Maj Toure: Gun Control Is 'the Most Racist Practice in America'

Maj Toure wants you armed, trained, and ready to make peace.

"If you are not fighting to defend…your life, liberty, pursuit of happiness or property, you probably shouldn't be fighting," says Toure, who runs the Solutionary Center in North Philadelphia. It's a place for locals to learn firearms skills and safety, how to avoid and de-escalate conflicts and to pick up other life skills ranging from first aid to yoga to phlebotomy.

"We hear a lot of people say, 'If these communities would just pull themselves up by the bootstraps…,'" says Toure. "Okay, this is the bootstraps."

The Philly native is a hardcore libertarian, founder of the gun rights group Black Guns Matter, and a supporter of the Mises Caucus that recently took control of the Libertarian Party. He tells Reason that libertarians can improve their outreach in urban America by getting behind leaders and organizers who have an intuitive understanding of the needs and concerns of the residents who live there.

Produced by Zach Weissmueller. Shot by Jim Epstein and John Osterhoudt. Edited by Justin Zuckerman. Additional graphics by Regan Taylor. Sound editing by Ian Keyser.

Photo Credits: Daniel DeSlover/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom, Bastiaan Slabbers/ZUMA Press/Newscom, Ted Van Pelt from Mechanicsburg, PA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons