks are robbed each year. That is also a metric ton of people violating Federal laws. Should we forgive these violations? As long as Marijuana possession is a Federal violation should it be ignored? Owning a simple firearms Suppressor without a permit will put you in prison.

Philando Castile wasn't put in prison; he was shot during a traffic stop. Whether you should "forgive" someone for committing a crime under federal law is a very, very different question than whether lethal force should be used against them in a traffic stop. Particularly when the crime at issue is a non-violent, victimless crime that the officer was not aware of at the time he used lethal force.

 

[browningguy]

Actually I think it's sad that non right wingers now feel they need to arm themselves. I've had two friends who are gay recently buy pistols and ask me to take them shooting. They, and some of my non-white friends, are seriously concerned over the recent increases they perceive in anti- immigrant/non- christian/gay violence. I don't want to get into the whole fake news thing, because I would probably disagree with most members, but it's what they believe.

I applaud them for using their 2nd Amendment rights, whatever the reason.

 

[Sam1911]

Actually I think it's sad that non right wingers now feel they need to arm themselves.

While I don't disagree with your general sentiment, I will point out that there are a LOT of "non-right-wingers" who are victims of violent crime, and some subsets of that category are WAY more likely to be so than your average rural middle-aged person who might be expected to have right-of-center views. While it is a shame they're suddenly scared of violence from folks outside their own demographic categories and geographical areas, they have just as much right and possibly even more reason to arm themselves as anyone else.

 

[Mitlov]

Actually I think it's sad that non right wingers now feel they need to arm themselves. I've had two friends who are gay recently buy pistols and ask me to take them shooting. They, and some of my non-white friends, are seriously concerned over the recent increases they perceive in anti- immigrant/non- christian/gay violence. I don't want to get into the whole fake news thing, because I would probably disagree with most members, but it's what they believe.

I applaud them for using their 2nd Amendment rights, whatever the reason.

I agree. One of my friends, a bi person of color, is looking into firearms ownership for the first time. I think it's great that he is, but such fears are NOT how I wanted to win converts to the Second Amendment.