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As NRA membership wanes, America's largest black gun group is thriving
cbs ^ | September 11, 2019

Posted on 05/28/2020 9:39:26 AM PDT by re_tail20

The country's largest and best known gun rights association, the NRA, is losing board members amid a spate of deadly mass shootings. But another, lesser-known gun organization is thriving: the National African American Gun Association, the largest minority gun group in the country.

The group was founded by Phillip Smith, who fondly remembers the first time he fired his 9 mm pistol at a gun range.

"I felt free," Smith said. "I had a chance to kind of have some power in my hands."

Smith formed the first chapter of the National African American Gun Association, or NAAGA, in Atlanta.

"I didn't think I'd get more than 30 people…" Smith said. But in just five years, NAAGA has started 75 chapters with more than 30,000 members, over 90% of whom are black.

"We have folks from every walk of life," Smith said. "Black doctors, gay, straight, Republicans, Democrats. You name it, we have it … We're not monolithic in why we're all here. We have different reasons."

When asked why the members didn't just join the NRA, Smith said that "the NRA is good for some people that are having that perspective. Our perspective is for black folks."

Nezida Davis joined NAAGA to learn how to protect herself. She's not alone: more than 60% of NAAGA members are black women.

"I'm usually looked at like I'm a Martian," Davis said. "I mean, literally, if I come in and I get ready to go into the gun range, people are looking at me like, 'Why is she here? Black women don't shoot.' But we shoot."

After black churchgoers were targeted in Charleston and Mexicans were targeted in El Paso, members say they're prepared to defend themselves.

"It's crime in our communities, but it's also a white nationalist," Davis said. "I mean,...

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: 2019; 2ndamendment; banglist; fakenews; gunsblack; naaga; notcurrentnews; notnews; nra; oldnews; secondamendment
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1 posted on 05/28/2020 9:39:26 AM PDT by re_tail20
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To: re_tail20

Some of the NRA news is dated, as this is from nine months ago, but the rest is still very relevant.


2 posted on 05/28/2020 9:40:20 AM PDT by re_tail20
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To: re_tail20

Am I the only one who would find it uncomfortable to pronounce the acronym in the presence of an actual member of the organization?


3 posted on 05/28/2020 9:42:57 AM PDT by Quality_Not_Quantity (This space vacant until further notice in compliance with social distancing 'guidelines')
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To: re_tail20
National African American Gun Association, or NAAGA

Please pardon me for not trying to say the acronym in public.

4 posted on 05/28/2020 9:43:58 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (In 2016 Obama ended America's 220 year tradition of peaceful transfer of power after an election.)
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To: Quality_Not_Quantity

definitely want to go with the letters, staccato...not the blended version


5 posted on 05/28/2020 9:44:11 AM PDT by ConservativeDude
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To: re_tail20

Any law abiding citizen...of any color...has a Constitutional right to “keep and bear arms”.So why does See BS feel the need to put this out?


6 posted on 05/28/2020 9:44:50 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (The Rats Just Can't Get Over The Fact That They Lost A Rigged Election!)
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To: Quality_Not_Quantity

For sure.


7 posted on 05/28/2020 9:44:59 AM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: re_tail20

Go to Charleston SC and take a carriage ride around the historic district toward the battery, You will see homes surrounded with high iron fences with long, sharp spikes on top of them. They were terrified of a slave uprising.

How long do you think slavery would have lasted if the general slave population had been armed? Given history, I have never understood why so many black Americans oppose the 2nd Amendment.


8 posted on 05/28/2020 9:46:03 AM PDT by RatRipper ( Democrats and socialists are vile liars, thieves and murderers - enemies of good and America.)
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To: Quality_Not_Quantity

Guys at the convention are hanging with their fellow NAAGAs.


9 posted on 05/28/2020 9:46:23 AM PDT by Fido969 (In!)
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To: KarlInOhio
Please pardon me for not trying to say the acronym in public.

"It's a trap!"

10 posted on 05/28/2020 9:50:30 AM PDT by Fido969 (In!)
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To: re_tail20

Boy, no bias in the headline or the reporting there.

I especially like how they conflate the NRA’s losing board members with a drop in membership. The media does such a great job of dropping facts then claim innocence when people complain that their carefully-chosen facts don’t represent the truth.


11 posted on 05/28/2020 9:50:35 AM PDT by Quality_Not_Quantity (This space vacant until further notice in compliance with social distancing 'guidelines')
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To: re_tail20
The country's largest and best known gun rights association, the NRA, is losing board members amid a spate of deadly mass shootings.

What goes unsaid is that gun sales are soaring - a lot of first-time gun buyers during this COVID-19 shutdown according to stories. The NRA's difficulties have nothing to do with mass shootings and everything to do with their own management.
12 posted on 05/28/2020 9:51:03 AM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: re_tail20

Is that name a joke?


13 posted on 05/28/2020 9:51:04 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie (All I know is The I read in the papers.)
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To: re_tail20

“””And so by bein’ able to protect ourselves, by training properly and getting our practice in, and learning how to defend ourselves, at least we will be able to fight back if we are attacked — from white supremacists or white nationalists.” “””


We had to know that if CBS is reporting, there has to be an reason.

Nary a comment from CBS that maybe the reason blacks are owning guns is to protect themselves in DEMOCRAT cities from the burlars, rapists, and murderers who break into their homes.


14 posted on 05/28/2020 9:51:36 AM PDT by Presbyterian Reporter
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To: RatRipper
Given history, I have never understood why so many black Americans oppose the 2nd Amendment.

Democrat brainwashing. Gun control was designed to keep guns out of the hands of black Americans.

15 posted on 05/28/2020 9:51:43 AM PDT by Fido969 (In!)
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To: re_tail20

My goodness... I thought the title was about ARs and AKs...
Terrible rifles, both...
Oh well, our ‘64 gun control acts were all about disarming blacks; it is entirely fitting that blacks should lead the re-armament charge!


16 posted on 05/28/2020 9:52:40 AM PDT by golux (In Memory of Kenny Bunk)
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To: RatRipper

> I have never understood why so many black Americans oppose the 2nd Amendment. <

The 2A was one reason the KKK* didn’t cause more havoc than they did after Reconstruction. The klansmen knew that many black folks kept a shotgun next to the front door.

* A Democrat organization, by the way.


17 posted on 05/28/2020 9:53:24 AM PDT by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition.)
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I’ve been fond of Black Guns Matter. Those folks are great.


18 posted on 05/28/2020 9:53:53 AM PDT by RandallFlagg (Fact: Gun control laws kill innocents.)
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To: re_tail20

Regardless....Gun ownership goes up and up and up.


19 posted on 05/28/2020 9:58:22 AM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Quality_Not_Quantity

Perfect example of reporting bias and misinformation. Also imagine the hue and cry if someone started a gun group specifically for “white folks”...


20 posted on 05/28/2020 10:00:08 AM PDT by ripnbang ("An armed man is a citizen, an unarmed man, a subject.")
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