The number of Blacks joining the National African American Gun Association (NAAGA) is on the rise as the National Rifle Association deals with internal turmoil amid a spate of mass shootings.
NAAGA, the largest minority gun group in the U.S. founded by Philip Smith in Atlanta in 2015, has started over 75 chapters with more than 30,000 members, 90 percent of them being Black Americans, in less than five years.
“I felt free,” Smith, who fondly remembers the first time he fired his 9mm pistol at a gun range, told CBC News. “I had a chance to kind of have some power in my hands.”
The backlash against President Donald Trump caused the National African American Gun Association membership to “spike”— and now they’re considering starting a political action committee.
A political action committee is an organization whose purpose is to raise and distribute campaign funds to candidates seeking political office
NAAGA promotes the second amendment and social justice. The association is talking about endorsing candidates but feels it is not ready and therefore plans to discuss the issue at its first national conference in August 2020.
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Some in the organization say it is time to have a larger platform.
Executives in the group are considering whether to form a political action committee that would raise money and back candidates sympathetic to the cause.
However, the major focus of the political action committee would be to work on solutions between Black gun owners and the police.
