Longtime Chicago anti-gun advocate explains why she now carries one

By Chris Eger

Camiella Williams. (Photo: Alyssa Schukar for The Trace)
A former gang member turned gun control champion has stepped down from many of the organizations she once supported and now legally carries a handgun.
Camiella Williams, 29, told WBEZ Chicago for NPR’s All Things Considered how her life has pivoted between poles when it comes to gun politics.
A former gang member, Williams says she bought her first gun when she was only 12 for $25 on the streets and lived a rough life until, at age 18 and pregnant with her son, she moved to a safer neighborhood in the suburbs. Along with getting her GED and starting college, Williams began to advocate for increased gun laws, citing the loss of more than 20 of her friends and relatives in fatal shootings as a driving force.
Besides appearing on local stations, she spoke in Washington and California and appeared nationally on MTV. U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill.,  held Williams up as an example of community activism. Essence, People, The Trace and Vice all profiled her work.
But following the death of her 21-year-old cousin in a homicide last summer, Williams began to distance herself from the groups.
“I don’t think people understand because they tell me,

Source: Guns.com