Signed in as:

filler@godaddy.com

Account

Experience the Thrill of Shooting

Gain confidence, enhance your skills, and be prepared for any situation with 617 Defense LLC

Enroll Today

5087407981

About Us

Our Mission

At 617 Defense, we are dedicated to providing our students with the highest quality firearms training available. Our mission is to teach students how to safely and effectively handle firearms in a variety of situations.

Our Curriculum

Our comprehensive curriculum covers from beginners to intermediate levels of firearms safety, including proper handling, storage, ,maintenance and marksmanship. We tailor our courses to the needs of each individual student.

Customized Training

We understand that every student has different needs and goals. That's why we offer customized training programs to meet your specific needs. As your instructor I will work with you to develop a training plan that is tailored to your individual needs and goals.

Boston Globe Article

Black gun ownership is on the rise. These Boston instructors are at the forefront.

The revolver in Nolan Howard’s right hand is unloaded, but he still points it studiously downward and keeps his index finger well clear of the trigger. His careful handling of the weapon is a subtle lesson to his students as he offers them a closer look.

There are five students today. They’re eager and a little nervous; some have never handled a gun before. And like Howard, they’re African American.

They’ve paid $150 each to come to a tattered function hall in Mattapan and try their hand at racking the slides of semi-automatic pistols and jacking dummy shells into a pump-action shotgun. In the process, they’ll learn enough about firearms to qualify for a Massachusetts gun license.

Howard owns 617 Defense, a company that offers firearms training throughout Greater Boston. He’s also president of the Massachusetts chapter of the National African American Gun Association, an organization that boasts 45,000 members nationwide, nearly half of them women. And he’s one of several local Black entrepreneurs serving a growing market niche: Black people who feel the need to arm themselves.

Greater Boston is famously safe compared to other US metro areas. But not quite safe enough for Howard — or his students. He warns the students that 911 is not enough, that it generally takes 10 or 15 minutes for the police to arrive.

“You are your own first responder,” Howard said. “No one’s going to save you. You’re going to save yourself.”

Despite a high level of gun violence in many Black communities, Black people are much less likely than whites to own guns. A 2024 study from Pew Research found guns in only 34 percent of Black US households compared with 49 percent of white households.

The ownership gap might be due in part to a history of racist efforts to keep Black people disarmed. After the Civil War, for instance, many Southern states made gun ownership illegal for Blacks. And even where it was legal, Black people often faced unjust discrimination and were not allowed to obtain gun permits. When Martin Luther King’s home was bombed in 1956, he requested a gun permit to defend his family. But authorities in Montgomery, Ala., refused.

But there’s evidence that more Black households are arming up. After the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the National Shooting Sports Foundation reported a spike in gun purchases by Blacks. The organization’s latest survey finds that African Americans comprise 32 percent of people who’ve taken up shooting in the past five years, the biggest increase of any demographic group.

Howard said he’s seen rising attendance at his classes, which he began teaching three years ago. He said he believes the root cause is declining trust in government.

“People are taking control of their own lives and doing what they have to do for protecting themselves and their family members,” Howard said. “They’re making their decisions, instead of waiting on the government to help them out.”

Howard is a vocal opponent of laws limiting gun ownership that were enacted in Massachusetts last year. He keeps a loaded pistol on his hip and said law-abiding people of every race should always be ready to defend themselves.

You’ll hear the same sentiment from Howard’s friend and business competitor Antonio Miles, a Black New Hampshire resident who runs the training company Urban Shooting Experience. A former car salesman who grew up in Roxbury, he first took up arms out of concern for his family.

“My ‘why’ is my three daughters,” Miles said. “I wanted to be able to defend my family by any means necessary.”

He also sees himself as a role model.

“I wanted to bridge a gap on people who look like me teaching about firearms,” Miles said.

Firearms instructor Nolan Howard, left, of 617 Defense, teaches Rochelle Jones about a semi-automatic pistol during an NRA Home Firearm Safety Course in Mattapan.

Firearms instructor Nolan Howard, left, of 617 Defense, teaches Rochelle Jones about a semi-automatic pistol during an NRA Home Firearm Safety Course in Mattapan.CRAIG F. WALKER/GLOBE STAFF

Both Miles and Howard offer gun classes to men and women of all races, but they primarily cater to gun-curious African Americans

Bill H4885 is a Punch in the face from politicians

Massachusetts politicians have once again ignored the voices of the people they claim to represent, especially in Black communities like those in Boston. The passage of bill H4885 is yet another example of lawmakers pushing policies without truly listening to those most affected. Instead of working with residents to craft meaningful solutions, they impose regulations from a distance, showing a clear disconnect from the realities we face every day. Hosting an unannounced gun tour at the last minute isn’t meaningful community engagement—it’s political theater that allows officials to claim they listened when, in reality, most people had no chance to participate.

This bill is built on assumptions rather than real conversations with the people of the Commonwealth. Too often, elected officials make decisions behind closed doors, failing to step into our neighborhoods and speak directly with those impacted. They act as if they understand our struggles, yet their policies repeatedly ignore our voices. This pattern of neglect leaves urban communities—especially Black Bostonians—without real representation, reinforcing the feeling that our concerns don’t matter.

H4885 places harsh restrictions on law-abiding gun owners while failing to address the root causes of violence in our communities. Public safety cannot be improved with one-size-fits-all policies that disregard the challenges urban residents face. If Massachusetts politicians truly cared about the people they serve, they would prioritize real engagement, listen to the voices they claim to represent, and craft policies based on lived experiences rather than their own political agendas.