Thankful

It was 2012, and in the wake of the Sandy Hook murders we were facing the fight of our lives to preserve the right to keep and bear arms. I was listening to the Black Man With A Gun podcast, when host Kenn Blanchard announced that he was standing up a new website…Gun Rights Magazine…and needed writers. He extended an invitation to listeners who could write to contact him if they were interested in contributing. I was…and I did.

I often write as a way to work things out in my head, journaling thoughts and ideas for my own benefit. So I had some writing samples ready to go, and sent them to Kenn via email. He responded within the hour, simply asking, “Can I go ahead and post these to the site?”

Just like that, I was a contributor to Kenn Blanchard’s Gun Rights Magazine, which was later folded into the Black Man With A Gun website. I also like to point out that I…writing for Black Man With A Gun…was 100% white (still am). But it didn’t matter to Kenn, and it didn’t matter to me. What mattered to both of us was informing, educating, and inspiring others in the fight to preserve the Second Amendment.

With the assault on gun rights intensifying in the months after Sandy Hook, I prepared to attend the 2013 NRA Annual Meeting in Houston…this time with press credentials. Kenn was not coming, so I reached out to him and asked if there was anything in particular he wanted me to cover, any aspect of the politics surrounding the show he thought I ought to pay special attention to. “You can write whatever you want to, man” was his only response. But what he was really saying was “I trust you.”

That was a phrase I was to hear more than once while writing with Kenn. I remember one November, I was feeling inspired to write a piece on military service to commemorate the upcoming Veterans Day. Since it wasn’t really on topic as far as gun rights, I asked Kenn if it was okay to deviate from the normal subject matter. “You can write whatever you want to, man.” So I did.

Over the seven years between those first pieces and today, I have learned much. I have met a ton of fantastic people within the gun rights community, many of them becoming friends. I have been interviewed on national and local radio shows, internet radio, and serve as a rotational guest host on a regular podcast. Earlier this year, I stood up this website.

But unfortunately for the rest of us, Kenn has decided to “hang ‘em up,” and retire from the Second Amendment activist life. (Mostly…the Black Man With A Gun website will continue.) I understand. I haven’t done a fraction of what he has done, and it does get to be a drag sometimes. The arguments from the gun control movement are always the same, and they never end. I already feel like I’m repeating myself every other day, saying the same thing again and again in response to those who would infringe on our rights. That Kenn has soldiered on in this fight for well over 20 years is inspiring.

The bottom line is that I would not be here, doing this without Kenn Blanchard. The friends made, the experiences…none of it would have happened without the support of my “Brother From Another Mother.” He is a true pioneer in the fight to advance gun rights, and many of us involved in this community today are standing on his shoulders. Enjoy your retirement, and know that you are always welcome here at DeltaBravoCharlie.com. I couldn’t have done it without you.

For all that you have done for me and for the right to keep and bear arms, I am thankful.