Lack of diversity in shooting sports

[Guy B. Meredith]

I am starting this thread so as not to hijack the NRA stereotype thread.

I do really have a concern about the low number of Blacks in recreational shooting and clubs. (Don't get me off on PC with the hyphenated ethnic titles--I grew up in a barrio area where one faction was Mexican American, another Chicanos and another 'we don't speak Spanish here' (Mexican) AMERICANS.) In the case of protecting our rights and freedoms I believe strongly that there is indeed strength in diversity.

I work with quite a few black professionals-mostly liberal-and get the feelling there is an internal bigotry in the black community that African Americans cannot be trusted with firearms. This may be one barrier. And maybe there is an internal stereotype that shooting is a white man's sport and Blacks should stick to sports that involve chasing or throwing balls.

The latter stereotype would easily be shattered for anyone showing up at three of the four clubs I belong to as a very large portion of the participants are pan-Asian. Maybe one or two Latinos, a native American, but few blacks.

And too few women. And too few serious women. There are only two I can think of that I know personally are serious enough competitors/shooters that they can kick a**.

I have thrown out the invitation and good words about the sport to black coworkers, but no response. Once I mentioned Ken Blanchard (who seems to have disappeared from the scene now) and his information on racism in gun laws on his Black Man With a Gun website and I thought the black sales manager and black sales lady in the room were going to faint or soil their undies. If they didn't know me as well as they do I am sure I would have become persona non grata.

As to women, I am married, my wife doesn't shoot and I don't know if I can get away with tete a tetes at the range. (To be fair, Julie has made a couple of trips to the range and attended two firearms handling and SD classes, but has since lapsed.)

So what to do?

 

[Josey]

I used to be in law enforcement. I can tell you, most LEOs "of race" are second and sometimes first generation firearms owners. I have close friends who are "ethnic". They are AMAZED at the number of firearms in my collection. I don't have that many. There are several firearms that are hand me downs in a family of LEOs. The time factor is real. A ex-partner told me that blacks haven't been legally recognized as having rights, under legal enforcement for 40 years yet. He explained that minorities are only becoming self-actualized and taking their places in society. The first generation to break barriers have retired and died. The second generation is looking into retirement. The third generation is better educated, more physically fit and financially stable. The disposable income is looking for outlets. Fishing, hunting, old cars, collecting, specialty or niche interests/hobbies are developing. Time will allow for more presence. Finances are improving. Minority retirees are increasing and they will be seeking outlets for their energy and money.

 

[roscoe]

My feeling is - the more black gun owners and sport shooters there are, the less likely gun laws are to be enacted. The problem is, firearms have been so deminized in the inner-cities, that you really have to push to get past the anti-gun sentiment. There needs to be, in my opinion, a few outspoken black community leaders supporting RKBA.

If that were to happen, we would have to worry about anti-gun legislation a lot less.

 

[Neva]

I'm lucky, I guess.... I'm a woman, love shooting, love guns, work for pro2A issues.... have lots of female friends who are shooters as well....

I encourage women to shoot, have helped run a New Shooters night that brought a lot of women to it, always make room in every CPL class for a couple of women, do some free in fact.... my daughter shoots, my wedding (in Decmeber, '03 at age 49) was at a gun range and my maid of honor and I both carried... I carry daily... would carry basically 24-7 but I'm a high school science teacher and the law does frown....

I run a pro2A forum and web site as well....

And, BTW, I never worry about my husband showing/teaching/helping other women improve when we're at the range.... I'm proud of him and love the way he slips under everyone's radar and gets them all jazzed up because he can almost always help them show some improvement....

For Christmas and our anniversary (four days apart) he bought me these:

The gun and scope - not Oleg....

Me being a middle aged school teacher and female is one of the main reasons I'm so vocal... I figure people need to realise gun owners are not the stereotype.... we're every-d*mned-body....

 

[Oleg Volk]

Part of the reason my be how people try to teach newbies, without much regard for the recoil and noise sensitivity. Twoblinks guite to taking newbies shooting is excellent, and I've met people he trained -- they all had a lot of fun and got hooked on the hobby right away.

 

[Majic]

Speaking from personal knowlege, aside from the inner city blacks (who have been conditioned to be anti-gun by law) a large persentage do own firearms. History just have taught that it's to their best interest to remain private and not make it public knowlege of their owning firearms. Black shooters remain in small groups shooting in obscure places like family or friend's farms or backwoods. Whether it's a preceived or a real emotion, a lot of blacks feel some people see a black man with a gun as a threat. They feel unwelcomed or closely monitored at ranges. The black's game with firearms has always been plinking and hunting. I know of none who takes much of an interest in the handgun action games. Black rifle shooters have their rifles refered to as "deer guns" though they may never hunt. Untill recently if you showed up on a trap and skeet range not carrying a high class double gun you were looked down upon no matter what race you are.
So in summation, there are black gun owners all around you. If you are not in their inner circle this fact may never be revealed to you about them. They have been conditioned to be cautious in allowing others to know of their possesions so not to alarm anyone.
We are out there and you may be amazed at how many of us there really are and what we have collected and have had handed down to us over the ages.

Majic
a black American who has owned, shot, and collected firearms for more than 40 years.

 

[Neva]

Oleg, I've been lurkin' and occasionally posting for a long time now....

We're very careful with newbies... double plug them, take away the .45 their boyfriend or whatever wants them to shoot and give them something more manageable to work up with, had lots of women around (Jess, me, another dark-haired version of Jess) and Felix, who is gentle but persuasive, always....

 

[gearbox]

I guess I represent the "Asian-American" class. I'm half Chinese.

Come to think of it, I rarely see many black or brown people when I'm at the range. I've seen a few asians (shooters & employees), but that may partially be due to the range's location (Milpitas: Asiacentral of the south bay).

Upon further recollection, I don't remember seeing a black OR mexican man or woman shooting.

 

[Stand_Watie]

I have wondered about the seemingly heavy concentration of blacks in one rural, working class pastime (fishing) in comparison to it's companion pastime (hunting) and it occurs to me that some of it may stem from poverty, and the fact that it's probably a lot easier to find a place to fish (even if you don't live on the lake) than it is to find a place to hunt if you're not a landowner. Even people with the same amount of cash might have very different cultural perspectives of large (enough to shoot) land ownership. Moving out to the country may be a sign of "having made it" for one group of people where that "deluxe apartment in the sky" (and yes I realize the Jefferson's was all about sterotypes) is "making it" for other people.

My suggestion for landowners who want to increase the diversity in the shooting/hunting world would be to try to make your land available to them.

Say for example that you work in Dallas, and you have two buddies at work who both make the same $$ amount, and - Van is a recent Vietnamese immigrant and Billy Jack is from Oklahoma. I think it more likely statistically speaking that Billy's got an Uncle with a few acres that he can bang away on any time he feels like driving up there. Van, OTOH, might be interested in getting into it but it's not as convenient for him.

Invite him over to grill some burgers and ask him if he'd like to shoot the ol' .22 at coke cans. This could work for inviting someone to the range also, but it's easier to sneak into it if your range is at your house (it worked for me with my wife's friend's German boyfriend who had never held a firearm before).

I WILL say that I've seen racist recruiting material at the gun show in Tyler (ten years ago) and that is the absolute worst thing for the gun rights movement.

 

[JohnBT]

Kenn drops in from time to time. He's still organizing. JT

www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=72740&highlight=blanchard

"THR's in the Maryland, DC and Virginia area interested in becoming a part of a social organization I am starting for recreational purposes read on."

 

[Big_R]

I took my brother in law (who is half black) shooting for the first time in his life. He enjoyed it a lot and is looking for his first pistol.

The company I work for has a lot of Hmong employees and a lot of them hunt and own firearms. I've shared a good many stories with a lot of folks, including some who don't seem to fit the Minnesota deer hunter stereotype. One fella hunts white tail with a Glock in 10mm and took a very nice doe last year (I saw the pictures). One middle aged lady asked me for my thoughts on a Taurus Tracker.

I think one of the biggest hinderence is that talking about firearms and hunting is almost a taboo in a lot of workplaces. That's where to start.

Ryan

 

[Billy the Kid]

Hello friend, in order to help you out as a fellow shooter and recent NRA member im going to bring my fiance with me shooting as much as possible and ge ther into it. She is Chinese, i am white. Also im going to bring my younger brothers and adoptive brother Ray whom is black in order to bring some young, liberal, and nonwhites into the ranges around here happy hunting.

 

[Erich]

You know, I'm always amazed at how diverse a group I see when I go to the Albuquerque city range.

There aren't a lot of African-Americans in New Mexico, but I see a good number of African-Americans at the range - every time I go. Always see some Asian-American brothers and sisters. Hispanic and Native Americans - always a good number there. And, of course, White folks - of Jewish, Christian and Muslim persuasions. Young, middle-aged, old, the occasional same-sex couple. And always a few women.

Really, the range has got to be one of the most diverse places I know of. It always surprises new shooters I bring along, who figure there are just going to be a lot of White men there.

Looks like Albuquerque is doing something right.

 

[Partisan Ranger]

I don't think I've seen black men or women at the range, although I don't really shoot very often.

I have seen quite a few black folks at gun shows, however, in Virginia.

 

[Model520Fan]

History just have taught that it's to their best interest to remain private and not make it public knowlege of their owning firearms.

I have noticed what I think is the same thing among some Jews. One case was perfectly clear (because the guy said so), and there was another where I knew the individual (female) for a while and found out only when the Jewish club officer mentioned that she had joined the club.

Of course, with some Jews it might be a fear of peer disapproval more than a strategic secrecy. And that may also be true for certain Blacks.

 

[tiberius]

I see more and more women all the time. Blacks are WAY under-represented though. I think it has to do with stereo-types. They probably don't feel comfortable around (what they assume) are a bunch of rednecks with guns. Outreach to friends and work colleagues is the best long term approach IMHO.

 

[Tango Sierra]

At the ranges I shoot at I see Blacks every second or third time I go and Hispanics most every time I go. One of the Black shooters was a re-loader that had recently got into .357sig and let me try his Glock 31 and SigPro. Shooting sports is another way to bring down barriers between people of different cultures.

 

[pax]

A friend of mine bumped into a mutual acquaintance of ours at the range, and was trying to tell me about it. I knew the name but couldn't put a face to it.

Finally, I said flippantly, "Wait, wait! I know who you're talking about -- late middle aged white guy, brownish greyish hair, and a big paunch ... right!?"

I was right. But I still had no idea who he'd bumped into.



pax

Finally, people are all exactly alike. There's no such thing as a race and barely such thing as an ethnic group. If we were dogs, we'd be the same breed. George Bush and an Australian aborigine have fewer differences than a lhasa apso and a toy fox terrier. A Japanese raised in Riyadh would be an Arab. A Zulu raised in New Rochelle would be an orthodontist. -- PJ O'Rourke

 

[Mikul]

Maybe they're afraid some marketier will label them "tactical."

I occasionally see black people shooting. Guess who they're shooting with? OTHER black people. Let's face it, we all like being with those we have a lot in common with. So if you're white, you probably aren't going to be approached by a lot of black people asking to join you when you go shooting.

It's funny, but I've always noticed a near void of blacks in all outdoor activites: hiking, camping, boating, hunting, skiing (the snow's white, the people are white, it must look like a big cold Klan convention). A lot of black people fish, but all of the ones I've seen or know of are fishing at piers in relatively urban areas.

 

[Gary H]

Since I shoot in an area with a large A.A. population, it would be logical to expect the range to have a number of black shooters. This is not the case. On the other hand, yesterday, one of my black patients was a competitive shooter and it never occurred to me that he was black and shooting until I read this post. Blacks are definitely under-represented. Interestingly, more and more women are showing up at the range. Last week I was at my local indoor range as the only single male shooting. There were at least six women shooting. Some of them were much more skilled than I.

 

[Carlos Cabeza]

Van is a recent Vietnamese immigrant and Billy Jack is from Oklahoma

Well, Ol' Billy Jack should do the right thing and invite Van to go shooting with him at the uncle's place. Maybe an invitation to pop a few bunnies or tree rats if Van was really interested.

I think everyone that has the resources should invite a newbie plinking/ shooting, and work to create the ?/comraderie/? that is described in this thread.

Point taken

 

[dischord]

Many of the fellow-hunters I've bumped into in the field here in Virginia have been black men (I hunt in Faquier, Stafford, Spotsy, Caroline and King George). OTOH, they've always been senior citizens -- I've never run into a young black hunter.

Oh, and they've always been hunting small game with .22s, FWIW.

 

[Gary H]

...almost forgot..

Please stop using the word "diversity." It is like chalk on the chalk board. It is a word that has a whole philosophy behind it. There must be a better word.

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

Majic,

Thanks for the insight. It sort of goes along with what I suspected. Now to figure how to get around the biases. I am in the SF Bay area and most of the blacks I currently know are professionals or live in what are considered upscale neighborhoods.

gearbox,

Most of the black shooters I know in the Bay area are LEO or ex LEO. The LEO practices on the IPSC range out at Richmond where I have worked as RO and the ex LEOs participate in PPC at the Chabot Gun Club (prettiest range around) in Castro Valley.

A couple of members of the Diablo Action Pistol Club in Concord are of the brown persuasion and people often mistake me for another. Pan-Asians are extemely well represented at the Richmond and Concord clubs.

When I was working the firing line as a safety officer at Chabot I saw perhaps less than 10 blacks in all.

Most women were with macho boy friends. I am not optimistic about their having a good introduction.

Erich,

Looks like there is something that Albuquerque is doing right and I'd like to be able to duplicate it elsewhere to give us more visibility on the positive side.

I had some other comments but they are stories that belong in another thread.

 

[geekWithA.45]

Just from a casual look around on an indoor range in NJ, on any given crowded day:

There's 14 lanes, all full with say, an average of 2 shooters. Let's call it 30 shooters just for an even number.

There's usually:

2 or 3 black males
1 or 2 black females.
1 or 2 asian males
1 or 2 asian females
1 or 2 hispanic males
1 or 2 hispanic females
2 or 3 white females
and about 15 middle aged white males.

Seems pretty diverse to me.