With the election less than a week away, I think it is time for a final reminder of the importance of this decision regarding gun freedom. No matter how you personally feel about Donald Trump, there is no other choice if preserving the 2nd Amendment is important to you. There is no third way.
If you vote third party, or simply stay home (kind of the same thing), you are saying that there are other things more important to you than the 2nd Amendment. That’s OK, if that’s how you really feel. But don’t try to convince the rest of us that you’re making the best choice for preserving gun rights…don’t kid yourself, either. And if your grudge against President Trump is because he banned bump stocks and made a couple of comments about gun control (which he never acted on), then explain to me how voting him out of office does anything to improve the position of gun rights in this country. I actually saw a comment on Facebook where someone said they wanted to vote Trump out of office because he “wants his bump stock back.” I hate to tell you, bud…but if you vote Trump out of office, you’ll be looking back at the time he banned bump stocks as “the good old days.”
“Things were so much better when all we had to worry about was bump stocks and rude Tweets.”
That’s because if Trump loses, it will be because Joe Biden won (no, Libertarians…Jo Jorgensen isn’t going to win). And under a Biden (and eventually Harris) presidency, you ain’t getting your bump stock back. In fact, if Biden wins, you quite literally stand to lose everything. If the Democrats keep the House, flip the Senate, and manage to put Biden/Harris in the White House, you’ll wish all they were doing was banning bump stocks. Their gun control agenda…which is documented in detail on their website…is so draconian and so comprehensive that if they successfully implemented even half of it, then it is effectively game over for the 2nd Amendment.
“There’s an old picture of me shooting my AR-15…back before President Biden banned them. I sure do miss that rifle.”
Now, some of you are probably thinking, “No, it isn’t game over. I’ll fight to keep my guns.” How brave of you. How serious you are. So serious that you would consider spilling blood over your gun rights, rather than making the strategic choice and voting for the best hope of avoiding that fight. So serious that you would consider lining up sights on your fellow Americans and pulling the trigger before you would consider voting for Trump. All because of bump stocks and a few ill-considered words.
“Yes, I voted for Biden. Trump was so rude! No, I still haven’t gotten my bump stock back. Why do you ask?”
Again, if Biden wins every single gun control measure imaginable is on the table. A Biden administration is guaranteed to make life worse for gun owners than a Trump administration. Then, if the battle for the 2nd Amendment becomes a literal one instead of a figurative one, things become still worse for gun owners…as well as everybody else. In either of these futures, we’ll be looking back at the Trump presidency as the good old days.
“Remember when we thought Trump was the worst for banning bump stocks? Before we voted for Biden and he banned everything? Those were the good old days.”
…..the ways of a man are before the Lord and He watches all his paths. – Proverbs 5:21
Thank you for listening, downloading and subscribing to this new chapter of my life.
Thank you for sharing, supporting, and staying a faithful friend. It’s good to be back. Thank you for asking me to come back. Thank you for the emails. Thank you for the recent well wishes on my Facebook debut and birthday celebration. I think I got more views on that one video than I did with my conversation with Colion Noir. I said that I came back because you asked me to; I came back because I have a few more things to say. I came back because I want you to help me do what I’ve been called to do, and I want to help you survive another week. I’ve had some time to appreciate you.
This week, I’m going to share with you my take on current events, and you don’t have to agree with me, but please hear me. Try to understand me. This is the start, the baseline, the ground-zero point. I’ll try to get more into guns, Second Amendment concealed carry as we go on. I thought I was done.
And then, 2020 happened.
Who would have known that it’s been a year of COVID-19, pandemic quarantines, the murder of George Floyd, the sparked protests across the United States and across the world, and that Australia burned? There was a toilet paper shortage for a hot minute. We were threatened with “murder hornets.” Everybody has to wear masks, and bars and churches closed. Black Lives Matter became a movement that was embraced around the world. And while we’re just sitting here and waiting, Swine Flu is threatening to join the mix. Who knew there would be a return of Marxism in America? Who planned for the destruction, looting, and the protest of police brutality? The latter is as old as our freedom. But wait, there’s more. They’ve got something called Antifa. We have the rejection of Confederate Anything, and the cancel culture.
The so-called minority gun owner that you’ve been trying to get to the range is finally here. They’re just not with you. They’re shooting on private lands at outdoor ranges and have created small groups to practice and train without you. And there’s even a national organization of African Americans that is celebrating explosive growth.
The infamous National Rifle Association has finally imploded after decades of poor decisions, secrets and mismanagement. It has exposed itself as a bloated, piss-poor representation of gun owners stuck in the ’80s. It has furloughed most of the staff. It has massive legal troubles, but, like our President, people still defend them with cult-like adoration. Meanwhile, highly paid lobbyists still run D.C. All are taking advantage of the loyalty of its members who don’t live in this city. Ninety-eight percent of the politicians around here are not cool. This is a personal observation and opinion. Anyone who’s been in office longer than two terms is no longer serving the people.
I believe that foreign influencers are using social media to pit us against each other. People want to defund the police — which is right out of the textbook of toppling a government by foreign governments. I know a little something about that. I believe our Executive branch has been compromised by foreign interest, but you’re not ready for that truth yet.
You want to talk about guns and American history, mostly, right? You want me to give you some product reviews and interview some interesting people? I’m going to do that. And along the way, I’m going to make you think a little, and hopefully help you understand why we are here and where we might be going.
In all truth, I don’t have all the answers. I don’t have to be right. And I don’t have to come back, but I want to now. I want to meet you in the middle so we can walk together, talk together, and fight together.
Now, you know that in the twelve years that the Urban Shooter / Black Man With A Gun Show Podcast has been on, I have always strived to be family-friendly and office-safe. I may have to deviate from that in the future – not from my language, but from the sources that I’m going to use.
I’m going to be giving you history. I’m going to be giving you some educational stuff, some entertainment, things that are not pretty, but they’re ours. If you’re brave enough to stay with me, if you trust me, I promise we’re going somewhere with this. My disclaimer is that I’m not trying to prove that I’m right. What I’m going to try to do, and only you will know if I’m successful, is to speak to what is up. Did you realize that we are right in the middle of a revolution? This isn’t the Civil Rights Era, or is it? There’s gotta be a new name for it, but I don’t have it yet. Have you heard of one? Whatever it is, I’m right here with you. If you were my friend before 2020, you are probably still my friend.
Epictetus says that it’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it, that matters.
Since 2014, I’ve been a member of the Crossbreedholsters.com family. If you carry concealed, get a holster that comes with a try-it-free lifetime guarantee.
If you have been a long-time listener of this podcast, you know, for many years, I would open up with John Wayne leading us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Somewhere, around my tenth year on the air, I had somebody tell me that John Wayne was a racist. It hurt me that I didn’t know, but I wasn’t surprised. And because I enjoyed all the Wild West movies that John Wayne had been in, it took me awhile to replace it. I had to think about it, ruminate on it and marinate on that thing. But as I started to do that and peel back the curtain on so many things of our country and our history, it got uglier and uglier. For the record, I still believe to my very soul that this is the very best country in all of the fifteen that I have visited in my lifetime. I would rather be nowhere else.
Them Damn Millennials.
We used to make fun of the younger folks, but guess what? They are changing the world. I know you don’t agree with the burning, looting, the defund-the-police, and all that. It is all stupid stuff, including the tearing down of monuments, but let’s look at it from a view of 60,000 feet above the Earth. Let’s rise above our own issues and thoughts, and look at it differently for a minute. At the speed of social media, these sapsuckers have done what folks have been trying to do since the Civil Rights Era. They’ve embarrassed us and reminded us that we have just accepted some stuff that we should not have. Not everyone will agree, but time will tell. The time had come for us to stop revering and instead reconciling the complexity of heroism and evil in America. That reckoning should have begun in the public school, but it didn’t. They’re doing it now. And how the sausage is made is never pretty.
The Sausage of Freedom.
Making freedom. It isn’t pretty. It’s kind of close to being like sausage. To make a pork sausage, you gotta kill a pig. You gotta clean the thing. You must cut the meat. You must grind it up. You must mix it and season it and put it in a cellulose sleeve. It is horrible to look at, but when you seal it, cook it, or grill it, that’s some good-tasting stuff – if you like pork. How we got to this point; how we think we discovered this world, the colonization of North America, the murder of indigenous people to the bringing of different nationalities here….Those who escaped other places to come here to form this nation…..The rise of slavery, the wars, Civil War reconstruction, the progressive era…..The so-called World Wars, the mid-century and the Cold War, and mixed in there were lynchings and the civil rights era and atrocities to humanity. How the sausage of freedom was made. Not a pretty picture. You can’t just glaze it over. You can’t pick one thing and can’t choose it.
But this land is your land. And this land is my land – from California to the New York Island, from the Redwood Forest to the gulf stream waters….This land was made for you and for me.
If you will look at the 60,000 foot view, it has taken us a long time to make change happen. I have gotten used to it. There are statues, flags and things that I, as a free, law-abiding American citizen would never stand near, take a photo with, or acknowledge, because it doesn’t represent ALL of us. After I learned the history of President Woodrow Wilson, for example, I have no problem with removing his name from anywhere. And then the list just keeps going on, but don’t let me stop there. Don’t leave me yet. Listen, we recognize that our nation’s founding was far from perfect. Don’t look at the destruction as all negative though. Let’s go back in history. Let’s do that, and let’s go back to Greek/Roman history.
There was a guy by the name of Lois Malraux, who says that we judge a society by the monuments it puts up. So, imagine the society, a Roman society, that puts up statues of tyrants, people who nearly succeeded in tearing the country apart, who did horrible, inexplicably, cruel things, even by standards of their own time. Why leave a statue of that person up?
Is tearing down statues destroying history, or is it simply the obvious response of a freed people with a conscience? Of course, the past is complicated. But the fact that something is hard and complicated does not absolve us from the responsibility of resolving it. Rome was able to tear down the monuments of its worst villains, but here, in America, and in the rest of the world, we have more tools at our disposal besides angry Millennials. We can still study and learn about these people in our history books and our schools, but we can take them off of public property, removing them from their prominent places in front of courthouses and capitals, which are supposed to be the houses of ALL the people. All people. If Marcus Aurelius had caused the death of a million Romans and torn the empire in half for the sole purpose of protecting slavery, would he be our hero? No. If he had done it as recently as some people’s great-grandparents, definitely not. If his likeness had been appropriated by vicious tyrants who subverted the rule of law to intimidate fellow citizens, and if his likeness was put up in statutes paid for still by tax dollars, would it be worth protecting? Now, we can make good arguments about Marcus Aurelius. There are good arguments about the good that Churchill did. There are good arguments in favor of Jefferson and Washington and others, but only a coward is afraid of having a conversation.
What about Nathan Bedford Forrest? Jefferson Davis was a fool. Robert E. Lee betrayed his prior service to his country when he raised arms against it and sent a generation of men to their deaths in a rebellion to protect a way of life that enslaved humans. At first I was like you: What the Hell? What is a statue going to do to you today?
Let’s jump on that Black Lives Matter thing for a minute.
One of the obstacles to having an open conversation about race is the tendency to downplay things that are not truly or really racist. And this can actually emboldened or encourage prejudice. The Black Lives Matter movement is real. It is legit. The Black Lives Matter organization to me is another animal all to itself. In 2013, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman killing of Trayvon Martin, Black Lives Matter was born. It was a protest group. Since then it is a group that has been infiltrated by other agendas. The movement itself is not new. It is exactly the same movement with a different name that came about in the ’60s. If you go back and look at your text, you will find pictures of men and women with signs saying, “Am I not a man?” that is an updated version from the past. It stems from the Dred Scott decision that wanted to say that people of African descent were not fully human, thereby they were not citizens of this country or entitled to any of its rights.
When you see a sign that says Black Lives Matter it is not denouncing that all life matters. It is saying that we value the life of a person that because of the color of his or her skin was thought of as not being fully human, had no rights to vote, and could not own a firearm. When you try to say All Life Matters, it detracts from that message. You are negating that there was a struggle. You are saying that we should forget that hurt, and that that pain is not important. We have an unreconciled past. So, when you say anything, you diminish others. Oh, you’re saying a lot.
That’s why I advise many of my friends to shut up. Don’t wait to be heard. Listen, there’s some things happening right here in your space, in this time period that you’re missing by trying to be right, trying to get your points made, trying to make your memes pop or even creating groups on the side. You’re not helping at all. The Black Lives Matter movement has given us a moment to reflect on a very important matter: our history of racism. When I was becoming a podcaster, when I was tackling things like the Second Amendment and the right to keep and bear arms for all people, I was advised to stay away from the race word truth. As soon as you talk about race, it gets quiet because everybody involved is uncomfortable. But guess what? The millennials don’t care – They’re going for it. They are putting it in our faces. And because of all the craziness they have done, change is happening again from the 60,000 foot view. This is a good thing, because in the end we have to reckon with ourselves; We have to reconcile. We have to fix what’s not right. It’s about time. We’ve been rolling wrong for a long time, and just accepting it, believing the lie because it’s been told so many times. Now, you don’t have to subscribe to doctrines of racial superiority or incite racial violence to say or do something that has racist implications. It’s in our speech. It’s in our culture. Racism is as much about impact as it is about intention. We shouldn’t forget about those who are on the receiving end of that discrimination.
–All right, Kenn, I’m hearing you, but um, what am I supposed to be doing now? — Well, here’s the problem that folks don’t realize: Millennials know how to start some mess, but they can’t fix it all. We still need to be involved. They still need our guidance. The end. It might be a 40-year-old or 30-year-old. Now, they’re as smart as I don’t know what, but they don’t have any life experience. They’ll know how to talk to anybody, but they don’t know politics. It’s time for us to step up now and instruct them, show them, now that they got a firearm, how to use it.
Because even though politics is jacked up right now, they need to be involved in that too, to change things. Don’t let one side be the answer for everything. Now, it’s time for you to get your butt in gear and assist and help and give consultation to these folks who are on fire to change the world without guidance. It’s the Lord of the Flies. I need the adults who are strong among us to work with these people. They’re not all bad. They just don’t have all the answers. They don’t have all the, you know, the inside stuff – the stuff we take for granted. And if we let them, they’ll burn the crap to the ground and not realize that you also have to rebuild. Don’t give up on them. Don’t leave them to their own devices. Don’t let some other interests take them away from us. We still have a chance to fix this country, but we must be involved, and you can only be involved if you’re talking to them. Communication is more important now than ever.
The Rise of the Black Gun Owner
Collectively, we still are little kids on the playground picking sides by gender, color, size and familiarity. Look back at kindergarten, remember when we used to segregate ourselves? All the kindergarten kids, the first-grade kids, the big kids from the little kids. There was the all-girl groups and over there, all the boys. And then, as we grew and social constructs began, we segregated ourselves by race. In nature, we separate ourselves for safety. Anything you think is strange is a threat. Well, right now, in an elementary sense of the word, we are grouping ourselves for safety. There is a fear that’s promoted and pushed pretty well by foreign governments on social media. The Race War. People fall for it. It sells black fatigues pretty well.
I have found that over time, as the group grows, it learns that it can’t be monolithic. You can’t be all “one people.” You must be diverse if you want to grow outside of your niche. If you want to grow outside of your field, you must embrace other people. That’s why there’s power in diversity. It’s a growth thing. Once you leave kindergarten and go to college, you mix and learn about other languages, other people, other cultures, and you get stronger because you grow in knowledge. In the beginning, it’s safer to be exclusive. There are some positives for being racist and segregationist. As a group, you can grow really fast. You can grow really strong. You can garner a lot of power using fear in small groups. But when you are ready to train outside of your group or shoot different firearms and travel to other ranges, you have to change.
It’s a growth thing. It’s a maturity thing.
I hope that one day we get to see that Americans realize that we are all the same with this faith. We will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with new meaning, “my country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died. Land of the Pilgrim’s pride. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.”!! And if America is to become a great nation, then this must be true. – Dr. MLK
Another thing that makes us different is not only our age and core values, but many of us served in uniform and took an oath to defend the constitution of the United States and to serve as an example to an America that doesn’t transfer or translate to the folks you see on “rage TV.”
Hang on, brother.
Yes, the media is doing what it does. It is showing you what you want to see to scare you. You know, we like to be scared. Some of us are writing articles about a race war and how we won’t kneel – none of which is helping anybody. The best advice I can give to friends who are listening is to not respond, not knee-jerk reaction, not come off-the-cuff, not try to be cute, to just shut up right now, but I’ll get back to that. I know that’s tough to hear from your friend. I know you know this, I’m just here to remind you. We have been here before. I didn’t think we would return, but humanity is not as cogent progressive or intelligent as it claims to be.
I’m still gonna need some financial help to get this puppy moving. If you can, please contribute to the https://patreon.com/blackmanwithagun , or to buy-me-a-coffee links. I still believe that
none of us is as strong as all of us.
I know, it’s been rough. It’s been tough. It’s been hard, but don’t let the media get ya. You’ve been right on so many things. Let’s continue to walk this thing together. Amen? And just in case, nobody has told you this today – I’m sure they haven’t, so I’m going to tell you – I love you. And there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.
We’ve all heard the old adage that Laughter Is The Best Medicine, but how many of us take this natural prescription regularly?
Things haven’t seemed very funny lately.
Why’s everybody got to be so serious?
In today’s world, even professional comedians can’t laugh at themselves without being called out for being insensitive to someone’s feelings. We humans are taught to believe that we are all very different from one another, but there is scientific evidence that shows that collective human DNA is 99.9% identical. That’s not what you hear from the mail in ancestry kits, is it?
This fact is not meant to diminish or take away from our individual and family history. We are who we are based on our parents, and their parents, and so on. Some of us have straight hair and wish we had curls, just like some of us are tall and slim while wishing we were petite and curvy. Our skin may be pink and ruddy, or warm like cocoa. These are factors that are out of our control, but they are ours, and if you’re blessed with parents who loved each other, your traits are genetic gifts of love. If we look at ourselves and devalue what we see, based on what society tells us we should see, we will never be happy. Maybe if we begin to accept that we really all are quite similar, then just maybe we can start honoring not only ourselves, but also accepting each other.
In the southern neighborhood where I grew up, where everyone’s skin tone varied, we all played together anyway. Skin color was a non issue. What did matter though, was how good you could make mud pies, explore the woods, and ride a bike. Many lifetime friendships were formed in my community.
As someone who appreciates wise words of wisdom, my grandmother once said to me,
“You must learn about where someone comes from in order to understand how to walk with them.”
At the time, I didn’t fully comprehend the gravity of that statement, but recently I’ve come to realize what she meant.
What if we encourage each other to not only walk together physically, but proverably? How could that change us, and the world in which we live? Before we can fully grasp where we are in this country today, we must first take a hard look at the history of how we, the human race, have treated each other.
When people are taught only one way to do things, it’s not easy to adapt to a different way. It often takes time, and a different skill set to do things a new way. Most of us don’t want to do that. We like to do things the way we like to do things. Look how long it took us to get beyond the tea cupping grip in shooting. Heck, people are still teaching something that gives no support or stability to a shot. Those who don’t step outside of the tea cupping box will never know if their control or accuracy will improve. But if it did improve, that could open a whole new world.
In order for us to successfully work together as a team, there are certain elements that have to be in place, such as kindness, empathy, and mutual respect. Why is it that we can do this to make our salary paying jobs flow, but not when we step out of that arena?
Perhaps if we seriously look inward and examine what is stopping us from being able to step outside of our world, and what we hold closely, we could see the 30,000 foot view. Who knows, We just might find some like minded people on the outside of our tea cupping box to walk with.
Wouldn’t it be cool If we were the conduit to bringing some of the much needed healing that needs to happen in our broken world.
By bringing unity in the 2A community, We all are the sum of our parts.
Being a catalyst for positive change requires us to use our time, GOD given talents and energy to move forward. There’s a lot of people right now who are frightened, hurting, and worried about so much. We may be one of them, but I truly believe that the key to healing begins by listening with both our hearts and ears. It is then, that GOD’S grace will be revealed to us, and the message will be loud and clear. Be the positive change.
Solutions For Good Sleep With Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
One of the things we don’t do is listen more to the wisemen in our lives. There are grandparents, and uncles that have accumulated a wealth of knowledge over their lifetimes.
Listen to this sage speak. My guest coming soon is retired U.S. Army Lt. Col David Grossman.
Podcasting is an excellent way to capture the wisdom of our elders. It’s not easy to listen sometimes because not everything they say is for everybody. And honestly, not everything they say is gold. But on this weeks episode I have a guest that is golden. We spoke for awhile and when he got comfortable he dropped some nuggets I want to share with you.
I didn’t know him personally before our interview. I have heard of him for decades. On this episode he will be sharing the importance of sleep and how it affects us, soldiers and folks contemplating suicide. Who would have known the key to success was sleep? He is going to talk about using caffeine effectively, how to sleep better, about church security, the Second Amendment, gun rights, the role and title of a Sheepdog, about self discipline and resilience. This grandfather is going to give some parenting 101 advice. And he is even going to talk about faith. He ties it all together.
You are going to thank me for this episode.
Dave has five patents to his name, has published four novels, two children’s’ books, and six non-fiction books to include his “perennial bestseller” On Killing (with over half a million copies sold).Since his retirement from the US Army in 1998, he has been on the road almost 300 days a year, for over 19 years, as one of our nation’s leading trainers for military, law enforcement, mental health providers, and school safety organizations. He is a US Army Ranger, a paratrooper, and a former West Point Psychology Professor. He has a Black Belt in Hojutsu, the martial art of the firearm, and has been inducted into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame.
Dave also mentions that getting a Fitbit to monitor your sleep and health is a good thing.I put a link below for you along with his first book.He has another coming out soon.When he and it is available, I’ll have him back on. This guy is great.He is one of a kind. He was a great guest for the Game Changers Podcast.Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
The end of African American history observance month 2020 is this week. I’ve always been a fan of history. I don’t like what happened most of time. I don’t romanticize about it. I don’t even wish I was born earlier. I had enough drama in my own lifetime. I’ve even made some history.
My friends from the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) asked me to do a little video to remind my American family of how far we’ve come and how far we have to still go.
Freedom to live as our Republic was intended is always under attack.
Most people don’t know I’ve been defending the right to keep and bear arms publicly since 1991. I am the founder of the first African American National Gun Club, the Tenth Cavalry. We had chapters in DC, Baltimore, NJ, Chicago and Georgia. I’ve helped launch several untraditional gun groups.
I was one of the champions for concealed carry reform nationally. I lobbied the US Congress and in the state legislatures of Virginia, Texas, South Carolina, Michigan, Maryland, and Wisconsin. I have been producing podcasts since 2007. The Black Man With A Gun Show podcast (2007- 2019) was one of the first pro-gun podcasts. I have voiced commercials for TV and traditional radio against racist gun laws before social media. I have been featured in four documentaries. I has authored several books. I’ve recently just written a couple of pieces for the USCCA.
But in December 2019 I decided to let the next generation have at it.
Well until requested to speak on this video.
I may be the best that ever did it and got away with it.
I’m still around if you need me though. Just send up the Black signal!
Had a good friend call me last night excited with a new idea he just had. He suggested I write a childrens book about guns. He said he was tired of all the gun violence. He said that I had credibility and knowledge that would make people listen. My head exploded.
I grew up in an athletic family. I have two cousins that made it to the professional sports level. My father was trying to play professional baseball in New York before he “remembered” he had enlisted. My mother was a star basketball player in high school. Somehow those genes missed me. I however was a marksman. I didn’t know it was important or esteemed until the State Department placed a bunch of different firearms in front of me preparing to serve as an Embassy Guard overseas as a US Marine. After enlistment, I got a good government job with the Central Intelligence Agency. They nurtured my curiosity and gift which led me to shoot firearms from all over the world. I became a trainer for our security teams and agents. I have been trained by some of the best in the world to teach. By the time I got to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Georgia; I was a distinguished expert. And when we didn’t have time to train folks, they sent me to protect VIPs in 13 hostile places.
I became internationally known and trademarked the name Black Man with A Gun™. I was ordained in the Baptist church and became a pastor which being pro-gun was a challenge. I have testified in the state legislatures of Virginia, Texas, South Carolina, Michigan, Maryland, and Wisconsin. I have been podcasting since 2007. I have voiced commercials for TV and radio against racist gun laws. I have been featured in four documentaries. I have authored several books.
It was then that I noticed for the first time, the disparagingly low numbers of African Americans in the gun magazines, books and competitions. I created African American Arms & Instruction, (A3i) in 1991. Forbidden by “the government” from using my bona fides for marketing, I got used to not promoting myself to my own detriment. I did connect with like minds as a gun advocate and began my crusade to change the hearts and minds of people I thought would eventually see the light. As an advocate before the age of social media, I got beat up by all the usual suspects often not on camera but in churches, town halls and state houses. I wrote the first edition of Black Man With A Gun in 2000 to help me get the word out. I created a national African American gun club in 1992. I met the founder of USCCA then and forged a friendship as he was building his magazine and ultimately USCCA as it is today. Rewrote the book in 2014. I retired from the Second Amendment struggle in 2019. Letting the younger lions take it on. I’m a little more coordinated now than I was as a kid. I can run and shoot accurately now, just not that fast.
Since he obviously forgot all that, I suggested I should probably then try to influence state laws, lobby, get on TV, radio, create a podcast, a website, a facebook group, and travel to places of worship to speak too. I gently reminded him that “gun violence” is a misnomer. That all he has just mentioned I have done for thirty years. I shared with him that the gun advocacy ranks have risen and that I knew of at least ten new “soldiers.” (I wondered how he had missed it)
It is one of the biggest lies gun control people tell…if not the biggest.
I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone argue in favor of the latest, most awesomest new gun law proposal, acknowledging that although it won’t actually end violent crime, it will be worth it “if it saves even one life.”
Anyone who tells you this is the bar for success is a liar. A big, fat, pants-on-fire, Pinocchio-nosed liar.
The truth is that in our society, we happily accept thousands of deaths for mere convenience as a matter of routine. There are any number of laws we could pass which would save one life.
Some of these things cause a lot of death, and some of them only cause a little, but they are all widely accepted as a fact of life in the United States, and they are legal. Ridding our nation entirely of any one of these things would doubtless save at least one life (likely more than one), yet there is no serious movement to completely ban any of them.
And that’s despite the fact that some of these things are purely luxuries. No one needs to drink alcohol. No one needs tobacco. No one needs to eat peanuts. And don’t give me any of that crap about what you have a right to do, if taking away that right saves one life. You think a total ban on peanuts wouldn’t save one life? Of course it would, and what difference does it make whether or not you like peanuts?. But we would surely get more “bang for our buck” with total bans on alcohol and tobacco, right? Want to sit at a bar with a drink, a smoke, and a bowl of peanuts? Forget it. You don’t need it, and it would save one life.
I couldn’t even find a picture of all three together…
“But Dave,” you say, “we do need cars!” Do we really? There was a time in this country where there were no cars, and people managed just fine. But it sure is nice to be able to live more than a mile or two away from your job, isn’t it? It sure is nice to be able to not have to hitch up the horse and buggy to go to the store and get groceries, huh? But people did it. (Some people still do.)
Livin’ life.
By now you’re probably thinking, “Dave that’s just silly. You can’t be seriously suggesting we return to travel by foot and by horse and buggy.” Of course I’m not. But what I am suggesting is that we are willing to accept death caused by cars in order (for those of us who aren’t killed by them) to enjoy a higher quality of life. Think about that. We will accept that cars kill people so that we can enjoy a more comfortable and convenient life.
“Now, Dave,” you’re thinking, “that’s not 100% true. We don’t just accept deaths caused by cars. We are constantly striving to improve safety and save lives on the highway.” No argument there. And if you are willing to accept the inconvenience and cost, there are things we could do to save at least one life when it comes to cars. How about mandating breathalyzer ignition interlocks on every car in the United States? Sure, it would be expensive and inconvenience those who don’t drink and drive…but it would save one life. How about we lower the national speed limit to 20 mph? Talk about inconvenient…but it would save one life. Too much? Okay…then let’s just mandate that all cars must be speed limited to not exceed…oh, pick a number…70 mph? Nobody needs a Dodge Hellcat.
Capable of 204 MPH. Nobody needs to go 204 MPH.
But remember, we’re not debating cost/benefit, and we’re sure as hell not debating your silly rights. The debate we’re having is how to save one life, and removing cars from our society would save one life.
Or would it? Isn’t is possible that on the whole, cars save lives because now people won’t be dropping dead early from walking to work every day, or by the number of lives lost in horse and buggy accidents? Don’t cars save lives by making it easier to get to the doctor, and to the pharmacy to obtain life-saving medications? Perhaps, but again that debate gets into the area of cost/benefit analysis, and the gun-banners sure as hell don’t want to go there. Even the anti-gun CDC reluctantly confirmed over 2 million defensive gun uses per year, well in excess of any deaths by accidental, suicidal, or homicidal use of a gun. If you want to go all cost/benefit, guns win.
You should see by now where all of this “if it saves one life” stuff leads. It willingly ignores the reality that we do in fact accept a certain amount of death in order to enjoy the comforts of modern life and to enjoy the rights of free people. To say differently is a lie.
Not that long ago, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives concluded that bump-fire stocks, “slide-fire” devices were merely a gun accessory or firearm part, not subject to federal regulation. After an evil person murders 58 people and injures 851; the gun accessory is used as a scapegoat.
Law abiding gun owners are often the scapegoat. Am I the only one that dislikes being accused of things I don’t or didn’t do?
I speak about this, the origin of the Scapegoat, and who the real demon is in this story on this weeks episode of the Black Man With A Gun Show Podcast. The show is now in its 12th year and has had over 2.1 million downloads.
Here’s a comment from one of my friends.
Why every single American should be up in arms over the bump stock ban…
Forget for a moment that we’re talking about a piece of plastic that is a gimmick. Let’s look at how this ban was put in place.
No law was passed. No law was broken. The item was legal to purchase. Illegally, DOJ, with the stroke of a pen, outlawed these items. BUT HOW?
Congress was not involved. There was no law passed outlawing these items. Such a law wouldn’t be able to get through Congress. So, DOJ violated the law in quite a number of ways to do it. They declared it a machine gun and subject to prohibition.
The term “machine gun” is very precisely defined in Federal Code…
The term “machinegun” means any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger. The term shall also include the frame or receiver of any such weapon, any part designed and intended solely and exclusively, or combination of parts designed and intended, for use in converting a weapon into a machinegun, and any combination of parts from which a machinegun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or under the control of a person.
The key point here is “by a single function of the trigger”.
ATF prior to DOJ stepping in correctly identified the bump stock as a non firearm accessory in compliance with the definition of a machine gun according to Federal Code.
DOJ arbitrarily changed the definition, illegally, for their purposes. Only Congress has the power to make such a change. DOJ does not. The President does not.
So, we have a situation now where a lawfully purchased item is declared illegal, through illegal means. This creates quite the Constitutional Crisis.
If this is allowed to stand. There is no single area of Federal Code that cannot be modified at will by any agency and they can do it without the consent of Congress.
This ladies and gentlemen is the very definition of tyranny. This is NOT how our Republic operates.
On top of this, they are demanding the surrender or destruction of these devices without due compensation to the owners. Again, this is illegal AND Unconstitutional.
We as Americans have a choice. We comply, we bend the knee, and surrender our Freedoms… We do this, on bump stocks and the door is permanently open for future abuses by DOJ and other agencies.
Or, we resist. Do not comply. We fight it tooth and nail. We refuse to accept their narrative. We tell them NO. We back it by force of arms if necessary.
There is risk in the latter option, there is tyranny in the former. Pick one. You have no other choices. We have been far to tolerant of this out of control Government for far to long.
Our representation in Congress and the Presidency have for far to long taken our Rights and Liberties for granted. They have used our Freedoms as bargaining chips for their political gain.
If what they have done now is allowed to stand, they can ban anything they want. Guns, knives, cars, sexual preference, gay marriage, whatever, simply by deeming it so without Congress.
Congress should be up in arms over this. They have just been made completely moot. Their status in Government no longer matters. Yet, they sit quietly by and watch.
It is now up to the Citizens to do what is right.
I am publicly calling for the President to rescind this stupid edict and for DOJ to stop operating outside of it’s legal boundaries. I am calling on all Americans to fight this, whether you are pro gun, anti gun, or whatever. Allowing this to stand will do harm to all of us. There is a Constitutional process to be followed and it has NOT been followed in this instance. The ban is illegal and Unconstitutional. DO NOT COMPLY. FIGHT!
We are talking effective communication for the new gun rights activist. The struggle is real and you can win this thing if you are properly prepared to do battle. The opportunity to make a difference can come at any time and I want to share some stuff I have learned over the years about communicating. The USCCA is having a three day expo next week and I got a chance to snag my friend Tim Schmidt for an interview. http://uscca.blackmanwithagun.com to join up. Michael J. Woodland has a commentary about the attack on the Second Amendment. Atty. Andrew Branca is back with a Law of Self Defense tip and story of the week.
Fight on!
Pro-rights people are under attack every day. We are demonized, vilified, and maligned by people that get their point across more effectively than we do. Communicating effectively is more important than talking. The facts can get lost in the presentation. I want to share with you how to say the right thing at the right time. Communicating is secret sauce of life.
There are a lot of smart people that are not great communicators. If you can communicate with others, the opposite sex, other folks in our community or when you get the opportunity to speak against gun control, effectively it makes a difference. The newest tool of the anti-gun movement has been children. The only thing more precious might be your pets.
So what do you do? For many of us it is to counter-protest. The media will be selective and chose someone from our side that they can ridicule or discredit if possible. You won’t get chosen to speak if you are wearing a suit, clean shaven and not wearing a baseball hat. If they don’t have a choice they may still give you some camera time but edit what you say. You speak for 30 minutes and they put .30 seconds of that on the air.
I’ve been doing this since 1991 and would like to give you some tips. In addition to that I just so happened to get a copy of the anti-gunner playbook that I will gladly share with you if you ask. It’s an 80 page PDF I’ll exchange for a working email address from you. I am trying to grow an email list of leaders in our community so if you want a free copy, click here
Context is king for communication.
It’s not where you take things from, it’s where you take them to. — Jean-Luc Godard
Context helps you listen. Think of context as anticipating your reader’s questions, and answering them. Get into their heads and hearts: You need to really understand how and when your messages are going to be in front of your audience and what they are thinking and feeling in that moment. Every word you use or visual you include is filtered through their state of mind at that moment. Some of you call that “emotion.” Don’t ever ignore the context of how, where and when your communication will fall into the audience’s day.
A Consistent Message
It’s where, how, when, and to whom, and how often you say it. For the pro-gun community, we have facts on our side but often lack the power of persuasion. We need to be as relentless as our opponents. If your message actually matters, then surely the time, place and tone you say it will matter equally.
Correct Facts
Your communication requires a high level of accuracy in reporting information. Characteristics of effective interviews in media include clear dates, facts, resources and schedules that should be double-checked for completeness and clarity. Effective messages are also free of jargon, and slang.
For example, the reporter says: What is your response to the fact that more children are shot and killed in the US than anywhere in the industrialized world?
YOU say passionately that I heard that too but I know it’s not true, did you know that criminals are included? Yeah according to the CDC, over half of all homicides of victims aged 15-19 are gang-related. The same study found that gang-related homicides are more likely to involve firearms than those that are not (95% versus 69%).
Clear Purpose
Effective messages include a clear purpose to inform, persuade or collaborate with the intended audience. The message should be designed according to the audience’s level of understanding, potential reaction and relationship with the composer. Generally, it’s best to include only one main idea in each message, unless there are closely related issues that must be addressed together. Having a clear purpose in mind for this communication will also help determine the medium used to deliver the message.
Complete Messages
Prepare at least three solid points for when the reporter sticks a microphone into your face or attaches you a lapel mic. Knowing that you will be edited, keep your message succinct, know that the camera is rolling if you are in their presence. Nothing is off camera for you. If the question is off base deliver your points, regardless of what was asked. If they want to use your sound byte give them the complete message of what you prepared. For example, the reporter says,
Thank you for agreeing to speak with us. What do you have to say in response to the uniquely destructive role that the NRA plays in America?
You respond with a smile, and say, I’m not sure where you get your facts but as a good neighbor, an active recreational and competition shooter I know that though the number of firearms owned by private citizens has been increasing steadily since 1970, and that the overall rate of homicides and suicides has not risen.
Creative Characters
The most effective messages are short, engaging and to the point. Figure out how to provide infotainment. Don’t deliver or respond to the sound bite the same dry, I know more than you, you are an idiot look. Look at Wayne LaPierre, don’t be him. There is only one Wayne. You be you. To be effective your communication should include a bit of creativity but not buffoonery.
Overall, and more important than the truth here is getting your message across. The other side knows this. That is why they are pimping kid victims and indoctrinating them with the PDF I want to share with you.
Socialist youth are made not born. – Kenn Blanchard
Draw attention to their ridiculousness of their claims. Illustrate it, tell a story, everyone, even the ignorant care about personal safety. Frame your response so you don’t look like a smarty pants, know it all but a concerned responsible father, brother, mother, sister. Be self-deprecating if possible, appeal to the audience not the reporter or speaker. Be as emotional as you have to be to be true to you. You know this stuff matters. You know the truth. I am not saying you have to go for it like a Pentecostal preacher but …
“You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.” – Davy Crockett
Although I try to keep a lid on the salty language in this column, sometimes it is really tempting. As a law abiding gun owner, it sure has been difficult lately not to give some people some directions to a…much warmer location. Especially since the gun controllers have been feeling their oats following the Parkland school shooting, and the hundred-or-so million of us who have done nothing wrong have been feeling the heat.
It is really easy to get discouraged with the relentless attack on one-third of the American population and the accusations of complicity in the murder of children. The mass media amplification of the minority voice which favors massive control can certainly make us feel isolated and alone in our support of the 2nd Amendment.
But it is a false narrative, and I can prove it to you. Come see me…and over 80,000 kindred spirits…at the 147th NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits in Dallas, Texas. If you are a law-abiding gun owner who understands and values the right to keep and bear arms as enshrined in the Constitution of the United States, you owe it to yourself to join us in Dallas the first weekend in May.
While Michael Bloomberg, George Clooney, and other elitists organized and funded the so-called March For Our Lives (a protest against civil rights), the NRAAM is a display of true grassroots. How many would have attended the March For Our Lives if they had had to pay their own way? We’ll never know. But in one month we will see over 80,000 individuals celebrate liberty in Dallas, and they’ll do it on their own dime.
The stakes could not be higher. The forces which wish to eradicate gun rights in this country are feeling brave right now. The mask is off, and they feel safe in their contempt for us and our liberty. But they are wrong. We are the good guys (and gals). We are going to gather in Dallas and show them who we are.
We are people who say “please” and “thank you” and “excuse me.” We recognize the responsibility that goes hand-in-hand with the exercise our right to keep and bear arms, and are exceedingly law abiding and safe gun owners. We do not have blood on our hands. No matter how the antis try to portray us, we are not the problem.
So if the constant stream of vilification from the anti-gun rights has you down, I can think of no better cure than to gather with the good people of the National Rifle Association in Dallas. Let the haters go…well, you know. I am going to Texas. Hope to see you there.
