AFRICAN AMERICAN GUN OWNERSHIP - 3/25/2018
JOHN BRADFORD: High ready. Fire.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: This
gun range is similar to others across America, where firearms enthusiasts,
proud and protective of their Second Amendment Rights, can practice becoming a better
shot.
JOHN
BRADFORD: Whenever you’re ready. How you like it?
YOUNG
MAN: I
like it a lot.
JOHN BRADFORD:
Move, move, move, move!
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: But
this isn’t a gathering of the National Rifle Association.
MIGUEL
VASQUEZ: Usually the clubs that I see is mostly caucasians
and so I saw this club, it was pretty unique and so I gave it a shot.
DOMINIC HOLLEMAN: In August of 2017 is when I became a member of this chapter of
the National African American Gun Association.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: We’re
with the Denver branch of the National African American Gun Association and
chapters like it are opening up all across the country because for an
increasing number of people of color the Trump-era has been a call to arms.
JOHN
BRADFORD: High ready. Fire.
DOMINIC
HOLLEMAN: You know, some of the
things that we were seeing in the news a lot of the things that the President
was saying and the reactions that we saw from a lot of members of the white
community -- not everyone but more white supremacists -- it seemed like having
some form of protection was a good thing for us to have.
DAVID FANNINGS: The incident in Charlottesville when you had the White
Supremacists, the Neo-Nazis, and the White Nationalists. And they came to that
protest armed to the teeth, they had all types of weapons. And when a person
got run over by one of their supporters his answer was well there are good
people on both sides. My theory is if you’re marching under the Confederate
flag or you’re marching under the Nazi flag which America fought two wars to
get rid of you’re not a good person.
JOHN BRADFORD: Fire.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: David Fannings is an Army veteran who believes the President's
rhetoric has made the country less safe for minorities.
DAVID FANNINGS: He’s saying what they have thought and felt for a long time, and
him being the leader of the country, it’s like giving them a green light.
DAVID FANNINGS: This
is a 12 gauge shotgun. This one operates very much like an AR type rifle. For
home defense a shotgun is real good. When
I heard about NAAG, to be able to be a member of an organization that was run
by us, for us, that appealed to me.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: With just under 25 thousand members, this gun group is tiny
compared to the NRA, which claims around 5 million. But In the last 14 months,
the National African American Gun Association, also know
as NAAG, has grown from just 14 chapters to 52. Based in Atlanta, the group’s
leadership doesn’t sound so different from its NRA counterpart.
DOUGLAS
JEFFERSON: The Second Amendment is
an important right just like any other right that we have. And it’s one that
our community has a complicated history with. But it’s a right nonetheless that
without that right, it’s very hard to assume a position of a fully-fledged
citizen in these United States.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: But
at NAAG, exercising your Second Amendment rights isn’t just a way to defend
yourself and your family. It’s seen as an extension of something much larger:
The Civil Rights struggle.
DOUGLAS JEFFERSON: So some of the first gun control laws that came about in this
country were related to race. They were related to keeping guns out of the
hands of African American people.
NARRATOR: To
contain the misery and violence of the ghetto Oakland’s all-white police
department earned a reputation for head knocking brutality that has left a well remembered legacy of bitterness in the minds and
hearts of many who lived in that time and place.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: Back
in the 1960s some young African Americans in Oakland, California
responded to police overreach by following the police and observing arrests.
They called themselves the Black Panthers. And they were armed to the teeth
legally. Their armed patrols and an open carry protest at the state capital
alarmed the authorities so much that in 1967 the state instituted an open-carry
ban. Ironically, It was signed into law by then
Governor Ronald Reagan
RONALD
REAGAN: There’s
absolutely no reason why out on the street today civilians should be carrying a
loaded weapon.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: But
as President, he strongly supported the NRA and vocally defended the Second
Amendment. As does the current President.
DONALD
TRUMP: I am
also proud to be the first sitting President to address the NRA Leadership
Forum since our wonderful Ronald Reagan in 1983.
PHILIP
SMITH: I’d
be lying to you if I said the political arena has not affected our membership.
People look at what’s going on politically and see some of the comments that
are made by certain folks in high places and it makes them a little unnerving.
That has definitely been a part of our growth.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: While
the new political climate is contributing to the interest in personal
protection among African Americans.
POLICEMAN: The reason I pulled you over, your brake
lights are out.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: Part
of the reason NAAG members aren’t flocking to the NRA is a policing culture
that predates Trump.
PHILANDO
CASTILE: Sir
I do have to tell you.
POLICEMAN: Okay.
PHILANDO
CASTILE: I do
have a firearm on me.
POLICEMAN: Don’t reach for it then. Don’t pull it out.
PHILANDO
CASTILE: I’m
not pulling it out.
POLICEMAN: Don’t pull it out.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: The
2016 shooting of Philando Castile, a black gun owner with a concealed carry
permit outraged the African American community. But in this instance the
nation’s most established gun advocacy group didn’t jump to publicly defend
Castile’s Second Amendment right.
VALERIE
CASTILE: As
far as the NRA is concerned I’m a lay it out there because I don’t sugar coat
it. I’m a give it to you in the raw you take it anyway
you want to. But you didn’t defend my son the way you would have defended a
white person. They should have stood up for my son and gave him the due respect
that they do anyone else that’s killed in that manner.
ALTON
CLARK: I used to be a member
of the NRA, but I don’t feel supported by the NRA towards my needs in my
community. So, it's just, they are not there.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: Are
you talking about incidents like Philando Castile?
ALTON CLARK: Yes. He announced that he does have a concealed carry and
it is lawful and he got shot immediately. The NRA did not come forward and
condemn the deadly use of force on a person that was legally carrying.
DOMINIC HOLLEMAN: Anytime there was an issue with someone who look like me or who I
felt could be a part of my family, I don't believe the NRA had their back or
had their best interest.
SHARICE
HOLLEMAN: Our
oldest son is 27, he has a concealed weapon permit. He’s allowed to carry. That
worries me because if he’s pulled over he’s going to be treated differently.
And he’s often targeted and pulled over. It has happened to him more times than
I’d like to admit.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: The
NRA did not agree to an interview with Newshour
Weekend. While African American
interest in personal protection appears to be rising gun sales nationally are
trending in the opposite direction. FBI figures show that background checks
made by gun sellers dropped off during Trump’s first year in office. The store
in Aurora, Colorado, where the Denver chapter of NAAG trains is no exception.
RICHARD
TAYLOR: For
eight years when President Obama was in office gun sales were incredibly brisk
so probably you know 15 to 18 percent drop overall in business since President
Trump’s been elected.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: What
do you attribute that to?
RICHARD
TAYLOR: I
think basically nobody is really too concerned about any new gun legislation so
people are taking a big sigh and they figure that they can buy whatever they
want fairly easily certainly up till maybe the midterm elections.
SIMON
OSTROVSKY: For
now, members of NAAG will keep sharpening their shooting skills and standing up
for what they see as an essential civil right.
MIGUEL
VASQUEZ: One of the things that's always affected me personally is that
I've had people say "Hey, you're a person of color, you shouldn’t have
guns, right? Because you can be a target, it's dangerous.” And my answer to
that is I should have the right to have a gun like anybody else because I'm not
a second class American, I'm an American.
##
|
TIMECODE |
LOWER
THIRD |
1 |
0:42 |
MIGUEL VASQUEZ ARMY VETERAN |
2 |
1:03 |
DEER TRAIL, CO SIMON OSTROVSKY SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT |
3 |
1:24 |
DOMINIC HOLLEMAN NAAGA MEMBER |
4 |
2:23 |
DAVID FANNINGS NAAGA MEMBER |
5 |
3:51 |
DOUGLAS JEFFERSON NAAGA VICE PRESIDENT |
6 |
5:22 |
PHILIP SMITH NAAGA PRESIDENT |
7 |
6:27 |
VALERIE CASTILE PHILANDO CASTILE’S MOTHER |
8 |
6:45 |
ALTON CLARK NAAGA WEST REGION DIRECTOR |
9 |
7:20 |
SHARICE HOLLEMAN NAAGA MEMBER |
10 |
8:10 |
RICHARD TAYLOR FIRING LINE MANAGER |