Black gun owners shoot recreationally. African American hunters exist. There are plenty of people of color that shoot. But here is the home of the internationally known advocate for the right to keep and bear arms of color known as the Black Man With A Gun.
Since 1986 I have been a firearms trainer. I was probably the first African American firearms trainer for my government employer. To get through what I went through, I had to be “Michael Jordon” good. I decided to try my hand at entrepreneurism. I got approval from my job to moonlight. The prospects looked great. There had never been a person of color involved in the gun world to the degree I was looking at.
I had no idea of the cultural issues. I had no idea of the fear. I had no idea of racist roots of gun control. I had no idea of the opposition I was to encounter. My goals were simple. I was going to fill a need. I was going to help train the good law abiding people in my community so that they would not leave guns of the unintended. They would understand the value of firearms and not give them away at gun buybacks for a pair of Nikes or a coupon. They would not become victims to criminal predators, estranged boyfriends, husbands and terrorist. I was going to help save the lives of children that found a firearm in the home because their parents didn’t teach them about safety accidentally shoots their sibling. I was going to keep the good person from becoming a criminal because he or she didn’t know the ever increasing gun laws in their state. I was going to do it as a Christian.
It didn’t turn out that way. Black bookstores wouldn’t sell my book, which talked about self reliance, African American History, gun control, safety, responsibility, the sport and the culture of shooting but they do sell books about hustling, pimping, drugs, and prostitution. Oprah said no, too.
The church I serve now doesn’t support me, or the views expressed on this site. I still get grief from “church people” for this site.
I got connected to the Washington DC metropolitan police department security training division and was proudly on their list as an approved trainer for security guards. The only problem with that was integrity. Few wanted training. They just wanted to pay for their certification so they could keep working. If I felt they were unsafe, I said no. I said no a lot. I let that certification lapse and moved on.
I ended up helping the firearms industry and pro-rights groups counter 400 years of propaganda supporting gun prohibition. Laws and people that supported keeping guns out of the hands of people of color. I became the name of my website. I have lobbied the US Congress. I have testified in the state legislatures of Virginia, Texas, South Carolina, Michigan, Maryland, and Wisconsin. I have done commercials for TV against racist gun laws and been featured in three documentaries. I have debated nationally known anti-second amendment people on national television.
Since 1991, I have been involved internationally representing African Americans that shoot. It wasn’t intentional. I knew I wasn’t the only one that owned a gun nor was I alone in my beliefs. I was just the only one you could put your finger on easily. It changed my approach and outlook on a few things. In the beginning all I wanted to do was be a resource in my community for firearms instruction. I wanted to use my gift of being able take complex things and make them easier to understand into a business model that made the community safer. I had no idea the opposition I was to encounter within. I didn’t know the history. I didn’t know the racist roots of gun control. I only saw what racism did to the minds of people that looked like me. I personally started a national gun club for people of color I founded called the Tenth Cavalry Gun Club in 1991. Taking the name from the only positive association of guns and black men that I could think of at the time, “the Buffalo Soldiers” we had a good run. That particular club doesn’t exist in 2011, but there are members of the original group that have matured into newer, better run, less controversial group now called the Maryland Tenth Cavalry Gun Club, LLC.
Since ‘91, I’ve been involved in almost every pro-rights event that involved a person of color. If I am not doing it personally, I help in recruiting or vetting. I have become a one man National Rifle Association without the money. I work with them all, the Law Enforcement Alliance of America, the Second Amendment Foundation, the CATO Institute, Gun Owners of America, and the list continues. I’ve worked with groups that have come and gone. I have a PhD in this thing now.
I’ve had the URL, www.blackmanwithagun.com since 1999. I lost .NET to a porno guy in Eastern Europe. I’ve been online with this gun thing since AOL 1.0.
What I am doing now is taking advantage of social media to do the same thing I started before but with technology. My facebook page, blog, and internet persona is just a part of that model.
This site is about life, experiences, people in the shooting community, and things that may be of interest to those that love freedom, faith and firearms. And I am proud to say that color has little to do with any of it.
Thanks for visiting.
