Jordan Rickards: 00:00 Welcome to the ConservativeOpinion.com video podcast. Our guest today is Maj Toure of Black Guns Matter. Maj is from inner-city Philadelphia where he teaches young men about their Second Amendment rights. He’s been featured on Fox News and The Daily Signal, Ammoland, Vice, and he’s now joining us today on ConservativeOpinion.com. Mr. Toure, thanks so much for joining us. I really appreciate it.
Maj Toure: 00:21 Same here. Thanks for having me. It’s good to be seen.
Jordan Rickards: 00:24 Yeah, absolutely. All right. So why don’t you tell us what is Black Guns Matter and why did you start it?
Maj Toure: 00:29 Uh, black lives matter we’re firearm safety, uh, conflict resolution organization. We go to urban areas where there’s high crime, high violence, high ignorance around firearms. In the Second Amendment, uh, we go to there to give a free classes to anyone who wants to be put on from the path to a proper, say, firearms ownership, having a better understanding of, um, of civics and wanting to turn that into political power. So that’s an essence what we are as black guns matter. Um, it’s kinda about guns, but it’s more about community development.
Jordan Rickards: 00:59 Oh, that’s really good. Well, one of the counter arguments you hear a lot is that, um, our cities are plagued with gun violence as it is and adding more guns and you know, a gun training and things like that only makes the problem worse. Is that, what do you say to that argument?
Maj Toure: 01:13 I think it’s a faulty argument because of the fact that most people to train or training with firearms or respecting the tool aren’t doing, aren’t the people that’s doing all of the silly shit. I mean, that’s just what it is. You know what I mean? John Locke wrote an excellent book called a more guns, less crime. So when you in spaces with is a respect for firearms is a, there’s an understanding of the, the purpose of the tool, which is a respect for life and to defend life, not to take life. When you, in those environments, you actually have more and more people that are actually safer. Like for example, there’s 16 now 16 constitutional carry states around the country, which means if you can purchase a firearm lawful, you can conceal it or carry it open, uh, without any extra paperwork. Those 16 places have notoriously lower, uh, violent crimes and crimes around firearm ignorance and things like that. So the people that say that usually are people that don’t really have a firm understanding on the data as well as, um, you know, they probably didn’t have a shot before or you’ve never probably lived in the area where you probably could use a firearm to defend or as a deterrent, you know, in their life. They probably from like middle, some suburban America that wants to make all these grandiose gestures and statements but ain’t really, you know, you know, missing information is a powerful thing. So, um, I respect those people’s, uh, uh, time in their expression because a lot of times they, they want to prevent trauma. They not necessarily anti gun, they anti ignorance. You know what I mean for the most part, so we try to reach out to those people and show them where they missing some information and if they open minded to learn and grow, you know, we here for them. If not, I can’t really help them.
Jordan Rickards: 02:49 Yeah. All right. Can you just raise the camera just a little bit. Just a little bit higher. Perfect. Perfect. You know, it’s funny you mentioned that because my next question to you is actually going to be, is that an argument that’s really made by the urban communities or people who are like outside of those communities who are trying to impose their ideas? So I think you kind of saw that.
Maj Toure: 03:07 Yes. Always those people, it’s like people tell them somebody, it’s like, if you don’t smoke cigarettes, right? Don’t tell nobody else that they can’t smoke cigarettes. That’s just their thing. They have the, you have the right to not smoke a cigarette. They have a right to smoke a cigarette. It’s their body. It’s still what they just their freedom point. My point in saying it is the people that usually say that they fall into two categories, um, or the people that think they’re anti gun could fall into two categories. One, somebody is missing a lot of information or has met a gang of misinformation or two, the second group is people that want to, that are fully aware of what the actual truth is. Um, or the facts of the matter are, but they have a vested interest in making sure that Americans are unarmed. And of course it’s easier to start with is, you know, more melanated beings because mass media, it makes it a sensational thing.
Maj Toure: 03:58 You know, when White America is affected, even though there’s far less as far as the quote unquote mass shootings as far less than the bodies, the stack in some of these urban areas across the country. So I’m usually, it’s people that, that are espousing those beliefs are usually mostly saying it’s a urban America where they probably don’t if you know, and um, you know, don’t, don’t ever have to go there. So those people have an agenda of control. Uh, I’m, I’m more bang with the people that fall into the first category because they don’t know when, they don’t even know that. They don’t know. Those people usually, again, have had a trauma with fire arms or just see the death even in urban America, even if they happen to be quote unquote white liberals, right. They from, they might be, or work in an area where, you know, let’s say if their teacher in a high school teacher, some of their students are affected by that ignorance.
Maj Toure: 04:46 So they have more of a vested interest, they and in and like saving in healing the community. So their trauma is based on their loss or the ignorance around that loss. So I get those people to people that are deliberately just trying to tell, uh, uh, Americans to, you know, in essence, give your guns up. So forth and so on. Those people have, they not anti gun, they just want there to be like a monopoly on state sponsored violence, you know, and, and stuff like that. So that’s really what that is. It’s usually they fall into two categories.
Jordan Rickards: 05:16 Well, that goes right into my next question because you’ve been quoted as saying, you know, gun control was people control and all gun control’s racist. So are you saying it’s actually like a hidden agenda here?
Maj Toure: 05:26 It ain’t even hidden. This is literal. It’s, it’s, Eh, Swalwell I was by the call him “swallow well,” but I think his name is Swalwell. Um, he just the guy to say, you know, nuke ’em to the essence, like I’m paraphrasing, but he just posted some saying he wants to ban or buy back all of the semiautomatic weapons in America. So it was not even like a secret. It’s like you’re saying that theirs is historical. There’s been books on it, negroes and gun, you know, this non-violent stuff will get you killed. Uh, please stop helping us. There’s tons of history of the racist roots of gun control. That’s what it is all, go ahead.
Jordan Rickards: 06:10 Go ahead. No, I’m sorry. I thought you’d done, I want to read you this quote because you’re, you’re really hitting some points I was going to make. Um, and I, I’ve had a problem for a while with Bernie Sanders on this topic. I don’t know if you’ve heard it. Um, but his position, you know, he keeps saying he’s okay with people in rural communities having guns, just not people in cities, which sounds to me like a code for like, you know, whites, okay, but blacks, no way. In fact, let me read you,
Maj Toure: 06:33 Don’t let the blacks have them!
Jordan Rickards: 06:33 Let me read. Let me read you this quote and tell me what you think. He says. I quote, “I come from a state that has virtually no gun control, you know, Vermont, but the people of my state understand pretty clearly that guns in Vermont are not the same thing as guns in Chicago or guns in Los Angeles in our state. Guns are used for hunting in Chicago. They’re used for kids in gangs, killing other kids or people shooting at police officers shooting down innocent people.” So it’s pretty clear he’s okay with that. Certain kinds of people in the right kinds of community, having them just not in, you know, black communities.
Maj Toure: 07:06 The irony there is the fact that he’ll trick so many black people in a thinking he’s he down with him. You know what I’m saying? And so it’s clear. You want, I want guns here because these people are Vermont are smart and the people issue and they’re safe. And don’t get me wrong, there’s some guys is idiots with firearms, but you deal with that not by taking a firearms away from, you know, people doing a righteous thing with a tool. Right? You don’t, that’s like, that’s like saying, hey, because they’re drunk drivers outside, we’re going to stop sober drivers from driving that. That’s dumb. That’s dumb. So it’s, it’s what George Bush called a phrase that he used was the, uh, the soft bigotry of low expectations.
Maj Toure: 07:51 So yeah, he, he didn’t align with that and that’s why I don’t bang with him. First of all, he, he on the socialism tick and we see and how that’s working out for Venezuela. So I can see his contradictions a mile away. This is the same guy that drives the Audi R8. Mr Mr Socialism. It’s the same guy who just spent, you know, one of his summer homes is $2 or $3 million. That’s a lot of socialism dollars that he’s spending on these days. You know, so I, the contradiction is clear with, uh, politicians like that. That’s why we, when he went on The Breakfast Club, when they asked him the questions about reparations, and I’m not saying that anyone has to be for or against reparations, it just shows that when you ask a person to question if they can’t give you a straight up answer, they flim flam you. I’m saying that everybody in the street, everybody in the hood. Everybody, all hardworking Americans get that. Okay. What’s your racial background is if I ask you a question, you start stuttering and stammering. Either you’re lying or you haven’t taken the time to think about it. You know what I’m saying? And so I can’t really bang with Bernie. He on he on some other shit.
Jordan Rickards: 08:48 All right, well let me ask the question cause you’ve gone on record as saying conservatives have to do a better job of appealing to people in urban communities and something that I’ve said in basically every podcast I’ve done. I mean I go to these Republican events and all they want to talk about is taxes, but they never talk about what they’re going to do for the poor or for, you know, single mothers or people like that. So, um, my first question to you is, I guess what would you suggest that conservatives do better in order to appeal to? I think a lot of the inner city voters who they have a lot in common with,
Maj Toure: 09:16 They got to get behind it. Finance liaisons. That’s it. They have to find people like myself or other people around that are actually from the element that’s not saying culturally awkward or culturally straight up and wrong things. You’ve got to get behind real people. The problem is a lot of times the right, and I’m not just saying the conservative movement cause I just had a meeting with a guy that’s super conservative. I can’t really go into it yet, but he’s super conservative and super wealthy and he one of the realist dudes I ever met in my life. You know what I’m saying? However, a lot of times, you know, so I don’t want to just isolate it to conservative. A lot of times what happens is on what we identify as the right, you start getting in that room and those individual starts having the same regurgitated talking points and not willing to call, you know, the foolishness for what it is, you know, before fear of, you know, looking like they, uh, splitting from the party line.
Maj Toure: 10:07 Right. What I’m saying. And so with that being the case, the first thing that’s the conservative movement wants to strengthen itself. It has to find the liaisons, like you said, on these podcasts that you’ve been doing for however long. You say this all at the time. But if you come into a hood, people to go, yeah, sure thing, man, you got glasses, you’re white, you’re white, quote unquote white privilege. We’ll uh, you know, you’re rich are obviously in their mind, whether that’s true or false, that’s because they don’t know you, don’t trust you. And to be perfectly honest, if we isolate it to urban America, um, there’s a legit reason why we don’t trust people. I mean we’ve been, a trust has been taken advantage of time upon time upon time. Again, so for the conservative movement strength in itself, sometimes you got to understand that you, you might have the answer but the messenger matters too. Yeah, the message is important, but the Messenger is important too because the left has had a great job of handling PR and brainwashing, you know, urban American’s minds and sometimes, so that’s the first step. Creating relationships and getting behind financially supporting the people that are doing the actual work in a community. That’s it. Other than that, you’re just spinning your wheels.
Jordan Rickards: 11:12 Can, can I go off topic one second about the thing about trust because it’s weird you bring that up because I was actually saying the other day to myself and no one else that I’m kind of amazed at like how trusting and how loyal African-Americans are to the Democratic Party that does nothing for them except take advantage of them. Like when it, when election time comes around, they’re everybody’s best friend and then they get in power and they don’t do anything for them. So it’s almost like, like that loyalty, which is I think the strength of the black community is being used against them. Is that fair to say?
Maj Toure: 11:46 Man? Too much of anything is a trap. You know what I’m saying, too much of any loyalty to a concept can be to a fault. Lyndon B Johnson did his thing, man, he did this thing where he tricked everybody and was like, “I had those niggas voting Democrat” for however many hundred years he did. They just got better PR, better PR. That’s just it. They understand perception and reality and stay at public relations and they have to because they don’t have really like facts. And the facts of the matter is the Democratic Party is the party, the Klu Klux Klan, this, that, the third blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All of that. That’s historical facts. It’s not me say cause I got democratic friends. It doesn’t mean that you don’t respect the democratic process. That doesn’t mean that I think you’re an evil person generally. But the reality is that the history you know, of, of the party is what it is.
Maj Toure: 12:35 Um, I think there’s a step further though. I think, you know, conservatism and more liberty minded individuals are starting to make decisions not based on party per se or the only reason they’re making decisions. That’s the reason why the work that we’re doing at black guns matter. It was received so well in the hood because one day I could praise Donald Trump for certain things that he does. That’s right. And other that everybody in the hood, a lot of black, brown, white people in the hood go, yeah, that makes sense. That economic piece makes sense. Then the next day I could trash him for his horrible stance on the second amendment, you know, and that that are in the hood, our loyalty is, speaks to a certain characteristic that we’ve been manipulating and giving, manipulated into giving a a way to a party that traditionally has not helped our PR, our communities.
Maj Toure: 13:21 You know what I’m saying? So would that be the case? Um, being able to explain conservative ideologies that transcend party lines, that is the strength of what we’ve been able to do at black guns matter. Right. You know, the second amendment isn’t just what one party. And then even saying, Yo, George Washington didn’t even want a two party system. You know what I mean? This is historic. This is not me saying it cause it sounded cool. This is, you know, everybody should go read, you know, the secret six Bob, Brian Kilmeade and all of these different things, these great men that had their contradictions. I, he slavery, let’s be clear, you know, but that, that, that level of objectivity is in an attachment to truth is something that a conservative and freedom and liberty minded person has. And that’s why the hood identify with what we doing, you know, and the hood, the hood to the same extent does not identify with certain people that have been, even if they happen to be melanated that had been put in the front forefront to look like they speak for the black community, they don’t, you know.
Maj Toure: 14:17 Um, so with that being the case, uh, yes, that loyalty has been misguided because we’ve been hoodwinked, bamboozled, and led astray like Malcolm said. So it ain’t no new thing. You know, Malcolm told us about, you know, liberals in the community for some time now. That was in the early sixties. So, uh, you know, we just got to get a better understanding of civics, a better understanding of American history. And that’s why our classes we do the, the thing that we add 20, 19 is political education, all of these things, or a holistic approach to make sure that when you do pick up a firearm and you are safe, responsible, you understand that you fight the defend your liberties, your freedoms, and, and your, your sovereign being as a member of the republic.
Jordan Rickards: 15:00 Right. You know, I wrote an essay about five or six months ago, um, about Colin Kaepernick where I argued that conservatives should not pretend that racial injustices do not exist, but rather acknowledge that they do. And point out that these are primarily the fault of, I think, uh, liberal policies, like you mentioned a Lyndon Johnson and his, his war on poverty. Uh, and also to show, you know, how conservatism is a solution. Is that, I think what you’re saying, is that a fair way to address the problem?
Maj Toure: 15:28 Yeah, it is. Because, um, you know, like, like if I, if you go through, you see the pandering, you see, okay, so let’s run through policies cause that, cause I, I like to make it about policy more. So that’s when I identified the party. What did the party or these particular parties do that were beneficial to American people, especially urban American, not limited to put, especially cause that’s where I’m from. That’s where our live. Um, the question then becomes, okay, very simple. Uh, let’s look at Black Republicans or let’s look at black senators. The first one’s Republican Party. You know what I’m saying? Like we gotta we got hit. And when you want to find something about something, go to the natural genesis of it. Uh, so yes, those things, um, you know, that is a fair assessment of looking at it. It’s like, again, some of those liberals fall in that position of number two on that list that I gave earlier of, I’m fully aware, I have, you know, like armed security detail, but I believe that on the north side of Chicago with me, Rahm Emanuel looking at you, I live is, is okay in my ivory tower, but I want none of the blacks over there to have guns because of, I don’t want them to actually fight the tyranny and the political, uh, bullshit that I’ve been spreading for however long.
Maj Toure: 16:44 It’s easy to control people when they don’t have the means to defend myself. Right? That is historic. That is world history as look, look, look, look at what’s about to happen in New Zealand. I bet you give it a year, you know. So, um, yes, that’s a fair way of looking at it. Um, the thing that now, now I gotta beat up the right a little bit too because okay, y’all, y’all, y’all are so good and picks up up by the bootstraps or free market and ideologies or freedom, so forth and so on. You what, what organizations or people that do have a touch with urban America and these are numbers that we need. What have you done to engage that community? Very little. If I don’t start shit, like getting over the last two, three years, I’m going to CPAC. You know, I just, I happened to reach out to certain shouts to the people over Dan Schneider, my match slap over at CPAC shouts to them, you know, for going, hell yeah, we going to give you a platform, you know? But the reality is I gotta, I gotta cut through the thick and in the forest of uncharted territory because for too long conservative and people, Conservatives and people on the right out of the a one is somebody that looked safe that happened to be black or be just ignored urban America generally. And that’s like, Yo, get your PR game up, get your marketing game up, get your, get your, get your liaison game up.
Jordan Rickards: 18:02 Yeah. I mean, you’re saying a lot of things I’ve been saying, you know part of the problem is we get our quote unquote leaders from our elected officials, but they gerrymandered these districts so that they don’t have any black people in their districts, first of all. And they win without the black vote. So they don’t, they haven’t ever learned how to have a dialogue with anybody who doesn’t look like them. Like, like I don’t think Mitt Romney has a racist bone in his body, but let’s be honest, he doesn’t know how to talk to anybody who doesn’t look like him. And you see that up and down the Republican Party. So. Well, let me ask you a question. So you’ve got a lot of great things to say. What, what has been the reaction and reception you’ve received, um, in your own community?
Maj Toure: 18:35 I’m a legend in my hood.
Jordan Rickards: 18:39 I bet.
Maj Toure: 18:40 I’m the legend, I mean,
Jordan Rickards: 18:41 Do you get any backlash?
Maj Toure: 18:43 Not from my community. My community, they, we are the same. They know, they know my reasons for doing certain things. They, they get it. They know I’m, I’m swimming in a very treacherous waters. They know that. They know what traditionally happens to people like me. So I get, I get tremendous support and love because they don’t, they don’t want to see that. They want to see us continue to prosper and grow is when it comes to the class. This is, that’s why he learned, that’s why they share. That’s why they, that’s why they do so many amazing things. That’s why they gave us hoods across America, paid it forward. He gave us $175,000 to 76 so, however much it is now to do this work, to make sure that new people, fresh blood is getting into this freedom conversation from urban America. They, the hood gave us 170 something thousand dollars that we gave away the hood.
Maj Toure: 19:32 Don’t give up no money for something. If it ain’t fun, it ain’t something that they want to do. And they’re not given that bread away. So I mean, hoods across him, I have respect and the vast majority of major cities across America because I’m front line with it. So I don’t get no backlash from urban America, especially began as they see this learning. I get, I get backlash from idiot stats, jealous because they fire arms instructors and I’m not. And I’m getting treated like a rock star because of the work that we put in there. That’s where we get backlash from, from idiots. They got frail egos and, and you know, insecurities beyond my beyond measurement, but ain’t nothing
Jordan Rickards: 20:11 You’ll fit in well in the Republican Party. We got plenty of that over here too. Believe me,
Maj Toure: 20:15 right?
Jordan Rickards: 20:16 Yeah. That’s my life. You have no idea how many people have caused problems with me because they’re jealous that I actually have a real job and I’m not entirely awkward around women. I mean, you stick with that and people all of a sudden hate you. Believe me.
Maj Toure: 20:28 He started getting some love from the ladies. You see that hate show up!
Jordan Rickards: 20:35 That’s true. I hate to say that. Well listen, you’ve given us a lot of your time tonight. I just have two more questions. First of all, real quick. Um, what do you, do you have any favorite guns that you happen to have or anything on your shopping list or anything?
Maj Toure: 20:48 Um, right now my favorite gun is my EDC, my Glock 19 stock. I have it right here. Um, it’s just a very practical firearm as far as hand gun goes. As far as rifle is my rifle to solutionary rifle, we worked, we worked with head down arms to bring something of um, good quality, strong lasting quality, good parts, um, for under, you know, I’ll think is 1199. So as far as rifle, those are my go tos.
Jordan Rickards: 21:18 Yeah. I have a glock 19.
Maj Toure: 21:21 Yeah. You guys say you use your, you use your handgun to get to your rifle for me. You know what I’m saying? Those are, those are my two right now. Those, those are my two favorite firearm.
Jordan Rickards: 21:32 I tell you, I got a Glock 19 also in the Sig P320, but was a lot of fun is I have a big .357 the a Ruger GP 100. And if you’re in the market for a revolver, I highly recommend it.
Maj Toure: 21:45 Yeah. Yeah.
Jordan Rickards: 21:46 All right. Thanks for doing this.
Maj Toure: 21:49 No problem Taurus Judges and all that other good stuff the Governor all of that so, so those, so I don’t carry revolvers, just for capacity issues, but I still think they fun guns to shoot.
Jordan Rickards: 22:00 Yeah. All right. Well listen, just lastly for the people who are gonna watch this and you should get at least about 10,000 views. How this, how could people watching this help you out? Cause obviously you’re doing a lot of great things. What’s the, what, what can we do for you?
Maj Toure: 22:13 Um, one man, if, if have something that you’ve heard on this episode is something that you agree with and you liked the fact that we’re making these classes free for all of urban America. If you want to donate, uh, our donation site is go fund me.com forward slash black guns matter. We could use everybody’s support, man to get so many, you know, people from urban America to get on the freedom side of things, to get them to make the decisions for themselves and break away from policies that have been destructive to America to be perfectly honest, is our overall goal. Yeah, we, we teach people firearm safety and conflict resolution, but the political education component is what’s super empowering and conjunction with those other things. So to remove that barrier to entry to get people on board for free and have these classes where people can donate if they want to.
Maj Toure: 23:03 Um, you know, that’s really the biggest thing that helped that we need. I mean, Idl, I ideologically, you know, we aligned but we still got it, you know, just because we don’t, good work. Hilton ain’t going to give us hotels, you know, lobbies in, in, in, in rooms for free. A United Airlines ain’t going to do that and leave us, you know. So, um, that’s been one of the major ways that everyone can help follow us on social media as well. But the go fund me is GoFundMe.com forward slash black guns matter. Follow us on social media. I got you. Got Questions. I got answers. Um, I usually have my phone right on me, my Twitter and Instagram is at [inaudible] to Ray in a T. O. U. R. E.
Jordan Rickards: 23:42 All right, well I’ll tell you what, I’m going to make a donation tonight and I’m going to encourage everyone to do the same cause I think you’re doing a great job and I think that, um, I think that you, your impact in this world is going to be well beyond just the second amendment. I mean I think you really just going to comprehensively changed things. People like yourself and Candice Owens and you know Colin Noir and people like that. It’s not just a, it’s not just the gun thing. I mean I really think you’re going to be one of the, the preeminent leaders, uh, really the, among the great civil rights leaders I think of our time and it’s really a great honor to have been able to spend a few minutes with you. I really, really appreciate it and I certainly wish you all the best and continued success.
Maj Toure: 24:21 Thanks man. Appreciate you.
Jordan Rickards: 24:22 All right, brother. Well, you take care. Have a nice night. Thanks for everything. All right, Maj Toure, everybody. Thanks so much.
