Black women on Chicago’s South Side are getting their concealed carry permits and arming up in light of the city’s continual violence.

Breitbart News reported that nearly 4,400 were shot in Chicago in 2016 and there were almost 800 homicides. This year, Fourth of July weekend and the weekend of August 18-20 witnessed a revival of 2016-type violence. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that over 100 people were shot on Fourth of July weekend and another 63 were shot over the weekend of August 18-20.

A total of 22 people were killed over those two weekends alone, and an increasing number of black women on Chicago’s South Side are not sitting around and waiting to be next.

According to the Chicago Tribune, 51-year-old Vernetta Robinzine got her carry permit in the spring and talks of her gun by saying, “It’s like a part of me now.” She lives in Chicago’s South Austin neighborhood and says her home has been robbed and that she responded by putting so many locks on her doors that “she felt like a prisoner in her own house.”

Her daughter then left for college, leaving Robinzine alone, at which time she decided she needed a gun. She said, “I just didn’t want to feel like a victim or vulnerable.”

Robinzine is part of a larger wave of black women in Chicago who are taking their well-being into their own hands. The Tribune reports that “black women in Cook County had the sharpest growth — 67 percent from 2014 to 2016 — of any demographic group receiving concealed carry permits in [the county], based on applicants who disclosed both their race and gender.” For example, 800 carry permits were issued to black women in Cook County in 2008 while 1,368 were issued to black women between January 1, 2017, and August 27, 2017, alone.

National African American Gun Association founder Philip Smith is not surprised by the surge in concealed carry permit issuance to black women. In fact, he indicated that for a single woman who is a mother, having “a gun replaces a male presence in a home.” University of Illinois at Chicago professor Alexandria Filindra had a different opinion. She said, “More people with handguns in their purses means more likelihood of accidental gunshots and not necessarily a lot more actual protection.”

For those paying attention, accidental gunshots are not Chicago’s problem, but ruthless violence wherein an armed criminal preys on an unsuspecting citizen is regularly in the news.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday applauded Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy’s (R-LA) new legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare through block grants.

President Trump released a statement on Wednesday cheering the Graham and Cassidy bill to replace Obamacare. Graham and Cassidy, along with Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Dean Heller (R-NV), and former Sen. Rick Santorum, unveiled their legislation on Wednesday – otherwise known as Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson (GCHJ). The legislation would repeal Obamacare’s individual and employer mandate, Obamacare’s medical device tax, and deliver health care dollars to the states so that they can design  a health care system that works best for their local population.

President Trump said:

I applaud the Senate for continuing to work toward a solution to relieve the disastrous Obamacare burden on the American people.  My Administration has consistently worked to enact legislation that repeals and replaces Obamacare, and that can pass the Senate and make it to my desk.  Obamacare has been a complete nightmare for the many Americans who have been devastated by its skyrocketing healthcare premiums and deductibles and canceled or shrinking plans.  As I have continued to say, inaction is not an option, and I sincerely hope that Senators Graham and Cassidy have found a way to address the Obamacare crisis.

A number of governors have come out publicly in support of the new Obamacare repeal legislation. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds endorsed the Graham-Cassidy Obamacare repeal plan in exclusive interviews with Breitbart News. Herbert declared that the bill was a “vast improvement over the Affordable Care Act.” Graham told Breitbart News that at least 14 governors support the Graham-Cassidy Obamacare legislation.

Sen. Graham cheered Vice President Mike Pence’s support for the new Obamacare repeal bill. Graham said that Pence has been “awesome.”

Graham said that he needs helps rounding up support for the bill. Sen. Graham explained, “I’m urging the White House to call governors and to urge Mitch McConnell to take action. I’m telling the Republican party that we have not tried everything.”

President Trump contends that Obamacare continues to be a “complete nightmare” for Americans and has led to skyrocketing health care costs. The president hopes that this legislation will serve as the vehicle to repeal and replace Obamacare.

“Hate crime” and “hoax” go together better than “liberal” and “bullshit.” On Monday, the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, liberals were furious that someone threatened to kill black students at a Pennsylvania high school. Adding to the outrage was the fact that police decided not to pursue hate crime charges. Liberals were ready to explode. Is white supremacy so bad that police won’t even bring hate crime charges when someone threatens to kill black people? As it turns out, there is a very logical explanation: the person making those threats is black.

Philly.com reports that a 14-year-old student at West Chester East High School in West Chester, PA sent out some pretty hateful and violent threats on a school-related Instagram page.

“I feel bad for y’all. Because y’all think it’s a joke. Each and everyone [one] those n*ggers will be killed tomorrow,” read one post.

Several of the targeted teenagers spoke at a community meeting Monday night.

“They were just talking down on people, calling blacks n—s, calling Puerto Ricans ‘dirty Mexicans,’” one student told the crowded auditorium. “I felt that was disrespectful, because we don’t do nothing to nobody.”

He said one of the posts was a photograph of him and a friend before a school dance with the caption, “Aw, black n— meets white cracker.”

The posts caused a racial panic among the students:

The posts continued to reverberate Tuesday. One student, who learned Sunday night that she had been targeted in a post calling her “transsexual,” said she took off Monday and Tuesday to regroup.

“I’ve never felt safe at school,” she said. “The only time I feel safe is when I’m in that room with BSU” (Black Student Union).

And the parents:

“Because they are minority students, the school district does not want to say, ‘We have a problem,’” Dayna Spence said, echoing the sentiments of several other parents who said they believe school officials do not value the concerns of minority students.

This panic was all for nothing. The police got warrants for Verizon and Instagram and were able to identify a 14-year-old black male as the one who made the violent racist posts. Though not named because he is a minor, he is also a student at West Chester East High School.

The black student was charged with harassment, cyber bullying, and terroristic threats but definitely no hate crimes.

“This was not a white-black thing,” said school superintendent Jim Scanlon.

Yeah, but it was a black-black thing, a black-white thing, and a black-Hispanic thing. In addition to threatening to kill “n*ggers” this student also made disparaging remarks like “cracker” and “dirty Mexicans.” I feel like if a white student had done anything like this, there would be hate crime charges and outrage on the scale of when liberals thought these threats were made by a white person.

The good news is everyone can relax, white supremacy isn’t nearly the problem the liberal media would have us believe. Who am I kidding? Liberals can never relax; they exist in a constant state of agitation and outrage.

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A group of protesters toting “Black Lives Matter” signs covered up a statue of Thomas Jefferson at University of Virginia Tuesday night in a black shroud following violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, last month.

Fox News reports that approximately 100 students, faculty, and community members carrying “Black Lives Matter” signs marched on the Charlottesville university and covered up a monument honoring U.S. founding father and UVA founder Thomas Jefferson.

The protesters arrived on the university’s campus around 8 p.m. Tuesday, WVIR reports.

Several people climbed on top of the monument to place signs calling Jefferson a “rapist” and a “racist” before covering the statue in a black shroud.

“No Trump, No KKK, no racist U-V-A,” many students chanted, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Protesters rallied around the statue in response to the university’s decision to turn down the Black Student Alliance’s request to ban white supremacists from campus and take down the Confederate plaques on UVA’s rotunda, the Daily Progress reported.

The protest comes a day after the Deans Working Group released a report that said UVA’s response to the August 11 Charlottesville violence could have been improved, specifically the university’s policies regarding protests and demonstrations.

UVA President Teresa Sullivan said:

What happened on Aug. 11 on our Grounds, while unprecedented, was unacceptable. But we will not let it define us. It takes time to heal as a community and we must do so together. This Working Group report is an important step. Going forward, we must recommit ourselves to our core values and further enhance our inclusive, diverse learning and living environment.