In 2019, 55.6% of all people arrested for murder were Black, even though Blacks made up about 14% of the US population. In the aftermath of nationwide BLM riots, murder rates soared across the country. The FBI estimates that homicides increased by 25% nationwide in 2020. Black perpetrators appear to be the primary driver of this increase. For example, St. Paul, Minnesota, set a new record for homicides in 2020. Of all known suspects, 89.7% were Black, even though the city is only roughly 17% Black.
There is a considerable effort by the media and left-wing politicians to ignore, if not deny, the outrageous Black murder rate in this nation. These same people typically want to ban the lawful purchase of firearms. Of course, this would leave criminals armed with illegal weapons and law-abiding citizens unarmed.
Not surprisingly, Black Americans have increased their number of legal firearm purchases more than any other group of Americans. This makes perfect sense because they are more likely to live in the eye of the storm of America’s homicide surge. A large majority of all victims of Black murderers are also Black.
The FBI performed nearly 40 million background checks for lawful firearm purchases in 2020 and reports that the most significant spike occurred right after the $1,200 stimulus checks began arriving.
Using their background checks database, the FBI found that during the first six months of 2020, Black Americans increased their legal gun buying by 58.2%. While all groups increased their legal firearms purchases, Blacks exceeded all other groups. (Note that the FBI has no way of knowing how many illegal gun purchases were made.)
Philip Smith is the president of the National African American Gun Association. He told the media, “we are not arming ourselves to go out and attack. We just want to live our lives peacefully with our families and loved ones and we just don’t want to be attacked.”
According to the National Shooting Sports Association [NSSA], Black men own firearms at a rate higher than White men, and Black Women own firearms at a rate far higher than White Women. If the NSSA is correct, Black women are roughly 50% more likely to own a gun than White women. Mark Oliva, public affairs director for the NSSF told the media, “2020 really was a tectonic shift in the idea of who today’s gun buyer is.” Oliva says gun buyers are becoming less White and more urban.
Some media outlets are running dangerous disinformation campaigns to promote a false narrative of why Blacks are purchasing so many legal firearms. Such as Forbes falsely claiming that Blacks are buying more guns because they fear White people.
