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Black member boosts gun group
By ALONZO WESTON
alonzow@npgco.com
The National Rifle Association is the oldest civil
rights organization in America. That’s what Gary Davis says anyway. He’s
the only black member on the board of directors for the Western Shooters
Alliance, a civil rights organization for gun owners.
“Lots of people don’t really know that gun control
is one of the first segregation laws that came out of this country.
Blacks couldn’t own firearms, vote or own property,” said the 52
year-old Kansas City resident. “You hear that the NAACP is the oldest
civil rights organization in the nation but the NRA has been fighting
for civil rights since 1871.”
It’s statements and beliefs such as this and a vast
knowledge of gun control issues that have helped Mr. Davis get
re-elected as president of the group recently.
After the avid gun enthusiast and KC Metro bus driver
serves out this latest one year-term, he will become the longest-serving
president in the history of this 12-year-old organization. This is the
third time he has been elected to the position.
“Everybody has a high opinion of him,” said Kevin
L. Jamison, one of the founding members of the Shooters Alliance. “He
has a sincere desire to protect our rights to own firearms.”
Mr. Davis himself attributes his popularity to the
fact that he knows “how to talk to white people.”
“It’s kind of a joke,” he chuckled. “One of
our members said that I can always get things done and I told her it was
because I know how to talk to white people. I’m good at communicating
with people.”
What Mr. Davis tries to communicate to anyone who will
listen is the mission of the Shooters Alliance. The group, which has
chapters throughout Missouri including the Northwest Missouri Shooters
Alliance in St. Joseph, is dedicated to preserving the Second Amendment
rights of the Constitution to keep and bear arms.
“We lobby legislature for our right to use firearms,”
Mr. Jamison said.
“We also are trying to get a concealed weapons law,”
added Mr. Davis said. “We have 43 states in country that already have
a concealed weapons law.Missouri is one of the seven states in the
country that doesn’t have it.”
Mr. Davis is also trying to help change the image of gun clubs like the
Shooters Alliance. He said the misconception about these clubs is that
they exclude blacks and other minorities and promote bigotry.
“You’d be surprised how many second amendment and
gun clubs want blacks to join,” he said. “Some blacks write it off
as redneck but it’s the farthest thing from the truth.”
The Western Missouri Shooters Alliance is a
not-for-profit organization that was founded in 1989 to inform Missouri
citizens about their firearm rights. It currently has more than 1,000
members throughout the state. |
