# Black Lives and Guns **URL:** **By** Nicholas Johnson, Trevor Burrus **Published:** July 3, 2020 --- Nicholas Johnson joins the show to talk about the tradition of black gun ownership as a way to fight abuse of government power. From Frederick Douglass’s advice to keep “a good revolver” handy as defense against slave catchers to the armed self-protection of Monroe, North Carolina, blacks against the KKK chronicled in Robert Williams’s _Negroes with Guns_, it is clear that owning firearms was commonplace in the black community. Do blacks have a different view on gun control? Who was Don Kates and how did he fight for the second amendment? ## Further Reading: [Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms](https://www.amazon.com/Negroes-Gun-Black-Tradition-Arms/dp/161614839X), written by Nicholas Johnson [Firearms Law & the Second Amendment: Regulation, Rights, and Policy (Aspen Casebook Series)](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008R1DZUQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1), written by Nicholas Johnson, David Kopel, George Mocsary, \& Michael P. O’Shea If you are looking for a comprehensive overview of libertarianism, check out our page, [_What is a libertarian?_](https://www.libertarianism.org/essay/libertarianism-principles-history-promise). ## Related Content: [Guns and Mass Shootings](https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/free-thoughts/guns-and-mass-shootings), Free Thoughts Podcast [Abolitionism Was Actually a Free Market Cause](https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/abolitionism-actually-free-market-cause), written by David S. D’Amato [Why Aren’t There More Black Libertarians?](https://www.libertarianism.org/columns/why-are-there-so-few-black-libertarians), written by Jonathan Blanks