- Load your firearm and make ready.
Fire at will.
- At a gun range in Maryland,
a class of Black students and gun owners
are training to get their conceal carry permits.
It's just one of many classes of mostly
Black students training here almost every day.
- This is the first time in history that I can say that,
uh, this amount of Black owners has come into effect,
but also, we never really had access to doing so.
- In 2020, Black people made up the largest increase in gun
purchases out of every major racial demographic.
Then, in June 2022, the Supreme Court expanded gun rights
by striking down a New York law
that limited who could receive a concealed carry permit.
The ruling affected several other states
with strict gun laws, including Maryland.
There, conceal carry applications
and handgun purchases surged in weeks following the ruling.
Between June 23 and July 11,
5,314 new people applied for conceal carry permits,
compared to just 609 the year before.
- Well, business has been crazy since June.
Classes have gone from five to ten people,
to 30 to 40 people.
The Supreme Court ruling has really changed things in a sense
that everyone is now trying to get their conceal carry permit,
they are taking a lot of classes,
buying a lot of conceal carry handguns.
- I own a Glock 19x.
Same exact slot length as a 19,
which makes it easier to conceal.
That's why I chose it.
- While Black gun ownership is on the rise,
gun sales spiked among all demographics
during the coronavirus pandemic.
Sales remained high through the protests
that followed the police murder of George Floyd
and the attack on the US Capitol.
- With everything going on in the world
and the way things are, it's really been one of
those things where people want to protect themselves,
they want to feel safe,
and this gives them a way to be able to sorta take that
and have their own power, right?
To be able to protect themselves,
to be able to protect their families and their loved ones,
and to know that they have that option.
- When we have a critical situation,
that person's movin' into your direction,
they may trip, they may rush you --
so, you gotta be ready to.
- Galen Muhammad is a firearms safety instructor.
He teaches his classes, often of mostly Black students,
how to safely respond to police encounters like traffic stops
while legally carrying a firearm.
- What we did is we present ourselves
as least of a threat as possible.
As we went over last week about what to do,
how to respond when a police responds
to a situation where we are, where we're armed.
This is called a range walk.
I'm thankful that most times they react the same.
You know, Black person is treated the exact same way
that the white person is treated.
And, again, that's why I say
I'm pro-police and I applaud that.
But it's that -- it's those times where they don't treat us
the same, therein lies the problem.
Slide in. And put your magazine in.
Take your slide. - Just let it go?
- Just let it go. I tell my students,
we're still not gonna create static where there is none,
even though, or even if the police is creating static.
- You just need to give what's asked of you, and that's it.
So, it's that simple.
'Cause, at the end of the day,
I'm just trying to avoid all problems
and make it home to my family.
- Black gun owners who spoke to the Post said
that there can be a negative stigma
attached to owning a firearm,
but they also said that the culture around gun ownership
is changing in their communities.
- Black people, when we have firearms,
we're demonized in the media,
so anytime that a Black person has a firearm,
they're looked at as a bad guy,
or they're gonna point their finger and say, yeah,
this person isn't fit to own firearms,
so, because that's been the narrative for so many years,
and all the propaganda has been pushed for years and years,
Black people have been shied away from firearms.
- We as Black people were always told it's not a good idea,
there's always that nega-- like, people always assume
something bad when you have a gun, right?
You don't get that benefit of the doubt.
- So, we gon' make sure everybody's qualified.
Still pass.
Mean, either way you wanna look at it,
it's a pass, so you good.
- Now that, uh, you have more Black people owning firearms,
that's gonna change the perspective of people,
uh, owning firearms, because now that they see, okay,
when you have this group of people
who previously looked at as demonized,
or they weren't fit to own firearms,
now that you see them demonstrating proper gun safety,
uh, proper gun, uh, use and efficient skills,
that's gonna allow people to change that narrative.
- Fire at will.