Gun Ownership, Shooting Classes Surge Among Black Women

Black women are flocking to firearm classes in cities like Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas, and Savannah, learning to shoot and use guns for self-defense.

The classes are specifically geared toward the women, bearing names like “Trigger Happy Firearm Instruction,” “Brown Girls Project,” and “Black Woman’s Defense League,” among others. All are designed to teach black women how to properly use a firearm and to carry it in a way that it is accessible and ready if needed for self-defense.

The Guardian reports that domestic violence–being able to stop and survive such violence–is one of the big motivators for this movement. In fact,  Marchelle Tigner–founder of “Trigger Happy Firearm Instruction”–is a domestic violence survivor.

Tigner discovered Atlanta’s Bullseye Indoor Range and Gun Shop and “offered the class through social media, hoping for 20 students.”

She hit that number within two days so she doubled her expectations and aimed for 40. A “class scheduled for 4 March sold out to 40 students in 24 hours; a third class for 30 on 18 March sold out in 30 hours; and so did a fourth on 19 March.” She now has classes scheduled all the way through May, and that includes classes she will teach in Florida.

She observed, “The growth of these classes – I never expected it. It shows me how unsafe these women feel in their communities.”

The NRA loves seeing gun ownership and training growing among black women. NRA media relations manager Jason Brown said, “From the NRA’s perspective, it’s an awesome trend.” He stressed that the “NRA is not an old white guy’s party.”

On Friday, April 28, Antonia Okafor–a black woman who advocates for the Second Amendment–will speak to the NRA’s Leadership Forum; the same forum to which President Donald Trump will also speak.

Okafor said that “black women” have been among her “biggest critics” in her fight for gun rights, but she was simply living out what so many other black women are now realizing. Okafor said, “People don’t know me, or how I came to my beliefs. My experience comes more from being a woman and being empowered through my gun.”

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of “Bullets with AWR Hawkins,” a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.