Musician Killer Mike Says More Gun Control Is Not the Answer to Shootings

Reptile · Jun 23, 2023

Atlanta-based hip hop musician Killer Mike has never been one to stay in what many people might consider the safe lane for Black public figures on hot button political issues. Back in 2020, Mike released a video message to try to calm the chaos, in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police officers.

While he admitted in his speech that watching the video of Floyd’s death made him “mad as hell,” he chose to take a step back from the emotions of the moment, and reminded people that it’s “[their] duty not to burn [their] own house down for anger with an enemy.”

My colleague Nick Arama wrote that the rapper also talked about rioters attacking the CNN building; he took the network to task for inflaming “fear and anger” with its coverage. Mike said:

I love CNN… but I gotta say to CNN right now: Karma’s a mother. Stop feeding fear and anger every day. Stop making people feel so fearful and give them hope

But another topic that Mike has addressed is guns and gun control, and their effect on Black people. In 2018, during a guest appearance he made on “Real Time With Bill Maher,” Maher turned the conversation to how his fellow liberals would “have to come to terms with the fact that there’s a racial component” to the gun debate. As Kira Davis wrote on the segment:

If you’ve been listening to [Killer Mike] over the last few years, you know that he’s not saying anything different than he’s always said. He’s not an ally of the NRA. He’s not an ally of Republicans. He’s for damn sure not a conservative.[…]
As Mike points out in the “Real Time with Bill Maher” segment, guns laws have historically been used to control black Americans by confiscating the tools of self-protection, leaving them vulnerable to violent racists and state oppressors.

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