What permitless carry laws might mean for Black gun owners - Marketplace

At a Tennessee firearms range, Aqil Qadir is giving instructions on how to fire a gun safely.

“Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you made a conscious decision to shoot,” he said.

Qadir is a Black firearms instructor. He heads his own self-defense training company and is a former New York police officer.

Qadir teaches people what they need to know about firearms laws and safety to get a permit, although that’s no longer required in Tennessee. Tennessee is now one of about 20 states in the country that don’t require residents to have a permit to carry a firearm. This year, Iowa, Texas and Utah also went this route.

In Tennessee, the law has been met with a mix of support and opposition from residents and law enforcement. Those against the law said it’ll increase crime and access to guns.

“The more guns you have on the street, the more dangerous it becomes,” said Kevin Riggs, a pastor at Franklin Community Church, just outside of Nashville.

In 2020, before the law was enacted, there were 1,473 gun-related fatalities in Tennessee, according to the state’s health department.

But Black firearms instructor Denzel Caldwell, who works with Aqil Qadir to offer safety tips to Black gun owners if they are approached by police, said permitless carry is a layered issue.

“The reality is a lot of people are carrying whether they have a permit or not,” said Caldwell, who supports the new law. “I personally think that, speaking specifically for Black folks, it decreases the amount of opportunities for us to get locked up.”

Locked up or arrested, he said, for carrying a gun without a permit. Missouri state Sen. Steven Roberts said he saw that happen as a prosecutor in St. Louis.

“Law enforcement officers would arrest someone based off of them carrying a concealed weapon without a permit,” Roberts said. “And then because of that initial search, they may find drugs or other contraband.”

Some of those cases were thrown out after Missouri adopted its own permitless carry law in 2017, Roberts said.

source: https://www.marketplace.org/2021/10/11/what-permitless-carry-laws-might-mean-for-black-gun-owners/

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