'Don't Tread On Me' Has Become the Gun-Toting Black Woman's Credo

AP Photo/Carlos Osorio

In the wake of the Robb Elementary School mass shooting in Uvalde, TX, where 19 children and two teachers were murdered, the legacy media is fomenting gun control narratives, while also marveling at some facts on the ground that destroy those very narratives. One stone-cold reality is the rise in gun ownership among women, with a significant chunk of that number being Black women. In light of all the ugliness of mass shootings and the Leftist cries for gun control, if a legacy magazine is running a story about increased ownership among any minority, you know they are sitting up and taking notice, and perhaps fostering the discussion rather than fanning the flames of division.

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One can hope. A publication called The Cut did a deep dive into this subject: “The New Face of American Gun Ownership Black women are pushing against the (white, rural, and male) stereotype,” While the article has some quality interviews and explores some of this territory, it still treats this reality as though it is some new revelation.

In the ’90s, most gun owners cited hunting and sports shooting as the primary reason. Today, surveys show that two out of three Americans who own guns keep them mainly for self-protection; women especially say it’s the driving consideration. The demographics of who owns guns are also changing. Brown, who is a Black woman, pushes against the embedded stereotype of the American gun owner: white, male, and living in the country.

Brown bought her first gun in 2018, four years after her divorce. Her daughter’s safety weighed on her constantly, and Brown says she “needed to know how to do something more than just scream and scratch” for their protection.

In recent years, story after story has furthered the narrative that Black women are the fastest-growing group of gun owners in the country.

Welcome to the party, folks. Black women have been pushing back against the stereotypes and taking charge of their own protection for a while now, knowing full well that the only ones jeopardizing their safety are liberal, gun-grabbing white saviors and those who support them.

From the Black Codes enacted after the Civil War, to restrictive taxation, to Franklin Roosevelt’s Firearms Act of 1934, gun control at its root has always sought to kill individualism; the right to self-defense, and the right to protect oneself against threat. But another feature (not a bug) has been disenfranchising those who most need it: the poor, the common man, the minority.

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Many of my favorite Sheroes: Harriet Tubman, Ida B. Wells, and Madam CJ Walker owned guns, because for them it was a matter of life and death. In our post-pandemic era, we see everyday people, through no fault of their own, caught up in dangerous situations. The church, and the grocery store can no longer be considered safe spaces. Since slavery, the Left has done all it can to tear apart Black families and strip Black women of their own agency and protections. LBJ’s War on Poverty also drove nails in that coffin, from removing fathers from the home to government handouts that strengthen dependency rather than foster liberty. Black women have seen this scenario before, but we’re not going to rely on anyone to protect us or our children. We’re literally taking it into our own hands, whether it be AR-15, a Glock, or a 22 caliber.

I have always been pro-Second Amendment, but didn’t know whether I would actually exercise that right for myself. I have lived the entirety of my life in liberal petri dishes that make it next to impossible both financially and communally to own a firearm. While I wanted to take that step over the line, I wanted to do it properly (i.e., training) and I wanted to be able to maintain this Pew-Pew life; and in liberal bastions, that is neither cheap nor convenient. Of course, Dementia Joe’s policies are trying to spread this destructive, Blue State poison across the nation with limited success.

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In 2019, out of the blue, a Yoga client who knew I was a conservative gave me and my husband a four-day handgun training course. That got the momentum going. In 2020, the pandemic was foisted upon us, and along with all that evil foolishness and attempts to alter our lives, my livelihood was being destroyed through AB5, the California law outlawing independent contracting. I was quite vocal and public in this battle, as well as for a “Yes” vote on Prop 22, which would help rideshare and platform drivers bypass AB5—it didn’t help all of us, but it was good for the overall cause.

Because of that advocacy, I received a veiled threat from the goons on the other side—no doubt he/she/it aligned with the unions and their ilk. But that’s when the script fully flipped from, “I support,” to “I carry.” I was determined that my voice, my safety, or my family’s safety were not going to be jeopardized because I wasn’t properly equipped to defend an attack. With the help of a friend, we bought our first Glock in 2020, and a Springfield Armory in 2021, and have taken more gun training since then. Now I am fully invested not only in exercising my Second Amendment rights, but in protecting my life and the life of others if necessary.

I am a resourceful woman, and I am blessed to be able to bridge many worlds, and it is because of those bridges that I was able to do firearm training and now own two firearms. But many Black women exist only in their community, or even if exposed to other communities, won’t make the effort to move into another arena—even if it means greater access, empowerment, and safety.

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Marchelle “Tig” Davis, the owner of My Sister’s Keeper, recognized this and acted:

I started My Sister’s Keeper Defense in 2016 because I noticed a lack of representation in the gun community. I would see women coming into the range where I worked and feel extremely uncomfortable while their significant other attempted to teach them about firearms. Sometimes it’s hard to believe you can do something until you see someone who looks like you in that position.

My firearms background stems from the military. I was in the Army National Guard for seven years and became a firearms instructor when I left the military. I fell in love with teaching firearms classes while working at a local Atlanta gun range.

My end game is to effectively teach a million women how to defend themselves with firearms. I also plan to open my own gun range. As a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor, I think it’s important that women feel like they’re in control of their safety. My Sister’s Keeper Defense is here to empower women and make sure that no one else becomes a victim.

Another reality is that a large sector of the Black population lives in urban areas. Thanks to Democrat agendas and policies, the elected betters in these areas have restricted them from being able to own a firearm to protect themselves. It’s also a reality that Blacks are disproportionately the victims of gun violence, as this Reuters article reported:

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Increased gun violence linked to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has been widely noted previously, with an FBI report last year showing homicides increased 30%.

The CDC report goes further in placing the rate of homicides caused by firearms to the highest level in 26 years, while also noting disparities based on race, ethnicity and poverty.

The firearm homicide rate, measured per 100,000 people, rose from 4.6 in 2019 to 6.1 in 2020, the report said, with a strong correlation to poverty.

Among African Americans, the rate was 26.6 deaths per 100,000, a 39.5% increase over 2019. For white Americans, the rate was 2.2 per 100,000.

Reuters refused to explore the reasons behind this, issuing this stunningly stupid paragraph:

The study found the reasons for widening inequality were “unclear and potentially complex,” noting the COVID-19 pandemic might have “exacerbated existing social and economic stressors.”

No sh*t, Sherlock. Notice the failure to mention the “Summer of Love” sparked over the death of George Floyd, that kicked off violence and death in many urban cities. The calls to Defund the Police disenfranchised who, exactly?

But race played a distinct role, as other minorities were also found to have higher rates of gun deaths.

Thanks to people like Tig Davis, Black women can now say, “No more.” No more will I be a target or a victim. No more will my husband or my children be in jeopardy when I could change the situation by being armed and prepared. Just this week, a woman in Houston shot her stalker, who had kicked in her apartment door. In May, a West Virginia woman took down a man who crashed a graduation party and started shooting.

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This is not a new thing, but it is increasing rapidly. “Don’t Tread On Me,” is making a comeback, and Black women are flying the flag. We are embracing the ability to take control and foster a sense of safety in our surroundings. No government can do that, and its failure has been proven time and again. The fact that the legacy media is reporting on Black women taking control by embracing gun ownership means that we have broken a wall.

And the Black Women Gun Owner’s organization signifies we’re creating a movement.

Black Women Gun Owners emerged as a response to Black Women’s growing interest in their right to bear arms. This group supports the Second Amendment which protects that very right – the individual right to keep and bear arms. We use this platform to promote responsible and accountable gun ownership.

It is imperative that we fully explore our Second Amendment rights as it pertains to protecting our families and ourselves.

On one the Black Women Gun Owner’s blog post, the writer outlines the ways Democrats, Leftists, and the white saviors have tried to restrict the Black woman’s right to bear arms. She then asks one question and answers it:

How does one overcome this obstacle? Through grit and community. One community, Black Women Gun Owners.

Molon Labe.

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