The LA Time Discovers Mr. Colion Noir

The Los Angeles Times has an article up today about Mr. Colion Noir. They call him an “Internet sensation” whose popularity is growing. The article is actually informative about Colion Noir and seems rather fair. As to the comments, not so much.

I’ve watched a number of his YouTube videos and am very happy that the National Rifle Association realized the potential in having him as a commentator (along with Natalie Foster and Dom Raso). Adding commentators like Colion Noir punches holes in the perception that the NRA is only for aging and overweight Caucasian males.

I think what is really going to infuriate the gun prohibitionists is that not only is Mr. Colion Noir black (well, duh!) but he is a practicing attorney in Houston with degrees from the University of Houston and Texas Southern’s law school. In other words, he’s not just some hip actor reading lines provided to him by the NRA.

Noir is a practicing attorney. He reads fashion blogs, loves gadgets and drives a sports car and a truck — neither with a gun rack, although he keeps a metal candy dish full of bullets in his living room.

Noir said he grew up hesitant to admit he liked firearms because it wasn’t something people talked about in his middle-class neighborhood. He fired his first gun, a little Taurus .40, about seven years ago at the urging of a friend who took him to a shooting range.

“I remember how exhilarating it was,” Noir said, comparing the experience to sky diving.

Soon afterward, he was going to the range weekly and researching guns. He later joined the NRA and bought about a half dozen guns. Noir, who once worked at A/X Armani Exchange and favors tailored suits, worries that a concealed handgun might “print,” or show through the fabric.

“Secret Service have the worst cut suits — big and bulky,” so their guns won’t show, Noir said.

 Colion Noir has attracted detractors among some in the African-American community who consider him a “sell-out” and other worse epithets.

Now some in the black community have denounced Noir for what they say is selling out to the white pro-gun establishment, with critiques posted on theroot.com and the Black Entertainment Television website.

“He’s taking more heat from black people than anybody. The racism that exists now is mostly on our side,” said the Rev. Kenn Blanchard, 50, a gun rights activist who is black. He said he advised Noir to accept the NRA deal.

Noir said he expected attacks, but he gets frustrated when critics highlight his race.

“Calling me an Uncle Tom simply because I’m into firearms, it doesn’t even make sense. My entire identity as a black guy is based on my ownership of guns? Really?” he said. “Some of the most influential black individuals have advocated for the use of firearms, so how come when I do it, I’m vilified? Take a look at the Black Panthers, MLK, Malcolm X.”

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. supported gun rights? Noir noted that after King’s home in Montgomery, Ala., was firebombed, King applied for a handgun permit.

While most of the comments to this article are supportive of both gun rights and Mr. Colion Noir, there are some detractors who are appalled that a man of color would not only like shooting but that he would be a member of the NRA.

From “NoBeggrsPlz”:

As a lawyer you could be a role model for the African-American community and work to reduce the amount of black-black violence and deaths.

Or is indulging and glamorizing your own fetish with guns more important to you?

How’s the glamourizaton of guns working out for the African-American community?

From “Pam00015”:

That was the stupidest video I have ever seen! It made no sense and was pointless. WOW! You have guns you are so powerful!

You are a coward!

Fetish? Stupidest? Pointless? Coward?

I guess you just can’t open some minds despite the good work that a commentator like Mr. Colion Noir does.