Let it bang a young black man's reluctant odyssey into guns

A young black man's funny and searing quest to learn to shoot, and a fascinating odyssey into race, guns, and self-protection in America. The most RJ Young knew about guns was that they could get him killed. Until, recently married to a white woman and in desperate need of a way to relate to his gun-loving father-in-law, Young does the unimaginable: he accepts Charles's gift of a Glock. Despite, or becauseof, the racial rage and fear he experiences amongwhite gun owners("Ain't you supposed to be shooting a basketball?"), Young determines to get good, really good, with a gun. Let It Bang is the compelling story of the author's unexpected obsession—he eventually becomes an NRA-certified pistol instructor—and of his deep dive intothe heart of America'sgun culture: what he sees as thedomino effect of white fear, white violence, black fear, rinse, repeat. Young's original reporting on shadow industries like USLaw Shield, which insures and defends people who report having shot someone in self-defense, and on the newly formed National African American Gun Association, givespowerful insight into the dynamic. Throughindelible profiles, Young brings us up to the currentrocketing rise in gun ownership amongblack Americans, most notably women. Let It Bang is an original look at American gun culture from the inside and the other side—and, most movingly, the story of a young black man's hard-won nonviolent path to self-protection.

"We need more books like this: personal, emotional meditations on gun ownership…showing us all the ways in which guns take on meaning for people, and what happens when those meanings collide."— Pacific Standard