Lansing, Michigan resident Mike Lynn, Jr. made headlines recently when he and several friends and family members provided an armed escort for a lawmaker who said she felt intimidated by recent reopen protests at the capitol, where several protesters were legally armed and carrying inside the capitol building. Rep. Sarah Anthony said she was bothered by some of the imagery on display from some of the protesters, including Conferedate flags and at least one noose, and Lynn reached out to the representative to let her know that he and his friends and family had her back.

Mike Lynn, Jr. sits down with me on today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co for a wide ranging discussion about his support for the Second Amendment and his goal of encouraging more minorities to exercise their right to keep and bear arms. While Mike and I probably wouldn’t agree on every political topic under the sun, we were able to find plenty of common ground, starting with the idea that the Second Amendment is for all Americans, not just bearded white guys like yours truly.

Lynn says since he offered the armed escort to Rep. Anthony, he’s received a lot of positive reaction from those in the community, and adds that hundreds of people have joined his Facebook group Black and Brown 2nd Amendment Advocates. Lynn says he was hoping to help change the conversation about black gun ownership, and he feels like he’s off to a good start.

It’s not that weird to see white men with guns, right? We can say that. In our climate that we’re in right now, it’s kind of, I guess, taboo, if you see a black person with a gun,” Lynn said.

“So I guess it was in turn to challenge that idea, to normalize that idea. That we are just Americans,” Lynn said. “Just like any other white gun owner, we are just Americans. We have the Second Amendment right just like they do,” he said.

One of the things that I really appreciate about Lynn is his curiosity and openness in talking to folks in order to hear their perspectives. In fact Lynn told me that he’s even reached out and spoken with one of the militia members in Michigan who was in the capitol protesting not long ago, and says the conversation helped him appreciate the fact that the Second Amendment doesn’t just protect the right to keep and bear arms, but it serves as a check on tyranny as well.

It’s a great conversation, and I hope to have more of them with Mike Lynn, Jr. in the weeks and months ahead. The Second Amendment movement should be a big tent movement, and no matter how much we may disagree about other issues, when we stand together in support of our right to keep and bear arms, good things happen.

Make sure you stick around after the interview for more stories, including a violent criminal in New Mexico who’s back behind bars on attempted murder charges just a week after a judge granted him probation in a violent assault, a South Carolina man who was shot and killed after breaking down the door to his ex-girlfriend’s home, and a high school student in upstate New York who’s helping an injured police officer with the proceeds from his senior project.