With the rise of white supremacists and neo-nazis, those on the fringes can feel helpless and unsure of what to do.
Some LGBT groups have decided to change that and are now training themselves how to shoot guns.
The Trigger Warning Queer and Trans Gun Club came about back in January. The club was started to help LGBT people take up arms.
Jake Allen, 27, who helped form the group said,
Often, queer people are thought of as being weak, as being defenseless, and I think in many ways this pushes back against that. And I want white supremacists and neo-Nazis to know that queer people are taking steps necessary to protect themselves.
Members pay dues and meet once a month to still targets and clay pigeons.
Lore McSpadden, 37, said, "I identified as a pacifist really through most of my life." Now she has attended self-defense classes and own a 20-guage shotgun.
This isn't a single incident of LGBT groups, and other minorities taking up arms. Allen said there is another Trigger Warning chapter in Atlanta and requests from 10 other cities have come in. The Pink Pistols, in Pittsburg, saw a bump in their membership after the election. The National African-American Gun Association and the Liberal Gun Club have seen their memberships bump in the recent year after events like Charlottesville.
Some are critical of what they are calling an arms race now. Scott Fearing, executive director of Rochester’s Out Alliance, spoke to his critical view saying, "What we know in any arms race is that it’s never good for anybody, and death and destruction and harm and hurt can come when so many people have arms and weapons."
Trigger Warning stresses that the group is about self-empoerment and defense, not offense.
What do you think of the rise of LGBT Gun Clubs? Have the events since the election made you consider getting a gun?
H/T: NY Daily News