ISRA March 2015 (2)

Mr. Farago,

Attached are a few images from the Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day (IGOLD) that was held in Springfield last Wednesday. In the first image you will see the family of the late Otis McDonald, including his widow, two daughters, his brother and others. They proudly led our march to the State Capital Building. What I couldn’t help but notice was that besides the McDonald family and a few others, our group was as white as new-fallen snow . . .

ISRA march March 2015

The politically active gun owners in Illinois certainly do not reflect the vast racial diversity of our state. Our legislators could look out their office windows and see us coming, and I have no doubt that the ones representing majority black or Hispanic districts (and there are many) would have said to themselves, “they don’t look like they’re from my district.”

ISRA march 2015 (3)

IGOLD is an extremely well organized event and I’m very grateful for those who work hard to make it a success every year. But I am left with the feeling that we need to bring more people of color to the into our ranks if we want to sway the votes that have been going against us for the last half-century.

Curtis in IL

 

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100 COMMENTS

  1. All we can do is show black people the path. They have to walk it themselves. The fact that they don’t, or won’t, is their shame, not mine.

    Besides, every battle we fight and win, we fight for black people, white people, Asian people, all people. OFWGs are doing all the heavy lifting, so I don’t think we have anything to feel guilty about.

    • I don’t take this as trying to put guilt trip on anyone. I think the author is right. As a group we pretty much look to the rest of the world to be OFWGs.
      And you also are correct … “All we can do is show black people the path.”
      But in order to do this we, meaning ALL those who truly and actively support 2A, could benefit our cause by making the effort to search out and make some new friends who may be outside of our cultural and ethnic comfort zone.
      It’s about winning hearts and minds. The Progressive gun grabbers know this and furiously pursue (a false) narrative to influence people. We can’t sit on our computer chair and hope some will read out missives on TTAG and suddenly see the light. It takes purposeful, personal contact.

      • Funny, but nobody had to “reach out” to me. I joined on my own. I participate because I want to. I write checks, too. Why don’t more black people?

        I’ll also note that if black people are underrepresented in the NRA’s membership, then they must be overrepresented on the NRA’s Board of Directors.

        The OP is wrong. We don’t have to be “less white.” That’s the most racist thing I’ve heard all year. What we “need” to be is colorblind. I am. But Curtis (the OP) seems to have lost his way.

        • Ralph, you said “Funny, but nobody had to “reach out” to me. I joined on my own.”

          I’m guessing you had people reaching out to you, just in a different way. Many people who are actively pro-gun now grew up in a family or town with strong pro-gun traditions. By the time that people decide to join on their own, they had already been repeatedly exposed to a positive view on firearms.

          Because of cultural divides that still exist, many black people are not exposed to a positive gun culture when growing up. Some outreach will help to change that, and eventually more black people may grow up with a positive gun culture, which will then lead them to join on their own, just as you did.

        • @beefeater, I meant what I wrote. Nobody reached out to me. I joined the “movement” on my own, knowing nobody. And I’m not much of a joiner.

          I shot a rifle when I was a kid, but nobody in my family owned a gun of any kind. It’s just what I wanted to do.

          After getting away from guns (for the most part) for a long time, I became an activist after Ruby Ridge and Waco. I had eyes. I could see what was happening. That should be enough for anyone.

          Black people are smart. They’ll figure it out.

            • We are all steeped in our own cultures. I tend to make relationships with people who share my political views and like guns. Libs make relationships with other libs and anti-gun people. Blacks doubtlessly hang out with other Blacks.
              If you are a young Black male and all the people you know who use guns are criminals; well, then you will associate guns with that criminal life. If you are a middle-aged Black mother and all the people you know who use guns are criminals; well . . .
              There is an opportunity – nevertheless – to introduce a new train-of-thought. The survival instinct is powerful enough to offset a lot of “conventional wisdom”. If just one mother in a block decides to get a gun to protect her home; just one grandmother in a block gets her CWP; well then we have an apostle for a new – alternative – narrative around guns.

        • Yup, concur with Ralph. No slam on Curtis, he means well, but you can’t lead a horse to water.
          I think most Americans are kind of getting tired of the whole race-baiting thing, and SJW hysteria over GamerGate is another example. Better to look at what unites us on principles and values, rather than skin color. The Millenials are over it, and its time to stop responding to the straw man from the progtard segment in the aging ItsAllAboutMe boomers.

        • Beefeater,

          I can’t speak for Ralph but his statement mirrors my own experience. I grew up in a family (and with school administrators both public and private) that hated guns. Nobody “reached out” to me at all–quite the opposite, in fact. I found my interests on my own and I came to find my opinions on the gun issue through critical thinking, not upbringing.

          Makes for really fun family get-togethers btw.

        • I think Curtis is right but perhaps could have said we need to be “more black” (or colorful) meaning the ratio of the races didn’t seem proportional to the state average.

          Perhaps an average person of color finds it too expensive (equipment, ammo, practice, qualification/training class, etc) for the process of getting an Illinois CCL?

        • Ralph, if you as a white guy join a movement that consists of predominantly white guy, then there’s an implicit “outreach” there already – you unconsciously treat it as your thing. You don’t feel like you’re sticking out or don’t belong.

      • To DJC1012
        The 2A progress that has been made over the past 20 years has not come about by ‘winning hearts and minds.’ Instead it has come through decades of work in line with this comment from the great Milton Friedman:

        “The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing…”

        (1973 Interview with Milton Friedman – Playboy Magazine)

        • “The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing…”
          Yes, and, we have been succeeding in the States; but not making affirmative progress in Congress. We need to figure out why our success with State legislators hasn’t yet translated in success in Congress. Our Congress-critters will stop most gun-control legislation; but will do little to really advance gun rights significantly (most importantly, National Reciprocity).
          I think it will really help to break-up the hegemony of the Anti’s within the minority communities. I don’t imagine we will sale to victory on an upswell of pro-gun votes from the Black and Brown precincts; that won’t happen until these minority communities stop looking for manna to rein down from Washington.
          What could happen – however – is that the Anti’s message “It’s BLACK to be Anti-gun” will lose credibility. Repeat the theme all they want; but it just won’t ring true. It won’t when too many mothers, fathers and daughters make personal decisions to arm themselves.
          Imagine this happening in – e.g., – Detroit or Milwaukee County. Will the Congressmen representing these districts continue to be reliable gun-control votes? Would the Senators from these States continue to be reliable gun-control votes?

        • “We need to figure out why our success with State legislators hasn’t yet translated in success in Congress.”

          Math. It’s far easier for a state legislator to lose his job by making a relatively small number of voters unhappy. At the federal level, the system is so rigged in favor of the incumbents keeping their cushy jobs for decades that it’s very difficult to unseat a sitting congressman or senator, unless they get caught doing something particularly vile. It can happen, but it takes way more effort than unseating an incumbent state-level politician.

    • I agree Ralph! Great Post!

      We do not need to look more black….or white.

      We need EVERYONE to believe in The United States of America!

      Always look for the GOOD in people and you will nearly always find it!

  2. On the upside, Moms Demand Action can only dream of drawing a crowd like that for a march on a state capital.

  3. I understand the hearts and minds angle of this but I am really tired of everything spinning on a racial axis.

    • We don’t need to become less white. If other colors want to join us – good. But I would not cater to them. That is all society and government has done for decades, the results of which can clearly be seen in Chicago and Detroit. Gun owners and licensed CCW folks would probably welcome anyone to their gatherings and activities, but if blacks, Hispanics, Asians, etc. do not feel welcome, that is their problem not ours. I am tired of feeling like I have to make up for racists actions of others, especially actions that occurred before I was even born.

  5. Good thing for those zoomed in shots that show the same 10 people and make it look like a crowd in support of… Nevermind these are true grassroots members in a large group supporting the 2A. That top picture should be shown all over the interwebs in attempts to show that the 2A has a need of being supported by Americans of any race.

  6. Rednecks in Texas have made it plain that the Huey Newton group out of Dallas are not welcome to be part of the gun carrying community. When one of the Open Carry groups was rejected by the Newtons they followed the Newtons on a march and threatened them.

    Even here you often see posts by the militia-wannabe types that the Hueys aren’t as savvy as the good ol’ boys imagine themselves to be.

  7. speak for yourself–i’m perfectly happy being as white as i am. so happy with it that i always wear appropriate sun protection in the summer.

  9. There is a pretty rich literature on blacks and their relationship to armed self-defense. I can recommend all the following:

    – Negros and the Gun: the Black Tradition of Arms
    – Negros with Guns (Williams)
    – This Nonviolent Suff’ll Get You Killed
    – Black Man with a Gun: Reloaded
    – We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement

    A strong argument can be made that the Deacons for Defense and Justice served as a catalyst to the Federal government intervening in the Civil Rights Movement in the South in the 1960s. The dominant narrative is that the Civil Rights movement was non-violent; and that is quite true. The anti-Civil Rights reaction was anything but non-violent. So long as only black folks were getting killed the Kennedy brothers could refrain from acting on the pretext that the violence was a local (State) matter. (The Kennedys needed the backing of the Dixiecrats in Congress to advance their agenda.)
    After the Deacons organized, the prospect began to loom that violence could be bidirectional. It was politically acceptable for the anti-s to be on offense and the pro-s to be on defense; however, once the violence was bidirectional, there was little assurance that the violence would remain anti-offense/pro-defense. This risk inspired the Kennedys to enter the Civil Rights movement with enough Federal force to advance the Civil Rights movement.
    That narrative has been buried by the post-CR-era rise of black control of major metropolitan bodies politic. These politicians needed to control law-and-order in their precincts. At that point, it became PC to emphasize the non-violent aspect of the CR movement to the suppression of the Deacons’ part in protecting that movement. That served to justify state (municipal) monopolization of the means to legitimate violence.
    We really ought to extend an olive branch and invitation to minorities (Latinos as well as Blacks) to inquire after the Black tradition of arms – and in particular, the Deacons role in the CR movement of the 60s.

    • There was more than a little tension between the King led, nonviolent civil rights movement and El Haj Malik Shabaz (Malcolm X) who called for any means necessary. The differences in their philosophies was one of the reasons King was embraced by the Kenndys, polite society and the MSM.

    • “We” who, Mark? I stand ready to accept anyone of whatever race, but nobody ever “accepted” me! I went out looking for my freedom, and found it without all that much trouble. Who do you think should be somehow inviting people to be free?

      Is there any possibility that the black segment of society is even more attuned than the rest of us to the idea that people with guns are the bad guys? That they react to the gangs and drugs and drive-by shootings which occur in their neighborhoods more than mine, by refusing to seek the means to defend themselves due to fear of looking like the bad guys? Heck, they need guns more than I do, what more invitation do they need?

      • “We” who, Mark?” We = PotG.

        “I stand ready to accept anyone of whatever race, but nobody ever “accepted” me!” Sounds like my experience of life; albeit, I was prosthelytized by the mother of a friend who was a staunch and vocal conservative. Being just a bit evangelistic – not overbearing – inviting should be helpful.

        “I went out looking for my freedom, and found it without all that much trouble.” It wasn’t all that easy when I was growing up in the 1960s; must be much worse today. “Who do you think should be somehow inviting people to be free?” We = PotG.

        “Is there any possibility that the black segment of society is even more attuned than the rest of us to the idea that people with guns are the bad guys? That they react to the gangs and drugs and drive-by shootings which occur in their neighborhoods more than mine, by refusing to seek the means to defend themselves due to fear of looking like the bad guys? Heck, they need guns more than I do, what more invitation do they need?” Quite true; and, each individual’s response is unique. In their community they have been taught that whatever the problem might be the answer is to be found in more government. So, they look to City Hall and expect municipal government to solve the problem of crime in the streets.
        But, this formula isn’t working out well for them; is it? On the one hand, they don’t want their daughters raped or gunned-down when working as a cashier at the 7-11. But, on the other hand, they don’t want Jr to go to prison. They don’t have a positive opinion of the police who arrest Jr but fail to protect their daughters; yet, they call the cops when they are mugged.
        We need to point out to them the viewpoint of such as the Chief of Police in Detroit and the Sheriff of Milwaukee County. Perhaps they could consider empowering themselves and their daughters and disarming their sons.
        Not an easy solution and not much of what we can do will bear fruit. Even so, this is a high-leverage demographic. If-as-and-when we can support a change of attitude in the minority communities the effect will be highly disruptive to the Anti’s.

        • Well, I grew up in the ’60s, too, and the most problem I had was being mobbed by Japanese kids who had never even seen a real gun, while I was shooting my scoped .22 auto off a beach. They were fascinated, picked up each shell casing and passed it around, examining it. Later, in VA, I can remember before I was old enough to get a driver’s license, walking across the playground of an elementary school with a pal, our .22s over our shoulders, heading for the woods to shoot. Never thought a thing about it, never had a problem with LE or neighbors. My whole family was anti-gun except my Mom, who learned to shoot at 12. Not that she was a fan, she considered a gun to be a tool. Didn’t slow me down, I don’t see what slowed blacks down then, and I don’t understand it now.

          If you mean, as a PotG, I should go downtown to a black neighborhood to invite some yoots to come shooting, I’m afraid I’ll have to pass.

  10. I think the presence of a large body of adults at the seat of state government, in the middle of the work week, expressing their beliefs without profanity or antagonizing or threatening the police is quite novel and draws positive attention from the average voter. This far outweighs media driven political correctness even with those entrenched politicians who just might disparage the group because “they don’t look like they’re from my district.” This is because they understand that the people marching vote. Also, to state that IGOLD needs more non-white participation would suggest that an undercurrent against such participation exists. That type of thinking perpetuates the liberal concepts that gun owners practice racial exclusion. When,In fact, this march and others like it across the country are to demand the preservation and protection of all civil rights for all Americans.

    • “…is quite novel and draws positive attention from the average voter.”

      Well, it would draw positive attention if such things received even the tiniest coverage in the media so that the average voter might be aware of them. Being a well-attended pro-gun rally in Illinois, I’d guess this event received somewhere around zero seconds of TV coverage outside of Springfield’s local news (if that, even).

      • I think the average voter in Illinois is aware of events as the story was carried in local newspapers around the state. The Chicago media market has actually carried the story in the past, but I’m not sure if it did this time. I would direct anyone interested to go to the Illinois State Rifle Assn. website for more on the Springfield IGOLD march.

  11. Ummm…it is what it is Curtis. AS the whitest white man married to a hot black woman the folks who cared showed up. I would love to be there. I happen to know (really,personally no BS) black men who like guns(and gun rights) who see no disconnect between voting for rabid anti-gun politicians(in Cook co.,Illinois) and carrying a legal gun. And hate the “racist” all-white NRA…once in a while someone gets it. I quit holding my breath. Huge props to the folks who went to Springfield! Zero mention on the local news.

    • >> I happen to know (really,personally no BS) black men who like guns(and gun rights) who see no disconnect between voting for rabid anti-gun politicians(in Cook co.,Illinois) and carrying a legal gun.

      Can you really blame them for looking at the overall GOP platform, noting the abound implicit racism therein, and walking away?

      If you give people the choice before pro-gun and anti-everything-else-they-care-about, well, don’t be surprised at which one they pick…

  12. Or we could be better than the liberal scum that pushes gun control… Stop caring about race so much. Some people will never think for themselves.

  14. Gun owners tend to be conservative, because the civilian disarmament folks tend to be liberal city-dwellers who are conditioned to view the world in more materialistic ways and to depend on Daddy Government to provide them with goods and services.

    The liberals who favor state interventionism have co-opted the black vote by inflaming and pandering to racial tensions. Consequently the average black citizen is inclined to adopt the statist “guns are dangerous” mantra favored by their leaders. Sadly I don’t see this changing.

    • The blacks in the inner cities seem to worship and be dependent on the Sugar Daddy State. People empowered to actually take charge of their lives are an anathema to them. Blacks are not alone, Hispanics and Jews seem to swallow the Soviet party line as well.

      • That’s true! Now, we can ask these minority voters: ‘How’s that been working out for you in terms of your personal security?’ Likely, every one of these voters has either been mugged or robbed or has at least one good friend/relative who has been mugged or robbed. Are they satisfied that their PD has investigated and arrested the culprit? Do they have confidence that if there were a 25% increase in the number of cops in their precinct that the problem of crime would be solved for them?
        The budgets of inner-city municipalities are in shambles; Detroit is bankrupt. They may continue to demand social programs but also demand the right to defend themselves. Now, there are plenty of Shall-Issue States with significant minority communities. If concealed-carry becomes commonplace in these communities pressure might mount in the Won’t-Issue States.

    • The civilian disarmament folks tend to be liberal city-dwellers who are conditioned to depend on Daddy Government to provide them with goods and services. This is really the crux of the problem in that the Soviet Government will solve their problems and personal responsibility and free thinking individualism will be an anathema to the Collectivist mentality. I thought Aynn Rand’s Anthem was a very good insight into the collectivist mentality.

  15. Maybe a better way to say it is more diverse. I think minorities are sympathetic to our message. Finding a way to get them (and anyone for that matter) more involved in things like IGOLD should be a priority.

  16. Its a feedback loop. Minorities are as a population concentrated in urban centers: places where guns are socially marginalized and legally restricted .

    The consequence; being a minority gun owner equals social ridicule. If youre black and have a gun, you must clearly be up to no good.When I told my family I held a CCW permit, it was like a 1950s video of a person publicly announcing they were homosexual. Lots of hard stares, followed by ‘son we need to talk about your guns.Strong black men don’t need guns to solve their problems.’

    • I absolutely had the same experience. My immediate family doesn’t have a problem with guns at all but almost every other black person outside of this circle had a big problem with it. This is something I see fading with younger generations but a lot of older people are utterly convinced that a young Black man such as myself has absolutely no business owning, let alone carrying a firearm. It’s quite sad.

    • It’s not just the social pressure, either (though that can be a formidable obstacle). There are also practical logistical hurdles to being a gun owner in many urban areas. Lack of access to gun stores and ranges can make shooting very impractical for people trapped in inner cities.

    • This is the same argument that anti-open carry gun owners use… “My rights aren’t worth a little social discomfort, so I’ll mock anyone who does better than I do. Oh, the irony! It’s wasted on me even as I produce it!”

      If you’re not willing to stand up for your rights, you won’t have any.

  17. Sangamon County IL is over 87% white, which is less than many of the other counties south of Peoria. American Blacks are overwhelmingly urban-dwellers, and with only one city over 200,000 population (you can guess which one) it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Illinois Rifle Association is lily-white. It simply reflects the population, and that what black citizens there are, are demographically less likely to be involved in such.

    It’s not about race, it’s just about who’s there.

    • I guarantee a large percentage of the marchers were NOT from Springfield. Many from where I live in Cook county.

  18. You are right. There aren’t many people of color there.

    Why, you ask? It is pretty simple, the libtards have them convinced that guns are bad. Slowly that is changing and the people of color are now starting to shoot back at criminals.

    If you really want to change the color of your organization to a nice mocha cream, help them learn to love their guns and be proud of the fact that they can stand up for themselves.

    • “the libtards have them convinced that guns are bad.”

      To be fair, blacks were the targets of “gun control” for 100 years before it started applying to whites, it shouldn’t be a surprise that their aversion is more deep seated than ours. Especially when for some amount of time, in some places, the unofficial punishment was a prompt lynching. That would slow my ass down, too! Maybe it is just going to take more time, but it would sure be nice if more of them understood the origins of “common sense” gun control (common sense = we gotta keep them darkys from getting guns!), and how horribly and unconstitutionally their ancestors were abused to make them so fearful. Exactly why they should be at the front of the line demanding their rights, never mind the free stuff.

  20. It’s hard to believe some of these comments. If you don’t think reps from highly minority scewed districts see a bunch of OFWGs marching for gun rights and ignore them, you are not paying attention. Those reps don’t see anyone from their constituency and they have no worries about re-election. I don’t see IGOLD as non-inclusive but if you want to get everyone’s attention, you need members of every minority community to be involved, that may seem racist but it’s reality. Every single firearms class I’ve taken has had minorities in it and I see them at gun shops and indoor ranges all the time, they are there, they enjoy shooting, they should be encouraged to represent their community at these events. No we shoudn’t have to beg them to participate but it should be encouraged. Furthermore, I have yet to see much coverage of this event but every time 6 anti-gunners get together in Chicago or Springfield there is coverage with interviews. The organizers do a good job of getting their typical people down there but they do need to work on media and diversity if we want more traction in this state.

    • “Every single firearms class I’ve taken has had minorities in it and I see them at gun shops and indoor ranges all the time, they are there, they enjoy shooting, they should be encouraged to represent their community at these events. ” I think you have captured the right idea here. About all we have to do is make a point of introducing ourselves to these guys and if we are sort-of in a hosting-capacity (e.g., we are old-timers at this range and the minority guy is a new-bee) then say “welcome” and offer to answer any questions or help if you can.
      These few leading-edge minorities will report a positive experience to their friends and family who will be more encouraged to come as well

  21. “You ever wonder why there are so few African Americans at your pro-gun event? For many shooters in the black community gun ownership makes them a pariah.”

    “Buying a gun that he intended to carry concealed, when and if he was approved to do so, alarmed his extended family. When he shared some of the things he learned about gun control with his brother-in-law and it started a big family fight. He was called a sell-out, an Uncle Tom, and blamed for the deaths of the drug dealers across town. They asked if he had joined the racist NRA.”

    “[A black woman] doesn’t care about the right to keep and bear arms argument. She just wants to save the lives of her children. This fear tactic is still being sold to mothers in the city. She doesn’t believe gun ownership applies to her family. She doesn’t have the luxury of philosophical debate about gun control. She just wants to save her race. It is hard to overcome that fear in the black home where the matriarch often rules and the facts are not there.”

    http://dailycaller.com/2012/10/24/black-gun-owners-rock-and-a-hard-place/

  25. When the Utopian socialist world for inner city black people does not work out they will blame others for their failure. And the white socialist enablers will assist them. The gun community can always keep the door open but a newcomer will have to walk through on their own.

    The best way to get a any person on your side is to learn their history and teach it to them. Fundraisers where held in California to raise money to buy guns for the Deacons for Self-Defense. Lawrence Hill wrote about it in his book. I’m glad there were white people donating money to buy guns for black people for self defense. It also happened after the Katrina storm. Guns were supplied to defenseless blacks by whites when criminal police started attacking them. Cam Edwards on NRA news interviewed one of the persons involved in that case.

  26. There are increasing numbers of black and other minority gun owners. I see them all the time at shows and the range. Why are they not showing up at pro Second rallies? All gun owners need to stand together, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, political party affiliation and sexual orientation.

  27. We have to be “Less White?” Hey Curtis in IL, why don’t you try asking black people to be “less black” or homosexuals to be “less gay” or King Barry to be “less Marxist” and see how that works out for you. I welcome any American who supports the Second Amendment, no matter their race, creed, or sex, but I’m done hearing about how we “OFWGs” have to change to patronize some demographic.

    You can have my “Whiteness” when you pry it from my cold, dead DNA.

  29. How about, instead of navel-gazing about politically correct nonsense, we simply focus on working to be more free ?

    Our message is color-blind, and our opponents cut their disarmament teeth trying to disarm blacks. There is little we can do about people who are ignorant or willfully in denial about history, or who choose not to assert their rights.

  30. nothing screams racism like looking at a photograph of a bunch of people and commenting on the relative representation of the possible skin colors.

    well done.

  31. I don’t speak for anyone else, but i am sick and tired of the slightest mention of anything having to do with race anymore! Especially since being racist only applies to whites! Why does “less white” mean black? Blacks are 12% (supposedly) of the US population! Asian’s, Hispanic’s, Native’s, even Arabic’s, and all other breeds of human have the right, and welcome to choose to stand with us as equal’s, And lot’s of them do! Most blacks simply literally hate whites, and probably resent being Americans because the only American history they learn or care about is slavery! it is what it is! I have never mistreated or discriminated against any color for the reason of race, and I have only seen blacks mistreat everyone else! So I don’t feel bad, I have nothing to be sorry for, and im certainly not going to embrace most of our black American brothers until they stop blaming others for their own failure’s, and stop being MORE than equal over all other Americans! .

    • I have never mistreated or discriminated against any color for the reason of race, and I have only seen blacks mistreat everyone else! So I don’t feel bad, I have nothing to be sorry for, and im certainly not going to embrace most of our black American brothers until they stop blaming others for their own failure’s, and stop being MORE than equal over all other Americans! .

      Hey Bob, take a minute and read the above quoted text. Then read it again…

  32. Through all of history, those that are designated as peasants, peons and slaves have been denied the right to Keep and Bear Arms. Revolutions and slave rebellions have been fought to regain that right.

    So if blacks and Hispanics fight to pass laws to disarm themselves, they, by historical precedent, consider themselves to be nothing more than peasants, peons and outright slaves.

    You can only show people the door to their cage, they are the ones that have have the courage to open it.

  33. Well it’s one step in the right direction playing hip hop music on the previous “do you compete thread” video. JK but funny none the less.

  34. I appreciate all of the comments. Some have missed the point, though others have explained it better than I did. We know people of all races are gun owners. We see them in the gun shops and at the range. And the legislators in the majority black and Hispanic districts will begin to pay attention only when they believe there are gun owners in their districts, too. That won’t happen unless the black and Hispanic gun owners become at least as politically active as the white ones.

    Danny Griffin pointed out some of the cultural barriers. Breaking through them will be a long process, and I appreciate the tremendous efforts of Guns Save Life as they set up camp in enemy territory. I pray that effort bears fruit.

    • The legislators from black and Hispanic districts wouldn’t pay attention if the entire rally were minorities, with nary a white face to be seen. Most of the elected officials from those areas are as die-hard statist as they come, and gun control is a set-in-stone issue for them. A few black or brown faces at a pro-gun rally isn’t even going to register on their radar. And even if it did, they’d write them off as outliers and go on telling the people of the district that they (the politicians) know what’s best for them, and keep using divisive racial politics to stay in office.

      • I wouldn’t be so quick to discount a politician’s fear of losing their position of power by speaking so generally. Statist or no, they really, typically care more about holding those reins than they do their cause.

    • Um no, more like IL has a lot of minorities who’s districts have a lot of political clout and if we want to start changing things for the better POTG need to rally together and show them we ALL cherish our rights.

  36. We must get more people involved in shooting, white black, Hispanic, Asian, straight, gay, liberal, and media. The more people involved in shooting the harder it will be to ban guns. Take people shooting, especially media and political types . You know most people who go shooting are hooked.

  37. I recently shot IDPA with Americans of different sizes. Some had a different skin hue and different gender, but, in the end, we were all shooting.

    As a gun guy, I may initially notice skin color and gender, but, in the end, what was more interesting was skill and type of firearm.

    People tend to show to matches if they are serious about their weapon. I have yet to see anyone from my club be anything but welcoming to everyone who shows up ready to shoot and learn.

  38. If all men are created equal, then our Second Amendment protections apply to all. It’s up to those that feel some social stigma about gun ownership to walk through that door. And it’s up to all of us, regardless of our skin color, to continue to fight for our civil rights.

  39. Who is the one at fault when the NRA honestly invites all to its tent, and black Americans refuse to join because they say the org is racist? So much misplaced guilt among white Americans these days.

    Hate to be crass, but perhaps they should offer free one-year memberships to minorities. It’s the only way they can make it any easier.

  40. Interesting post, but I feel part of it is incorrect. The pro-gun movement does need to continue to reach out to everyone. Everyone is not race-specific. We’re all “people”. And all of us benefit from a pro-2a environment.

    The OPs point though does have some validity. In today’s PC world, it behooves any group engaged in public lobbying to ensure that they are racially diverse. The only real action item I can see is to make sure that pro-2a groups are welcoming, and that everyone knows it. I have never met someone at a gun rally or event who espoused racist views; we just need to show the ridiculousness of the stereotypes about gun owners.

  41. Weird how hating White Males isn’t considered racist or sexist… How dare white people, especially white males, believe that they matter in any way… How dare they think that they have rights! Their only right is to pay everyone else’s bills as a slave to the protected, superior classes!

    Don’t like it? Then why do you already have it and do nothing about it?

  43. Maybe because blacks and mexicans don’t care about gun laws…..

    “The politically active gun owners in Illinois certainly do not reflect the vast racial diversity of our state.”

    Self-hating white people have no business owning guns anyway. So if you want to “become less white”, get rid of your guns so you don’t get tempted to use them to blow your heads out.

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