Many anti-gunners have long claimed that if black folks started buying guns, your average Second Amendment advocate would start calling for gun control. It’s their bit to try and claim that we’re all secretly–or not so secretly, depending on who you talk to–racist.

And based on how folks in California started passing gun control after the Black Panthers showed up armed way back in the day, there’s a reason they think that.

However, that was then, this is now. Times have changed a lot since then but their opinions haven’t.

Unfortunately, those comments and opinions have been debunked. Not by a Second Amendment writer or YouTube personality or anyone like that.

They’ve been debunked by reality.

During the pandemic, gun and ammunition sales spiked dramatically in the United States — particularly among Black women, who have become the fastest growing group of gun owners in the country.

“In 2021, we were just coming outta COVID and violence was at an all-time high, riots were at an all-time high and human trafficking is at an all-time high,” licensed gun instructor Robin Evans tells Yahoo Life as a way to explain the rise. “So at that moment, I feel like there was a huge shift in Black people, in general, just wanting to learn how to defend themselves.”

After noticing the increasing reports of violence against women in 2021, Evans founded Chicks with Triggers, a business dedicated to teaching women, and specifically Black women, how to safely use firearms.

“When I got into this, there was no one who looked like me, and so I decided to create that lane for people to come and know that they have a safe space,” says Evans. “When I first started, I didn’t even know women would come. I thought maybe a woman here and there, but man, they came through the gates running. I just hit another milestone of 2,000 people that I have trained since I started inhi 2021.”

That’s one trainer who has trained 2,000 people over the last year or two. That’s a whole lot of black women getting guns and learning how to use them.

Further, as Yahoo notes:

According to statistics, between Jan. 2019 and April 2021, of the 48% of women gun owners, 21% were Black women. Increased crime and violence are thought to be the biggest motivators for ownership, with Black women more likely to be killed with a firearm by an intimate partner. Evans says threats of violence are typically what lead women to seek her instruction.

So black people are buying guns in massive numbers and have over the last three years. This isn’t even the first report talking about this, either, so it’s a well-known fact that so many black people are buying guns.

And the average gun owner’s response? At worst, it’s nothing.

Some are thrilled to see it, recognizing that gun ownership is for every law-abiding citizen. Others don’t see why it’s even being considered a big deal at all.

Literally none of them are screaming for gun control all of a sudden, though. Not a single one. Why is that?

Could it be that the claims of racism are just a convenient way to dismiss actual debate? Might it be that those who make such “arguments” are incapable of articulating anything close to a meaningful defense of gun control or criticism of gun ownership?

Honestly, I don’t care.

More people owning guns is a very good thing. Especially when they’re learning how to use them.