How To Be An Urban Gun Owner

Black city dwellers are armed, too. Here are 5 ways to pack heat responsibly.

To search the web or watch TV, you might get the impression that gun owners are all white guys living out in the country or in the 'burbs. But there are plenty of black folks, city dwellers, who own guns, too -- and legally. We're not talking about the corner dealer with the illegal .9 mm.

According to the most recent Gallup polling and data kept by Gun Owners of America, a little more than a quarter of the black population -- 27 percent -- owned guns in 2010. So, as America's lawmakers gear up for battle over the rights of gun owners and those who want to be, blacks are among those concerned about what changes to the nation's gun laws could mean for them.

Karen Ford, an African American gun owner and medical professional in crime-ridden Detroit, decided to revisit gun owner safety classes she took two years ago taught by Rick Ector, an outspoken black member of the National Rifle Association and Detroit-area gun safety instructor.

“I would like [Rick] to show me the right types of guns I can now own,” Ford says. “I’m a 56-year-old female. I was really concerned about being in the house by myself. I left [Rick’s] class feeling cocky. I feel like it’s something that every woman should take.”

Despite recent tragedies propelling new gun control measures – especially last month's elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn. – Ford says she has concerns about urban crime that are just as valid as concerns raised about the random madmen who have been the perpetrators in recent mass shootings.

Ector says he couldn’t agree more.

“People who don’t live in urban areas may not be familiar with the environment that I’m in,” Ector says. “When we’re talking about areas like Detroit and Chicago, individuals should take advantage of their rights to arm and protect themselves.”

Ector, also the founder of Legally Armed in Detroit, offers the following five recommendations for city dwellers who own guns or are thinking about doing so:

1. Take a class.

Illinois State Senator Arrested After Bringing Gun To Airport

Sen. Donne Trotter caught with unloaded .25-caliber Beretta.

The man who planned on running for Jesse Jackson's vacated U.S. house seat has found himself on the wrong side of the law.

Illinois state senator Donne Trotter was arrested at O'Hare International Airport after an unloaded .25-caliber Beretta handgun and a magazine clip with six bullets were found in his bag during X-ray screening.

Trotter says that he uses the gun for work as a security officer and forgot that he had the gun in his bag when packing for his flight.

He is being charged with a Class 4 felony, which carries a penalty of one to three years in prison upon conviction.

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Top 10 States With The Most Guns

The West has more trigger-happy states than others.

This year alone hundreds of young black men in Chicago have been gunned down during outbreaks of gang violence. While the Windy City has made international headlines in 2012 related to gun violence, the state of Illinois isn’t one of the 10 states that lead the nation in gun ownership. Florida, the state that provoked protests with its controversial “Stand Your Ground” law, also isn’t on the list. So which states made the cut? Most of them are located in the West and in the South, according to the Deseret News. The Utah paper compiled a list of the most gun-laden states using criminal background check data from the FBI. Whenever cashiers ring up gun sales, they must contact the FBI or another agency to see if the customer has a criminal record or is ineligible to buy firearms for another reason. Below are the states with the highest amount of such background checks per 100,000 residents.

[ALSO READ: Loop 21 Tweetup on Gun Violence Dec. 5, 8 PM EST]

10. Arkansas doesn’t require permits for rifles, shotguns and handguns.

9. Oklahoma passed a law in October 2012 allowing residents to carry guns in plain sight.

8. South Dakota in 2011 proposed a law that required every resident to be armed.

7. North Dakota grants permits for concealed weapons  to 18 year olds. In many other the states the minimum age to do so is 21.

6. Wyoming passed a law in 2011 that allows residents to walk around with concealed weapons sans permits.

5. Alaska is a pro-gun state that doesn’t require permits for a variety of firearms or for the weapons to be registered.

4. West Virginia is a “stand your ground” state. It permits open carry as well.

3. Montana sparked controversy in 2009 with its Firearms Freedom Act that challenged the federal government’s authority to regulate guns there.

2. Utah made headlines in 2000 when a small town called Virgin made it mandatory for all households to own guns, so residents could defend themselves against aggressors. In 2007, the state also permitted concealed weapons to be carried at public universities.

1. Kentucky not only leads the nation in gun owners, it also has some of the least restrictive gun ownership laws in the nation, according to the New York Times.

[ALSO READ: Live by the Gun]

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