Black women picking up firearms for self-defense

By LISA MARIE PANE
Associated Press

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP) – Marchelle Tigner is on a mission to train at least 1 million women how to shoot a firearm. A survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault, she wants to give other women of color the training she hadn’t had.

It may be an uphill climb.

A recent study by the Pew Research Center indicates that just 16 percent of “non-white women” identify themselves as gun owners. That’s compared with about 25 percent of white women.

Other Pew surveys in recent years have shown a growing acceptance of firearms among African-Americans: In 2012, one found that less than a third of black households viewed gun ownership as positive; three years later, that number had jumped. By then, 59 percent of black families saw owning guns as a necessity.

(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

I’m coming to you on August 26th!!!! I’ll be teaching my Women’s Handgun 101 class in the Nashville area.