Many of us have previously seen the web site of Kenn Blanchard at:
http://[url]www.blackmanwithagun.net[/url]

I came across this amusing article on him in the Washington Business Journal at:
http://[url]washington.bcentral.com/washington/stories/2002/01/21/smallb1.html[/url]

Black man with a gun
Security consultant Kenn Blanchard takes aim at a stereotype
Steve Davolt   Small Business Editor

Kenn Blanchard draws his sermons from two works of scripture: the Holy Bible and the Second Amendment.

Most Sundays, Blanchard, a licensed Baptist minister, can be found helping out with services at the Mt. Sinai Baptist Church in Washington. The rest of the week he works as a security consultant, and as such, is a staunch advocate of gun rights.

Blanchard is founder of Blanchard Impresario Group, which advises individuals, groups and businesses on "every element of physical security," including negotiation, avoidance tactics, risk assessment, and armed and unarmed self-defense.

Like a lot of security pros, Blanchard has seen a sharp rise in the demand for his services in the precarious post-Sept. 11 world. Unlike most of them, he's devised some ingenious ways of marketing himself, especially to a population often neglected, if not outright avoided, by the pro-gun crowd: African-Americans.

[b]Blasting a stereotype[/b]
First, there's his book, "Black Man With a Gun: A Responsible Gun Ownership Manual for African Americans," from which he also takes the name of his Web site (http://www.blackmanwithagun.net). The site, which welcomes visitors with a photo of Blanchard brandishing a submachine gun, warns: "If you had any apprehension about this site ... it is just proof of the conditioning we have all been subject to about guns. A black man with a gun is no different than any other ethnicity with one."

He got the idea for the provocative marketing message while attending gun rights advocacy events and holding firearms and self-defense workshops around he country.

"Often I was the only black guy in the room," he recalls. He soon found he had struck a nerve among a sizable constituency of blacks interested in keeping and bearing arms legally and responsibly.

"I hoped the name would help change the stereotype and the mentality," he says.

Blanchard has reached out to African-American gun owners in other ways. Three years ago he established the 10th Cavalry Gun Club for African Americans, named for the renowned Buffalo Soldiers who fought for the Union in the Civil War. He continues to edit a monthly electronic newsletter for its members.

[b]Political doors[/b]
Blanchard's high profile among African-American gun enthusiasts made him appealing to the pro-gun mainstream. He was sought as a speaker by groups such as the Maryland Libertarian Party and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. He helped lobby for the passage of a law allowing Virginians, properly licensed, to carry concealed weapons, and is working on the same in Maryland.

Blanchard discovered that opening these political doors was good for business. He was hired to perform more risk assessments and put on more courses and workshops than ever; he gradually elevated his speaking fees.

"Kenn's one of those rare individuals who can both do and teach," says Kevin Watson, a spokesman at the Falls Church-based Law Enforcement Alliance of America, where Blanchard sits on the board of directors. "He has a knack for both handling small arms and training and instructing in their use."

Watson also ventures that Blanchard's experience in the pulpit has helped burnish the oratorical skills that have upped his currency as speaker and lecturer.

Blanchard's involvement with security and self-defense started when, fresh out of Northwestern High School in Adelphi, Md., he spent five years in the Marine Corps. He began as a heavy equipment operator but soon discovered he had a natural talent for handling small arms. That led to security details with U.S. embassies in London and Brasilia.

Once out of the service, he taught firearms instruction for a year at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glen Coe, Ga., where FBI, CIA and other federal agents go to hone their combat skills. He spent a decade as a federal police officer providing security to the CIA before entering the private sector.

[b]Boom business[/b]
As everyone knows, it's a good time to be in the security business, with demand rising sharply for consultants following the terrorist attacks in September.

Andy Stanford, founder of Options for Personal Safety, a security firm with headquarters in Sebring, Fla., and offices throughout the country, says his company is fielding calls like never before.

"Sept. 11 was a wake-up call, not just regarding terrorist threats, but in terms of general awareness of personal security," Stanford says.

Since September, inquiries for Blanchard's services have risen to about 30 a month. "You used to say `counterterrorism' and people laughed," he recalls.

Whereas many security consultants market themselves only to corporate and institutional clientele, Blanchard has designed his business to be affordable for individuals and small business owners.

"I'm coming at it from the other side." Blanchard says. "I'm focusing on Joe Citizen coming out of the Wal-Mart."

But Blanchard is leery of the legions of gung-ho ex-special forces and survivalist types popping up across the country, whom he calls "knuckledraggers."

"I used to be one of them," he says. "Drove a red corvette, lived out of a suitcase. I knew every street in London, but when I came home to D.C. I got lost."

A mellower Blanchard, 39, lives with his wife and two children in Cheverly.

"Security is more of a cerebral game these days," Blanchard says. "More chess than checkers."

His edgy marketing concept did backfire on him once, when he was caught off guard by a fan who recognized him in a public restroom and enthusiastically yelled, "Black man with a gun!"

"I almost wet my cowboy boots," he says.

I do remember him from GT, knew his stuff, not
a typical black man from what I recall.

Waterdog

Hooooahhhh!

We need to recruit more people like him, and quickly.

Actually he's right on target. Look around at any gun show & it looks like a white men can't jump convention. Of course it doesn't help when I see the few black males in the 20-30 age range hold their Glocks sideways when they look at them! Sigh.

I dig the James Brown music on his splash page