Amir Locke’s Death Shows the Need for a Multiracial Gun-Rights Coalition

L ast year saw a historic surge in gun purchases. As local governments have slashed police-department funding, implemented cashless bail, and declined to prosecute gun crimes, the results have been predictable: surging violent crime and lawless streets. So, it’s no surprise that law-abiding adults who actually do follow local regulations want the right to self-defense. They deserve that right. Amir Locke was one of these Americans. But he nonetheless died at the hands of police while exercising his Second Amendment rights.

In the early morning of Wednesday, February 2, Locke was sleeping under a blanket on a couch in his cousin’s apartment. Minneapolis police footage shows Locke awaking in a panic as police, searching for a murder suspect, burst in. In just ten tragic and confusing seconds, the police kicked the couch, causing the blanket to fall away, revealing that Locke had a gun. The police, seeing the gun, fired three times and killed him.

Locke, a black American, was accused of no crime. The police were looking for his cousin, a suspect in an ongoing murder investigation. To effect their search, they used a “no knock” warrant, an option intended for the most dangerous situations, in which advanced notice would tip off criminals and place law-enforcement officers in danger.

This does not describe the situation for Locke, a lawful gun owner and permit holder who had no criminal record. His work as a DoorDash delivery driver took him throughout Minneapolis, where recent carjackings made him feel unsafe, and a gun provided comfort and protection in a dangerous city.

Police exist to maintain law, order, and public safety. Unfortunately, bad policies have curtailed law enforcement’s ability to do that. Officers need the tools to get the job done, but they need the right tools. And there is an honest debate occurring over whether no-knock warrants are such a tool.

There is no evidence yet that the Minneapolis police officers acted inappropriately, given current law. But it is clear that no-knock warrants put them in dangerous and untenable situations. Designed to protect the police, such raids have, in practice, often led to the deaths of officers, as homeowners have mistaken them for criminals.

Traditional knock-and-announce warrants may give criminals time to destroy evidence. No-knock warrants can help preserve that evidence, but they have proven enormously risky for Locke, for others like him, and for the approximately two police officers who die each year serving them. An alternative to these warrants that can still maintain the element of surprise is the “breach and call out” method, in which police break down the door and call the occupants to come out and surrender. This gives those inside the time to gather themselves and make safe decisions for interactions with law enforcement. A patient and overwhelming police presence should dissuade the foolish few tempted to use the extra time to prepare an attack on law enforcement. Pro–Second Amendment individuals and institutions must stand against this policing strategy and stand up for black Americans like Locke.

This would be worth doing regardless of how many black Americans were gun owners. But the fact that they are a growing and important Second Amendment constituency makes this stand all the more righteous. According to a 2017 survey, one in three black households owns a gun. And gun purchases by African Americans increased 56 percent in 2020 compared with the previous year, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).

Concern for personal safety is growing in America among other groups as well. A Gallup survey in 2007 found that 23 percent of Americans bought a gun for self-protection, while in 2021, 35 percent did. And almost 40 percent of all gun purchases were by first-time gun buyers, according to the NSSF. Demanding justice for Locke isn’t just the right thing to do. It is also a chance for gun-rights advocates to represent a diverse and growing constituency.

Historically, gun control was often used to dominate and disarm minorities. After the Civil War, there were numerous laws passed throughout the rural South prohibiting black Americans from owning firearms. New York’s gun laws (one of which is now before the Supreme Court) have long resulted in wealthy white elites getting gun permits while minorities are denied them. Advocates for gun rights should make a special effort to ensure that minority gun rights are protected. It would help right those past wrongs and protect the Second Amendment. Gun-rights advocates should also work, through this durable political coalition, to combat policies that infringe upon these rights.

Now is the time to stand up for the right to self-defense, while simultaneously showing minorities in this country that Second Amendment advocates are fighting for their rights, too.