The View co-host Sunny Hostin claimed this week that black Americans are buying guns in record numbers to protect themselves from “white supremacy.”
“If you listen to the FBI’s statistics, we had FBI Director [Christopher] Wray testify that the greatest threat in the United States is white supremacy—and who are the victims of white supremacy?” Hostin said on Wednesday.
“Generally, they are African Americans, and so I really believe that that is why you are seeing African Americans now buying guns and arming themselves and protecting themselves,” she continued. “The Second Amendment is for everyone.”
CRIME ON RISE IN AMERICAN CITIES: As Pres. Biden lays out his plan Wednesday to take on the spike in gun violence and crime across the country, the co-hosts discuss how he can help and question the reasons behind the rise in violence. https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/ZDgJcLvED2
— The View (@TheView) June 23, 2021
While there is no evidence to support Hostin’s anecdotal statistics concerning white-on-black crime, a recent study found that black Americans are, indeed, buying guns in record numbers.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation reported that African–American gun ownership showed the “largest increase of any demographic group,” with 58% of firearm purchases last year.
“This is a tectonic shift in the firearm and ammunition industry marketplace and complete transformation of today’s gun-owning community,” Lawrence Keane, the NSSF’s senior vice president of general counsel, said in a statement.
However, Keene offered far different motives to explain the black community’s newfound embrace of Second Amendment freedoms.
“These first-time buyers represent a group of people who, until now, were agnostic regarding firearm ownership,” he said. “That’s rapidly changing, and these Americans are taking hold of their God-given right to keep and bear arms and protect themselves and their loved ones.”
Hostin, on the other hand, claimed, without evidence, that more “violence against black people” was the catalyst for the change.
“A lot of my friends and family members have begun to purchase guns, they’ve begun gun training and, I think, a lot of it has to do with the increase in violence against black people,” she said.
Rising crime rates in America’s cities are unrelated to white supremacy, according to law enforcement.
Much of the recent violence has been gang-related, leading the Biden administration to announce “zero tolerance” for gun dealers who willfully violate the law.
