Blogger Eddie Butler Jr. posted the following article on Facebook.
Pro-gun activism at the Black Women’s Expo
Don Gwinn
examiner.comOne way Illinois gun rights activists are trying to bridge this divide between the activist and the average citizen is to go beyond gun shows and shooting matches to find venues and events where their message is most needed. The places they’ve found success may surprise some. This weekend, volunteers from four Illinois gun-rights groups will be bringing their messages to McCormick Center in Chicago for the Black Women’s Expo. A three-day event from Thursday to Saturday, the Expo is part celebration, part conference, with live music, award banquets, seminars, and contests all designed to celebrate and strengthen the entrepreneurial spirit and skills of black women from all over the country. At first glance, many Chicagoans might find this an odd place to look for support for gun rights–after all, there won’t be many white hunters from downstate in overalls at the McCormick Center this weekend. But there are going to be entrepreneurs, thinkers and leaders in great numbers, says Valinda Rowe, Spokeswoman for Illinois Carry: “”I just wish I could be up there. This is the second year we’ve exhibited at the Black Women’s Expo, and it’s so exciting to get our message to so many people who might otherwise not have a chance to hear the truth about self-defense and the right to keep and bear arms.”
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The ISRA (Illinois State Rifle Association) will have its own booth this year, staffed by volunteers who will tell attendees how they can get involved politically or join the ISRA, but also where they can find safety training, self-defense training, and fun competition even if they’ve never touched a gun before.
Illinois Carry will share a booth with the Second Amendment Sisters and CORE Chicago (Congress of Racial Equality.) All three will highlight the racist origins of many gun control laws and the crucial importance a strong right to self-defense has always held for both women and racial minorities. The common media message is that “good” guns are used by hunters, “bad” guns are used by criminals, and if you’re not a hunter, you have no use for a gun of your own. In Chicago, that philosophy extends even to weapons like pepper spray and Mace or tear gas–even those are too deadly for an average citizen to be trusted to keep them on hand in case of attack. But these volunteers argue that the opposite is true: if you’re a woman living in a high-crime area like Chicago, they say, you have more reason than most to think hard about self-defense and what tools and skills will help keep you and yours safe. Both booths will have plenty of Illinois FOID card applications on hand and will be offering answers to any and all questions. (more…)
The show The Real Housewives of Atlanta recently featured Sheree Whitfield (one of the show’s co-stars) at a firing range as she received basic gun instruction from a friend. Keyshia Cole also visited a firing range during her show on BET.
I think this is a very smart move by gun groups: Make your case to Black women who live in high crime areas.
I have covered this whole gun control debate and how it relates to the Black community quite extensively on this site. Click here and thumb through the posts.
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