When it comes to gun ownership in America, recent studies show Black women are the fastest growing group to become new gun owners.
What You Need To Know
Gun ownership among Black women is on the rise, and they are one of the fastest growing groups to become gun owners
A gun instructor said he has seen an influx of Black women at his classes and recommends anyone who owns a gun should take classes
Teresa Adams of Durham bought a gun in 2020 and said she bought it for safety reasons
One Durham woman recently purchased a gun and talked about what led her to take up arms.
“My grandmother had a gun, I remember [being a] little girl, seeing her with her gun. I was about 8 years old, and I thought she was the baddest woman on Earth,” Teresa Adams said.
In 2020 during the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, she decided to buy a handgun for the first time. Since then, she's been going to the Double B Firearms Academy in Roxboro for target practice to get comfortable using the gun safely.
Instructor and CEO of Double B Firearms Academy William Burwell has been teaching Adams.
“If you’re looking at your target, you’re not going to hit, you’re going to have to focus on the front sight. Once you focus on the front sight and your target is slightly blurred every time, you’ll hit it every time,” Burwell said.
The National African American Gun Association says 60% of its members are women.
Adams said while she herself has never experienced gun violence, she said she has heard gunshots in the city. And she talked about why she felt the need to purchase a gun.
“It’s definitely about protecting myself and my family. A Black woman in America, I have sons, two Black sons, I want to make sure I can be that person that can protect us if it ever comes down to it.”
Adams says her husband and sons are excited for her. She's one of the last in her family to own a gun and says exercising her Second Amendment rights is important to her. While she hopes to never have to use her gun, she wants to be prepared against any threat.
“Just taking back control of our own protection and safety, and not have to depend on anybody else to do it," she said. "If it ever comes [a] situation where I have to defend myself, I wanna be ready, I wanna be confident and comfortable in doing so, in protecting myself and my kids.”
North Carolina is an open carry state, and the next step for Adams is getting a concealed carry permit for her handgun.
Burwell, at Double B Firearms Academy, says he has noticed an influx of Black women coming to his classes.
“I always ask them, why are you here? Why are you here now? I pretty much hear the same story, they said because of the way the country is now, a lot of violence everywhere, a lot of them are single moms, a lot of people live alone and they wanna get trained.”
Burwell was in law enforcement for 20 years, and he's also a former U.S. Marine. He opened the firearms academy in 2020. His message for anyone considering buying a gun is to get the proper training so you know how to handle it safely.