WASHINGTON (AP) — In light of two fatal police shootings this week, activists say black gun owners are often treated differently than white gun owners — and to a sometimes fatal degree.

A former firearms instructor who runs the website BlackManWithAGun.com, the Rev. Kenn Blanchard, says that the perception of an armed black person has not changed much since the days of slave rebellions. Blanchard says the perception of the “scary black man” still exists.

The president of the National African American Gun Association, Philip Smith, says it can be dangerous for black people to own guns in this policing environment even though gun ownership is a constitutional right.

Police fatally shot Philando Castile in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, during separate encounters this week.