The Daily Signal - #422: Founder of Black Guns Matter Speaks Out: ‘Gun Control Is About People Control’

Episode Date: March 20, 2019

Maj Toure, founder of Black Guns Matter, comes from inner-city Philadelphia, where he teaches black youth about their Second Amendment rights. We also cover these stories:•President Donald Trump is in favor of the public having access to special counsel Robert Mueller’s final report.•Sen. Chuck Schumer has announced that he will soon introduce a measure to re-name a Senate office building after the late Sen. John McCain.•A new poll shows what Americans really think of the political humor on “Saturday Night Live.”The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, iTunes, SoundCloud, Google Play, or Stitcher. All of our podcasts can be found at DailySignal.com/podcasts. If you like what you hear, please leave a review. You can also leave us a message at 202-608-6205 or write us at [e-mail]. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Thursday, March 21st. I'm Kate Trinco. And I'm Daniel Davis. Maj Toure comes from inner city Philadelphia, where he teaches black youth about their Second Amendment rights. His group is called Black Guns Matter. I sat down with him at CPAC to hear about his work growing the conservative movement in surprising territory.

Today, we'll bring you that interview. Plus, we take a look at the world's happiest countries in 2019. And just a reminder that if you're a fan of this podcast, please mention it to your friends and families, and please subscribe. Now on to our top news. Well, a federal judge threw cold water on the president's energy dominance agenda in a ruling late Tuesday. District Judge Rudolph Contreras and Obama appointee said the Interior Department failed to sufficiently account for the climate impact of its oil and gas leasing plans in Western states, thus violating the National Environmental Policy Act.

The judge's ruling hinged on his view that greenhouse gas emissions, are, in fact, driving climate change and said the administration's failure to take that, quote-unquote, fact into account gave the public an insufficient understanding of environmental impacts. The Interior Department will now have to redo their analysis in accordance with the ruling. Is catch and release back? Citing unnamed officials, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that instead of detaining all migrant families, border patrol is beginning to release some of them and ask them to return to a court date. The journal wrote, quote, starting this week, hundreds of families caught each day in that area are being released by border patrol agents instead of being handed over to U.S. immigration and customs enforcement for potentially longer detention,

government officials said. The exact number will depend on how many there is room for in ICE detention facilities, which have filled up as a record volume of families are crossing the border. Well, as speculation continues over when the, the Mueller report will be finished, President Trump says he has no problem with the report being released to the public. Talking to reporters on Wednesday, he said, quote, let it come out, let people see it, let's see if it's legit. He went on to suggest that his voters deserve to see the results of the investigation. After there began to be a closer look at the ties between

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democrat of New York, and her chief of staff to a very liberal super PAC, changes have been made. Ocasio-Cortez, and her chief of staff, Shoycott, Chakrabati, are now no longer on the board of Justice Democrats, according to the Daily Caller. The caller also reported, Ocasio Cortez never disclosed

to the Federal Election Commission that she and Chakrabati controlled Justice Democrats while it simultaneously supported her primary campaign. Well, Senator Chuck Schumer has announced that he'll soon introduce a measure to rename a Senate office building

after the late Senator John McCain. The announcement comes as President Trump takes flack for his recent comments against McCain. Over the weekend, he criticized McCain for killing a GOP health care bill and on Tuesday doubled down saying, quote, I was never a fan of John McCain and I never will be. And quote, McCain passed away in August from a form of brain cancer. Saturday Night Live has done plenty of political skits throughout its history, but has seemingly really ramped things up during the Trump era. According to a new poll released by Hollywood Reporter and Morning Consult,

not everyone's laughing. 39% think the show is too political, while 30% disagree. And they're not fooling anyone about their true views. Nearly half of respondents thought Saturday Night Live skewed to the left, while only 5% saw the show as leaning conservative. But people don't see Saturday Night Live outside of the mainstream. Half of respondents saw late night hosts as being more liberal, while only 11% saw them as being more conservative.

Well, up next my interview with the founder of Black Guns Matter. Are you looking for quick conservative policy solutions to current issues? Sign up for Heritage's weekly newsletter, The Agenda. In the agenda, you will learn what issues Heritage Scholars on Capitol Hill are working on, what position conservatives are taking, and links to our in-depth research. The agenda also provides information on important events happening here at Heritage that you can watch online, as well as media interviews from our experts. Sign up for the agenda on heritage.org today.

Well, we're joined now by Maj Toure. He is the founder of a group called Black Guns Matter. Maj, thanks for joining us here. Thanks for having me. So, Maj, I want to ask you about your organization. But first, I want to ask you about how you got involved in defending the Second Amendment. Well, so from urban amendment, I'm from North Philly. And from where I'm from, a lot of times the conversation about firearms spoken in hush tones,

You know, the left has made a very good job of convincing urban America that firearms aren't for them. The Second Amendment doesn't relate to them. So when seeing that, my friends across the country, you know, catching firearms charges, not because they robbed somebody, but because they didn't know you got to fill out this paperwork because you bought the firearm legally, but here are the carry laws in your particular city or state. So that's something that we can, you know, we can educate people and get that, you know, turning people into felons for things of missing information. So that's something that we can inform people about.

So we started Black Guns Matter to do just that, to inform people in urban America while cutting down on a conflict. You know, we deal with conflict resolution, de-escalation, and things of that nature. But it started to turn into a whole political situation. Now we're informing people about the Second Amendment from Urban America, expressing or exposing them to conflict resolution and de-escalation, as well as getting them politically involved. If you are not politically involved, all of this is for naught. Yeah. So tell me just about how people think about their own rights in the inner city when they think about guns. Obviously, you mentioned guns are spoken about differently because of their association with crime.

But what's the, how do people understand their own rights? They understand their own rights by being presented with the information. A lot of times what's happening in certain urban demographics is the information, civics are removed from the schools, right? So from a very beginning space where we had a young impressionable mind that we could identify with conservative ideology and liberty and freedom-based ideology to be perfectly honest That information is switched in certain demographics That's the first way education The second thing is you know getting involved going to arrange

Understanding the mechanics and the safety components that go along with firearms and then seeing if it's for you We're not an organization that says you have to have a gun right now What we want you to do is be well informed and educated and if you decide to have a firearm as a means of protection for yourself, your loved ones, and your family, then you do so. But doing that and making that choice from a well-informed, responsible, and safe perspective is really the key, especially in a spot where all of the demographics is saying gun control, gun control, gun control, gun control.

On top of that is homicide, homicide, homicide, homicide, homicide. Gun control is about people control. It's not about safety. It's not about making American safer. It's not about respecting our freedoms. it's about taking large percentages of American populations, urban centers, urban metropolises, New York City, 8.5, sometimes 9 million people, and telling them they do not have the right, as stated in the Second Amendment, to defend their lives.

Our organization is there to push that back, and the education and the understanding is how we do that. Yeah, well, just to zoom out a little bit just from the Second Amendment, speaking in general, you know, conservatives engaging urban communities. Yeah. Where are some major, obviously it's not been a historic part of the conservative movement, but a lot of, I'm hearing a lot of folks, a lot of more interest here at the Heritage Foundation, Kay Coles-James has talked a lot about that. What are some ways that conservatives need to, you know, some strategies for expanding the movement into urban communities?

So the first thing is, one, you have to understand that most of urban America is conservative in their values. They just don't know what the conservative movement is. Interesting. That's one. Two, you have to have liaisons. We've been doing this work for three years already. The left has done a much better job at presenting, you know, conservative ideology than the right has. And they're presenting it in a negative fashion.

So because of that, urban environments do not trust you. They do not trust, you know, the conservative movement for the most part. You have to have liaisons. It's just like the mob. I hate to use a crude reference. If we don't know you, are you co-signing for this person? We don't know them. We're not even talking to me. Even if I and you are saying the exact same thing,

if that demographic, my demographic, does not know you, they do not trust you. What happens a lot of times is our ego says, well, I have the truth. I'm right. I'm factually accurate. You're not factoring in the PR that's been put on a demographic that you want to reach to, even if the information that you have is accurate and would help that, you know, that demographic. And in turn, help America. So what the conservative movement can do is link up with organizations like Black Guns Matter that are already from in, and we have a trust system.

I'm from the place. It's breathing to me. Other than that, you're going to be spinning your wheels. You know what I mean? So you've got to get behind it. And my demographic, you know, supports people that go, hey, we're supporting and getting behind this work. And my demographic goes, oh, this is cool.

Yeah, they got a lot of information that you should be on. You have to have liaisons. That's true in any, you know, scenario. So I think that's what the conservative movement can do a lot more to get a lot better at that, a lot better. If that happens, are you optimistic that you can kind of cut around some of the, you know, indoctrination in public schools and to really engage well? You're optimistic about what can happen?

Absolutely optimistic. Absolutely optimistic. The reason why there's optimism is because of the fact that it's what we've already done. You go to our classes, it's not just at the range and just teaching somebody about stance, grip, sight alignment, and things of that nature. Firearm is a tool. A tool to defend freedom. Everybody from Urban America understands the want and desire for freedom, period.

Everybody in Urban America, for the most part, isn't rich. So they understand being fiscally responsible and conservative. Everybody in Urban America, whether they black, white, Spanish age, doesn't matter. They like Wakanda. They like Black Panther. What more conservative nation could you use even in fiction land? So my point there is there's an identification with the concept. It's just the people that are there to present the information before we,

started doing its work, we're far and few in between. So there's hope because when we come to, when we present our classes, you know, people are, we're presenting information that is legit, that we can go, yo, hop on your phone right now and don't believe me, research it. When you tie those dots and connect those dots and cross those T's and dot those eyes, my hood, all hoods across America go, I understand this, I relate to it, and now I have a label for it, you know? It's just that we need more responsible conservatives

that may not be from urban America to understand that we need urban America. And that's how we get this W in this fight, to be perfectly honest. Yeah, well, Maj Toray, I really appreciate you coming on. Where can folks find your website? So, for one, people can come get at me

on all social media at Maj Toure, a M-A-J-T-O-U-R-E. And if something that I've said to the people that are listening right now, if there's something that you agree with and if you want to support, our classes are free based on everyone paying it forward. If you want to go to

GoFundMe.com forward slash black guns matter donate five bucks, donate 50 bucks. If you want to these super rich guys and women walking around here, donate $50,000. It'll help a whole lot to do the work that's necessary for us to preserve our liberties and our freedoms. All right, Maj Toray. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you for having. Want to get up to speed about the Supreme Court?

Then subscribe to SCOTUS 101, a podcast about everything that's happening at the Supreme Court and what the justices are up to. So the happiest countries in the world, according to a new report, are now Finland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, and the Netherlands. That's according to the World Happiness Report, which is released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations. And the U.S.? Well, we are all the way down at number 19. The report states that around half of the population suffers from one or more addictions at any one time. They say that 2% of 50-year-olds are addicted to marijuana, 5% are addicted to illicit drugs,

and then they go through sort of the list here, 15% to tobacco, 10% to alcohol, 10% to food, 1 to 3% for gambling, 3% to 5% for exercise, which I'm kind of jealous of those people, 10% for workaholism, 6% for shopping addiction, and 3% to 6% for love and sex addiction. And they are saying that all of this is contributing to our, happiness declining. Daniel, what do you think? Is it outrageous? The U.S. is number 19? I was a little surprised by that because after all, I mean, we are America. I mean, people come here from all over. So I don't know. I was a little surprised by that. But, you know, the addiction thing, we have heard a lot about addiction, you know, obviously opioid crisis is a huge problem.

But I think more than anything, one of the things affecting us these days is technology. Like we're just sort of glued to our screens and just personally, I can speak to that. Like just the... Like right now. Literally right now, I'm holding notes on my phone. I am too. Yeah, you are too. Yeah, you are too.

But no, I think that's a big problem. And I've had a couple of friends who have gone off of, you know, all social media for like a year plus. One of my roommates actually did that. Oh, wow. And he said that it's amazing. And so I think we've sort of, we can't really remember what it was like to have life before social media before smartphones. And I think it's really kind of changed. change the way we see the world, the way we see each other.

Everything is happening through a phone, and there's something a little bit less real about that. Yeah, I think absolutely. It's interesting because sometimes I catch myself thinking, like, oh, I should do a Facebook status on this or, oh, I should take a picture for Instagram. Right. As if that's where the real life is happening. Right. And sometimes I take a step back and it's like, wait a second, why not tell someone in person?

I mean, sometimes I still do it. But, yeah, I do think it's interesting because, you know, Yeah, I didn't have a smartphone until I was, I don't know, I think, 23 or so. And it changed so fundamentally the way I think and the way I relate to the world. And it changed my definition of time in a weird sense. Like, it used to be that all the stuff you would catch up on with people later. And now, it just feels like everything is now, now, now. And yeah, as you suggested, that's another factor that the study talks about.

Gene Twenge, a professor at San Diego State University, wrote that, for example, girls spending five or more hours a day on social media are three times more likely to be depressed than non-users. She also writes sleeping, face-to-face social interaction, and attending religious service. Less frequent activities among IGen teens compared to previous generations are instead linked to more happiness. So it sounds like staring at the screen

and not doing other things are maybe affecting Americans. Yeah, and I was just thinking about how depressing it can be when you've got a kind of, whether it's Twitter or Facebook, you're on a platform that allows you to scroll literally endlessly. You could go on literally days just scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. And I think that's just another aspect of it that we've, you said that, you know, it changed your, social media has changed your energy of time. And, you know, when we were all just reading books and like magazine articles like made of paper, you know, there was a, there was a finality to everything. You could say, oh, finish that onto the next thing. So things were a little bit more contained.

And I think that because social media is so endless, it's sort of like an endless. It has this appeal of being endless, but at the same time we lose our sense of time and our sense of place within that endless sea. I think that's an interesting point. Actually, on Instagram, I don't think you're on Instagram. I'm not. Occasionally, I will get a feature that says you have scrolled through all the posts. These are now old posts. Yeah.

which is disturbing. But it's interesting because it's inconsistent how often it happens or maybe it's just inconsistent how often that occurs for me. Like if you've already seen it? Yeah, like it says we're done. You've looked at literally everyone you follow their posts in recent days. Like you can go, we'll make the feed available. You can look at photos you've already looked at.

So like if you're craving more, then there's nothing left for you. Right. And then I'm like, oh, shoot, I guess I got to switch to Twitter or Facebook. Right, right. Gotta feed the beast. I mean, that's not, you know, not my proudest moment. But I do think it's interesting because, you know, Mark Zuckerberg has talked, and I mean talk is cheap and whatever, but about Facebook, you know, not people, maybe not spending as much time on it. I don't know if he's serious or not about that.

But I do think there's. It might be serious, but not too serious. Well, I think, I mean, honestly, I think if Facebook is looking at it from a long-term perspective, they would rather people be able to use it responsibly as it were than be like your roommate and just stop. using it. Right. So that's sustainable for them. Right. Gotta get the next generation involved. Except, I mean, Facebook's now for old people. And everyone's on Snapchat, which

I can't understand. But anyway. Is Snapchat really like increasing phenomenon? Leah's nodding. Our part producer is always dragged into these inadvertently. But yes, it is a real phenomenon. She's up with the times. Yeah, that's crazy. Well, I remember having

Snapchat like a couple years ago, but I felt like, yeah, it's just kind of You send pictures. Well, you were too old a couple of years ago. You're like even older now. So less still. But yeah, Snapchat is still a thing. And I'm sure there's going to be a new thing soon enough.

But I, you know, one of the points you made earlier where you said, like, why if the U.S. isn't happy, do so many people want to come here? And I think that's a great point. I don't know all the factors that went into this study. I don't really know whether it's legit or not. But I also think that, you know, that's a great counterpoint. Like, if people want to be happy, which, you know, that's. know, as Aristotle and many others have said is the end of human life. Yeah, you would think they would act rationally.

So that suggests that maybe the study isn't looking at all the factors. Yeah. Well, we are going to leave it there for today. Thanks so much for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. Brought to you from the Robert H. Bruce Radio Studio at the Heritage Foundation. Please be sure to subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, or SoundCloud, and please leave us a review or rating on iTunes to give us feedback. We'll see you again tomorrow.

You've been listening to the Daily Signal podcast, executive produced by Kate Trinko and Daniel Davis. Sound design by Michael Gooden, Lauren Evans, and Thalia Rampersad. For more information, visitdailySignal.com.