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Black Americans are purchasing more guns at a fast speed with gun ownership hiking up by 58.2% last year, Black Enterprise reported.
According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), Black Americans are buying firearms at gun stores and they’ve been buying them for a variety of reasons according to The Guardian. This includes:
- Stress from the pandemic
- The growing number of mass shootings
- Armed white protestors rallying in opposition to lockdown orders and those in favor of White supremacy.
According to the article, even when buying a firearm, a number of Black Americans face racism of prejudice from white gun store owners. That has drawn many Black Americans to join Black gun clubs or find training from Black gun instructors.
“June 2020 – when the riots were hitting different cities – my students increased,” Rogers Anderson, the commander of the Black Gun Owners Association’s Oakland/Bay Area chapter told The Guardian in the article. “Now 99.9% of my students are either single Black women or Black women with children who fear for their safety.”
Black gun ownership has been equatied with protecting Black neighborhoods and individuals, according to the article. Post Civil War, many freed Black men and women bought firearms to ensure the safety of themselves and their neighborhoods.
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