Terry Hollimon explains being offended by ‘Black Rifles Matter’ bumper sticker

It’s sometimes difficult to have a non-inflammatory debate about the Black Lives Matter movement, but that’s exactly what happened on KIRO Radio’s Tom and Curley show Tuesday.

The debate stemmed from a bumper sticker The Barbershop’s Terry Hollimon saw on a Jeep outside his daughter’s volleyball match in Snohomish County. The sticker showed a rifle with the words “#BlackRiflesMatter.” Hollimon posted the photo on Facebook, and wrote, “Always makes me feel real comfy to know there’s people right around me who feel my black life is just as important as their black gun.” He expanded on his feelings Tuesday.

“I was kind of offended by (the bumper sticker), really offended by it,” he said. “The fact that they were making light of the Black Lives Matter movement. Maybe I don’t always personally agree with all of the tactics of the Black Lives Matter movement, but I would at least respect it enough that I wouldn’t put a rifle attached to it. Especially since the whole premise of Black Lives Matter movement is to stop people from killing black people with guns.”

Related: Black Lives Matter signs stolen from West Seattle yards

John Curley, who is pro-gun and has ridiculed the Black Lives Matter movement in the past, says the sticker is more of a reference to the AR-15, semi-automatic rifle than it is a slight against the movement.

“It looks like a scary gun so they call it an assault weapon, which is a made up term, but it’s black,” Curley said. “People come after AR-15’s, but a lot of people who like AR-15’s are defending it. It’s really in the defense of the AR-15 … It’s not about the idea of somebody shooting a black person.”

And when Hollimon asked if he thought the sticker mocks or belittles the cause, Curley responded, “I don’t think anything could belittle or mock the Black Lives Matter, more than Black Lives Matter.”

Terry Hollimon: “Oh, c’mon, Curley. Really?”

John Curley: “I’m gonna quote Barack Obama: ‘You need to do more than just yell and scream.'”

TH: “I agree with that 100 percent, but you have to understand that sometimes the ends justify the means. I don’t know if these are the perfect means, everything they do, but I get the gist of the movement and I understand that it is a worthy cause.”

Listen to the rest of the debate here.

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