Killer Mike has announced that he’s not a fan of the new gun laws in the United States — and he believes that without safety training, they will cause more harm than good to Black men and women.
The Run The Jewels rapper stopped by TMZ Live on Wednesday (June 21) to share his thoughts with host Harvey Levin.
“The new laws affect Black people worst and first,” he said, referring to the new curfew laws in Atlanta, GA, which are meant to curtail the uptick in violence. “It’s just what it is. I’m a strong proponent of the Second Amendment. People know that. But when it comes to making laws — for instance, in New York, you can have a ‘long gun,’ meaning a rifle. An AR. A shotgun. But if you get caught transporting it to your house, you’re going to jail.”
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He continued: “Where are roadblocks going to be — in Harlem, or Long Island? More than likely, they’re going to be in Harlem. So I don’t want new laws, because they’re going to affect my community first and worst. But I think there are enough laws on the books to take care of what’s already out there. Criminals are not going to follow a law anyway. For people that are law-abiding citizens, I advise us to take ‘stop the bleed’ classes, I advise — especially locally, in my community — for people to join NAAGA (National African American Gun Association). You shouldn’t have a tool that you don’t know how to use, and you should especially not have a tool that can cause harm to people without knowing what to do.”
Back in 2018, Killer Mike found himself a trending Twitter topic after a controversial interview he did with the National Rifle Association went viral. The Run The Jewels MC subsequently issued an apology on Instagram.
The veteran rapper wasn’t necessarily sorry for doing the interview. Instead, he took issue with NRATV’s timing to post part of his interview ahead of the March For Our Lives rally. In the interview, Mike voices his support for the Second Amendment while taking issue with the recent school walkout protests, something he clarifies in several Instagram videos he posted in March of that year.
“I took a move out of one of my heroes’ book, Dr. Martin Luther King … and I sat with people who I might not always agree with,” he begins. “I did an interview about Black gun ownership in this era. That interview was used a week later by NRATV to disparage a very noble campaign that I actually support.”
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He continues, “I wanna say first I’m sorry guys. I’m sorry that an interview that I did about a minority, Black people in this country, and gun rights was used as a weapon against you guys. That was unfair to you and it was wrong. It disparaged the very noble work you’re doing. The work you’re doing is self-motivated, self-initiated and it’s noble. I think you should be doing this.”
