The National African American Gun Association (NAAGA) gained thousands of members following the May 25 death of George Floyd.

On September 16, 2015, Breitbart News spoke with NAAGA founder Philip Smith, who was focused on opening the black community’s eyes to the importance of gun ownership for self-defense.

Smith made clear that he recognizes that citizens of all races have a right to keep and bear arms, but he focused on the black community because of personal experiences of going to the shooting range and being the only black person there. He hoped to be part of an impetus for black citizens to understand the Second Amendment is theirs as well.

On June 11, 2020, PRNewswire reported that a partnership between Ammo.com and the gun rights group “indicates Rise in African American Gun Ownership.”

Moreover, NAAGA, which was founded with 30 members in 2015, now has over 40,000. And Smith says the group added 2,000 members “in 36 hours after George Floyd.” 

He added, “That broke our records. We’re getting a ton of folks from all over.”

Ammo.com compared May 2020 and May 2019 business interactions with NAAGA members and found 350 percent more transactions in 2020. Considering the fact that over 90 percent of NAAGA’s members are black, Ammo.com recognized significant growth in black involvement in Second Amendment-related purchases and activities.

“The right to self defense is natural, color-blind, and enshrined in our Constitution,” Ammo.com’s Alex Horsman noted. “That is why in 2017, we selected the NAAGA Scholarship Fund as one of the several pro-freedom organizations to which we voluntarily donate one percent of our sales. NAAGA is in good company among the Second Amendment Foundation, the Institute for Justice, and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange