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Number of minorities buying firearms skyrockets despite D.C. debating gun control measures

June 4, 2022 | | Print Article

In a fiery speech on the House floor, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) thanked her Democratic colleagues “for their outstanding work in encouraging millions of Americans to celebrate their Second Amendment rights by purchasing their first, second, or even one-hundredth firearm,” and it appears she wasn’t exaggerating — gun sales among minority groups in the nation have skyrocketed over the past few years, and the tragic events at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, has only served to reinvigorate their support for the Second Amendment.

According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSFF), retailer surveys revealed a 58% increase in gun sales to African Americans, a 49% increase among Hispanic Americans, and firearm sales to Asian Americans jumped by 43%.

While the number of first-time gun purchases among minorities remained relatively “unchanged,” 18% of the retailers surveyed reported an increase in sales to Native-Americans in 2021, and 14% say more Native-Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders are buying firearms.

Fox News Digital spoke to two NRA members — Shantee and Kel — about the surge in gun sales among minorities. Interviewed outside the 2022 National Rifle Association convention in Houston, Texas, both attendees are African American, and both asked that only their first names be used.

The duo said they were attending the convention to check out the “new firearms and to show support for the NRA and the whole 2A community.”

For Shantee, gun rights are about protecting yourself and your family rather than hoping the police will do it for you.

“For me, when I look at it, we’re now understanding — African Americans, minorities — are now understanding that basically, it’s on you to take care of yourself, protect yourself,” she said. “We’re not new to crime, so we want to make sure that we’re protected. I think a lot more minorities are taking their own protection in their own hands, which is great, because the police cannot be there within seconds.”

Shantee noted the time it can take for police to respond to some emergency calls.

“In between that time, what are you doing?” she asked. “What do we want to do? Are we gonna wait or fight back?”

“I think a lot more minorities are realizing, look, let’s do this and let’s do this the legal way, and I think that’s why you see this,” she said.

Kel agreed that it isn’t always possible to wait for police to show up and said that he thinks American minority groups are “becoming more aware of situations.”

“You’ve got to protect yourself,” he said. “Make sure you protect your home, not every time you can wait for the cops to come to your house. You might be the victim… but if you protect yourself, you live another day. That’s how we see it.”

Regarding protestors gathered outside the NRA event and a flurry of gun control proposals from some Congressional members, Shantee is not impressed.

“For us, that doesn’t help,” she said. “A firearm isn’t gonna pull the trigger itself.”

“We need to start looking at mental health, period,” Shantee stated, adding that neither of the two political parties are to blame for senseless shootings such as the one in Uvalde. “What is going on with people to where they would do something like that? That’s not normal. If he [shooter Salvador Ramos] would’ve left the firearm there, he could’ve picked up any other weapon to go into that school… That individual chose to do that.”

Juan Ramireo, a Hispanic American who traveled to Houston from Arizona for the NRA convention, echoed Shantee’s sentiments regarding Ramos and says the Uvalde incident has not shaken his support for the Second Amendment.

“I send my prayers to their families and I can’t imagine the pain they go through now, but it does not change my support for gun rights,” he stated. “I believe we need safer schools. These people will do bad no matter the cost. Take that shooter, for instance. He was in a gun-free zone and still did it. They always find a way.”

“What we have to do is find a way to stop them and do it,” he said. “We’re failing kids for sure, but it’s not because of gun laws. Criminals break laws every day. We need school officers now and secured entrances.”

“As a Mexican immigrant, I feel that people are waking up,” Ramireo, who legally immigrated to the United States when he was 13, continued. “They realize they need to protect themselves, their family, their children. Without the right to protect ourselves, we struggle. I know that ’cause I’ve seen it too many times.”

According to the 29-year-old, “the Second Amendment is a large reason as to why people feel safer here and in their homes at night.”

“As a kid, I knew what it was like to feel helpless,” he said. “Nobody want[s] that feeling. I saw my mom and grandmother go through several struggles and feelings of fear in our small Mexican town. It was difficult.”

“But after moving here, it’s a new world,” Ramireo shared. “I go to bed with no worry about defending myself and my family.”

Melissa Fine
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