Review by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive Editor
BLACK MAN WITH A GUN RELOADED, by Rev. Kenneth Blanchard. ©2013. Published by White Feather Press, 3170 52nd St., Dept. TGM, Hamilton, MI 49419; phone: 269-838-5586; online: whitefeatherpress.com. 172 pages, soft cover. Price $16.95. Available from Amazon.com, in book and Kindle formats.
You may know Kenn Blanchard. He’s been a prominent voice in the pro-gun community for many years, a participant in many forums, and a speaker at national and state gun gatherings. He established the 10th Regiment Rifle & Pistol Clubs, and he Podcasts weekly with his “Black Man with a Gun” program. He is also a Marine Corps veteran, a former federal security officer and a federal firearms trainer.
Several years ago he wrote an earlier book titled Black Man with a Gun, which was rich in the gun-related history of people of color. It was revealing, and explained convincingly why many women of color have resisted private gun ownership: fear of the man.
But this is a different book: his personal Odyssey involving guns, his family, his politicking, and his acceptance by gun organizations, his legislative lobbying. Loaded with personal experiences and detail, the book covers a lot of ground over much of his adult life. Included is his own case study of how his pro-gun direction affected his married life, his children, his friends, and his government job.
It begins with his grandmother’s approach to guns, which was different from other black grandmothers. These matriarchs are an important element in the historical and political record involving American blacks and their struggle for inclusion in a broader, multi-racial society.
Blanchard’s story begins with his starting out in the gun community just as any other gunowner. He highlights the role of gun owning blacks in defending the Civil Rights activists of the 1950s, 60s and 70s from the Klu Klux Klan and hostile white police forces. He explains how he came face to face with officials of the National Rifle Association when he wasn’t sure they would welcome him at their board meeting, and how his federal employers treated him (not well) because of his pro-gun positions and public activities. What he said and wrote was monitored and his promotion ladder was shortened.
But, despite his problems, he persevered. He became an ordained minister. He found ways to reconcile his continuing pro-gun personal program with a changing society and political climate. He continues his effort to teach others about guns, not just in the minority communities, but in a wider general public.
His advise on parents teaching their children the fundamentals of firearms safety and respect for guns—whether or not they have guns in their own homes—is one of the most important chapters in this book because such education will save young lives, even in desperate crimeridden cities like Chicago.
In addition to the fundamental concept that free men and women own guns while slaves do not, he also deals with the guns of recreation, and provides a brief description of many of the shooting sports, from simple backlot plinking to one I had never heard about: the keneyathlon, a form of “freestyle riflry.”
Blanchard’s examination of the history of gun control laws in the US, begun as a tool for suppressing first slaves going back 400 years, then freedmen after the Civil War, and the modern Civil Rights movement, to current big city ghettos, should be essential reading for all Americans, especially many urban politicians and journalists.
Another key chapter of Black Man with a Gun Reloadedis in the form of a series of Epistles in which pastor Blanchard advises African-American Women, his “Brothers,” his “Gay friends” to get educated about guns and arm themselves for personal defense.
This is a book you should read and then pass on to friends, relatives and co-workers, especially those who are against guns, afraid of guns, or unsure about individual gun rights.
