It may have been inevitable for us to arrive to this point as a nation. With the constant resistance that is Black people and African American culture, against the hatred brewed from white supremacy, there would always come a breaking point, and we’re almost at that tipping point.
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Deborah Roberts grew up in a family of gun owners. But it wasn’t until March this year that the 68-year-old finally pulled the trigger and purchased her own firearm, CNN (via MSN News) reports.
“I think the rhetoric and how things are stirred up in the country just made me feel like, if not now, then when?” Roberts told CNN on Sunday morning at the South River Gun Club in Covington, Georgia with gunshots ringing close by.
That same day also happened to be “Ladies Day” at the gun range, where women, mostly Black women, came out to the range to get proper training and education on how to operate a firearm, and they enjoyed every bit of it.
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The crazy thing is, they are not alone by a long shot. Amid a recent nationwide surge in gun sales, these women are a part of the growing coalition of gun owners that is increasingly made up of people of color, experts say. About 40% of gun buyers in 2020 purchased a firearm for the first time, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry trade group that compares the FBI’s background check data with sales data, reports CNN.
Customers are increasingly diverse and it’s safe to say that the ethnic versatility grew from the inflammation of ignorance, hate, and domestic terrorism, that Trump spewed over this country in the last four years.
Surveys last year showed a 58% increase of African American gun buyers in 2020 compared to 2019, NSSF spokesman Mark Oliva told CNN, more than any other racial group.
“Today’s gun buyer is shattering tired and worn-out stereotypes of who owns a gun,” Oliva said in an email. “Today’s gun owner is younger, includes more women, more minorities and doesn’t just look like the rest of America. They are America.”
“They want training,” he said. “They want education.”
That is exactly right, education is key. If the incidents that have occurred in 2020 haven’t sparked an interest in some way about protecting yourself, especially as a woman of color, then we’re not sure what else can.
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