Yes, that NPR.  Professor Charles E. Cobb, Jr. of Brown University has just published a book titled, “This Nonviolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed.” Michel Martin of, the NPR series, “Tell Me More,” interviewed Prof. Cobb and brought to light a facet of the Civil Rights Movement of which most NPR listeners are likely ignorant.  That facet being, gun ownership and carriage of guns, not in the vein of the Black Panthers or today’s “Open Carry” movement but, in the same stead many of us do today…quiet, “unviolence.”

There was never a family I stayed with that didn’t have a gun. I know from personal experience and the experiences of others, that guns kept people alive, kept communities safe and all you have to do to understand this is simply think of black people as human beings and they’re gonna respond to terrorism the way anybody else would.

– Professor Charles E. Cobb, Jr. via  ‘Guns Kept People Alive’ During The Civil Rights Movement : NPR.

You can see a full transcript, listen to, or download the interview here. I don’t know Prof. Cobb and don’t presume to have anything in common with him other than the color of my skin. But, I fully appreciate him for telling this story. It needs to be told and couldn’t come from a better source. I wish more folks took note and recognized this very real link between civil rights and the right to keep and bear arms. I know that neither I nor my family would be hear today had it not been for the fact my family owned guns. Though I enjoy participating in the shooting sports and hunting, shooting for me has never been about “sporting purposes.” I have long held that the reason I own guns and maintain my skills as a shooter is to defend against anyone who seeks to deny my rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

-GM