I’ve written quite a bit here about restoring a culture of lawful gun ownership in our urban areas, where the conventional wisdom is that gun should be taboo and no one should encourage anybody to actually be safe and proficient with a firearm. That’s why I was so thrilled to read about the “Black Boys With Guns” event held in the Minneapolis suburb of Robbinsdale over the weekend.
It’s a class aimed at breaking social stigma.
The course was created to give youth the opportunity to practice their firearm skills while also discussing gun-involved trauma that may have happened to them or someone they love. It’s the second time organizers with “Strong Arm Protection” have lead a program of this kind.
The team behind this program believes that educating young black youth will help curb gun violence in the greater Minnesota Community.
Teaching real gun safety and education to at-risk youth? Gun control advocates aren’t going to like that one bit, even though the course encompasses far more than range time.
This month, more than a dozen minority boys between 12-19 years old went to this range not only to discuss their roles with firearms but also to have a safe space to practice firearms skill.
“My goal is just to get these young people knowing the responsibilities that they have when it comes to these things” said Richard Robinson, Jr., CEO of Strong Arm Protection.
Where else are they going to get this education? Obviously you’d love to see parents teaching their kids, but it may be that many parents of the attendees aren’t gun owners themselves. Rather than simply pretend that their kids won’t ever come in contact with a firearm, however, these parents are taking it upon themselves to ensure that their kids have this knowledge base, even if they can’t be the ones to teach their children directly.
African American male and female pistol instructors also assist in leading discussions with the students on many of the gun violence problems in local neighborhoods.
The classes are volunteer-based and also free.
Next month young black girls will be invited to participate.
I really do love this idea, and I’m glad to see Richard Robinson and the other instructors putting this program in place as well as working to expand the course. It would be fantastic to see similar programs in other cities across the country, but one step at a time, I suppose. For now, this program is a great start, and I hope that parents in the Twin Cities take advantage of the free course in the months to come.
Hopefully this will inspire other 2nd Amendment activists in other anti-gun cities to offer similar programs, but in the meantime I’ll be reaching out to Richard Robinson, Jr. to see about joining me on a future episode of Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co. I’d love to learn more about the program, find out why he decided something like this was needed, and where he hopes to take the course in the future.
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