The National African American Gun Association boasts 30,000 members, predominantly of African American descent but across a range of ethnicities. Sixty percent of its members are women.
Tracy Brown, an artist and activist, is one of those women. She says that even though she’s a proponent of safe gun ownership, she has mixed feelings about the Supreme Court ruling.
“It means that more women will have the opportunity to get firearms in the interest of self-defense and protecting themselves. But you know, it’s such a complicated issue, especially for Black people,” she says. “There are a lot of very unhealthy perspectives held by those who typify the gun-owning population in this country.”
Brown points to the popular Rubber Dummie shooting target, which many people say looks like a Black man. She says it’s emblematic of dangerous attitudes toward Black people.