The Daily Signal - Best of 2019: Founder of Black Guns Matter Speaks Out

Episode Date: January 3, 2020

Maj Toure, founder of Black Guns Matter, comes from inner-city Philadelphia, where he teaches black youth about their Second Amendment rights.  "Gun control is about people control," he says, adding that, "It’s not about safety. ... 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 it." 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, and I'm Kate Trinko. We're on a short hiatus for the holidays, but we wanted to share one of our favorite interviews from 2019 with you. We'll be back to our regular programming on Monday, January 6th. It's because of support from listeners like you that we can continue to produce podcasts like Heritage Explains and SCOTUS 101. And you can help us keep it up by going to www.org.org slash podcast today. to make your tax deductible gift. Well, we're joined now by Maj Toure. He is the founder of a group called Black Guns Matter.

Mahz, thanks for joining us here. Thanks for having me. So, Maj, I want to ask you about your organization. Yeah. But first, I want to ask you about how you got involved in defending the Second Amendment. Well, so from urban America, I'm from North Philly. And from where I'm from, a lot of times the conversation about firearms is 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 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, when it comes, you know, in the inner city, when they think about guns. Obviously, you mentioned, you know, guns are spoken about differently because of their association with crime. Yeah. But what's the, how, you know, 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. So 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-in-lawful, 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.

Gun control is about people control. It's not about safety, it's not about making Americans 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. 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. You know, K. 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. 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 the crude reference. If we don't know you, are you co-signing for this person? If 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.

Yeah. 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. We 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? Are you 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, side 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, 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 this work with 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. 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. 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, Montessori, 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 know, 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 gofund me.com forward slash black guns matter, donate five bucks. Donate 50 bucks.

If you want of 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. That's it for today's episode. I hope you enjoyed the interview, and again, we'll be back to our regular podcast programming on Monday, January 6th. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Daniel Davis.

Sound designed by Lauren Evans, the Leah Rampersad, and Mark Geinney. For more information, visit DailySignal.com. Thank you.