Inside the World of Leftist Gun Nuts

Tom Nguyen, left, the founder of LA Progressive Shooters, instructs Daniel Villalpando, 16, right, during a firearms education course at Burro Canyon Shooting Park in Azusa, Calif., on Oct. 29, 2023. Photo: Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images When news broke that a Marine veteran running for U.S. Senate as a Democrat had taught military-style firearms courses to left-wing activists, many reacted in disbelief. Reddit posts revealed that Graham Platner — who’s running to try to flip the seat long held by Republican Susan Collins — not only joined the Socialist Rifle Association but even taught a “defensive handgun course” for its members. A socialist-leaning gun club training with AR-15s, and a Democrat involved, might seem downright scandalous. But as an owner of one of America’s big scary black rifles, living in the most armed developed nation in the world, with a track record of targeted right wing domestic violence, I was more surprised that anyone was surprised at all.  Why wouldn’t left-leaning Americans arm themselves? Given today’s political climate, rainbow Pride flags flying alongside rifles should hardly shock us — it feels almost inevitable. If anything, Platner didn’t break a norm; he popped the bubble. He made visible what’s already been happening in basements, back 40 ranges, and weekend classes: liberals trading in euphemisms for live fire drills, swapping slogans for training repetitions, and reclaiming the Second Amendment, which Democrats have long ceded to the right wing.  The Rise of the Lefty Gun Nut Progressives embracing firearms is no longer a fringe curiosity; it’s a growing reality. My own existence as an armed American reflects a broader trend. A recent NBC News poll found 52 percent of American voters have a gun in their household, up from 46 percent in 2019. Notably, the share of Democrats reporting gun ownership jumped from 33 to 41 percent in that period. In other words, millions of Democratic households have added firearms in just the past few years.  Related Trump’s DOJ Wants to Deprive Trans People of the Right to Self-Defense The traditional image of gun owners as rural conservatives or “Duck Dynasty” caricatures is fading. Gun culture is diversifying: new gun buyers increasingly include urban liberals, LGBTQ+ people, and people of color who recoil at the National Rifle Association’s politics but are arming themselves for their own reasons. In my own reporting, I’ve lurched through Texas gun shows where the demographics looked more akin to that of modern American malls, and have attended Black-centered shooting events in the swamps of Florida. As a shooter and military veteran, I’m no longer shaken as my phone now regularly buzzes with texts from activists, queer family members, even mass shooting survivors shopping for their first rifle platform. This trend has been happening, even if it’s been little noticed and underrepresented.  I’ve also traipsed around firearms conventions with Nazi war memorabilia proudly on display, listened to homophobic cracks at the range, and overheard tales of racists viciously attacking a Black veteran during the nation’s large firearms trade expo. To fill that isolating gap, left-leaning gun clubs have sprung up across the country, creating spaces where owning a firearm isn’t at odds with progressive values. The Socialist Rifle Association, founded in 2018, is one prominent example. Billed as a working-class alternative to the NRA, the SRA advocates for Second Amendment rights from a left-wing perspective and emphasizes “self and community defense” over political violence. Despite its low profile in mainstream media, the SRA grew rapidly in the Trump era — boasting around 10,000 members by 2020 — and today has dozens of chapters nationwide. Similarly, the Liberal Gun Club, founded in 2008, now counts thousands of members and holds training events for left-of-center gun enthusiasts. Even older is the Pink Pistols, an LGBTQ+ gun rights group formed in 2000 with the cheeky motto “Armed Gays Don’t Get Bashed.” The Pink Pistols saw membership surge after the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre and the election of Donald Trump, as queer communities embraced firearms for self-protection. Groups like these provide firearms instruction and social support in environments free of the right-wing machismo that dominates traditional gun circles. As one leftist instructor put it, “Being peaceful is not the same as being helpless”; progressives are learning they can be proponents of peace while still packing a gun for when peace is broken. Related Rittenhouse Jury Has to Decide If the Men Who Tried to Stop Him Were Heroes or Villains Culturally, this shift also represents a reclamation of masculinity and self-defense by left-leaning Americans. It’s something the left has struggled with as of late, and materialized in young men jumping ship from the Democratic Party. For years, gun culture in the U.S. has been intertwined with conservative ideas of manhood — think swaggering “good guy with a gun” rhetoric and paramilitary cosplay at gun rallies.  Progressive gun owners are crafting a different ethos. In Los Angeles, for instance, instructor Tom Nguyen founded LA Progressive Shooters to take the toxic “alpha male” behavior out of firearms training. His students, often first-time gun owners from liberal backgrounds, learn about safety and responsible use in a setting that mocks macho stereotypes rather than glorifying them. They practice mindfulness, discipline, and community-minded protection. Some are motivated by very personal reasons: One student started training only after the violent rhetoric by extremist Trump supporters in 2020 made her feel unsafe. As one leftist gun owner quipped to the Los Angeles Times, she enjoys “shattering the illusion” that all progressives are “latte-sipping, gun-fearing academics.” She supports assault weapon bans and strict gun laws, but said she’s trained and armed because “in a world where [our] political opposites are increasingly hostile, I’d rather be able to protect myself and defend someone more marginalized than I am.” Far-Right Violence Is Pushing More Americans to Gun Ownership  To understand why liberals and other traditionally gun-averse groups are suddenly loading up on ammunition, look around at America’s escalating political violence. Far-right extremism has been the most lethal domestic threat for years — a reality even conservative estimates bear out. According to the Anti-Defamation League, far-right extremists killed 328 people between 2014 and 2024, far more than any other domestic terror threat. The majority of those deaths have been shootings. From Pittsburgh to El Paso to Jacksonsville, Florida, deadly attacks by white supremacists and ultra-right-wing terrorists have shaken targeted communities. LGBTQ+ and other marginalized people are facing an uptick in hate crimes and armed intimidation at events. Drag Queen story hours and Pride marches have been menaced by neo-Nazis and Proud Boys openly carrying AR-15s and screaming slurs. Related Armed Vigilantes Antagonizing Protesters Have Received a Warm Reception From Police It’s no wonder many on the left no longer feel confident that police will protect them — or even can be trusted to try. During Seattle’s 2019 Trans Pride March, organizers accepted volunteer security from the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club, a leftist defense group, because they knew that when far-right militias show up, the authorities often hesitate or arrive too late. Many marginalized people simply do not trust police to provide protection at public events, especially when far-right groups are involved. Armed far-right groups have operated (and even committed violence) largely unchecked, yet it’s the idea of an armed left that sparks outrage in mainstream discourse. Indeed, part of the left’s new gun rights mindset stems from a long-standing American truth: When threatened, communities, from the Black Panthers in the 1960s to queer nightclub patrons in the 2010s, have often had to defend themselves. Today’s progressive gun owners see themselves in that tradition of community defense. The head of the SRA, for example, explicitly ties the trend to the violent zeitgeist: “The rise of right-wing domestic terrorism is a serious issue in this country. But the moment a bunch of leftists meet up at a gun range, people start getting antsy when this has already been going on on the other side for a long time.” In other words, armed far-right groups have operated (and even committed violence) largely unchecked, yet it’s the idea of an armed left that sparks outrage in mainstream discourse. To leftist gun club members, that double standard is both absurd and intolerable. Rather than wait to become the next victims, many progressives are quietly preparing. “If the world is dangerous, then you have to be dangerous back,” Fin Smith, an organizer of Rainbow Reload, a New Hampshire LGBTQ+ gun group, told New Hampshire Public Radio. This isn’t a call to vigilantism; it’s a deterrent strategy. The Pink Pistols explicitly say their goal is to “put out in the ethers” that would-be gay-bashers should think twice, since their targets might shoot back. For most, firearms training is about building the confidence that they could protect themselves or their neighbors in a crisis — while hoping they’ll never have to. They aren’t itching for a gunfight; they’re just unwilling to leave the monopoly of force to right-wing bigots or the government. America’s Slide into “Militant Democracy” For all the legitimate reasons fueling progressive gun ownership, this trend also points to a perilous trajectory for the country. When citizens on both sides of the spectrum feel compelled to take up arms, it suggests that America is sliding toward a form of “militant democracy,” one in which political conflicts are increasingly defined by shows of force and the looming threat of violence. The more that Americans come to see guns as essential tools of political expression or self-preservation, the more our civic life becomes a powder keg, where every culture-shaking event may be met with talk of outright civil war. In such an environment, we risk our democratic norms giving way to fear, intimidation, and the ever-present possibility of confrontation. Rather than relying solely on institutions to resolve political disputes, people are preparing to defend their worldview with weapons in hand. History offers a warning. Societies where opposing factions armed themselves — Weimar Germany in the 1930s, for example — often saw democracy deteriorate into street clashes and authoritarian crackdowns. Even in modern stable democracies abroad, it’s virtually unheard of for mainstream political groups to organize armed wings for “self-defense” in peacetime. The United States is entering an uncomfortable new territory: Rather than relying solely on institutions to resolve political disputes, people are preparing to defend their worldview with weapons in hand. It’s a dynamic that might deter some aggressors in the short term, but it also raises the stakes of every conflict and increases the risk that a spark could ignite something far worse. In a polarized society bristling with armed factions, perhaps it was inevitable that progressives and marginalized groups would decide to even the odds. A Pride flag patch on a tactical vest; a socialist Senate candidate organizing range days; a trans woman holstering a pistol in case the Proud Boys come to town — these are scenes that surprise some Americans, but in my decade as a journalist covering America’s reactions to carnal violence and its subsequent tidal wave of up armament, these actions simply reflect our new reality. The American left is armed and getting organized, not because it wants to wage war, but because it refuses to be an easy target. In an atmosphere of rising hate and political violence, liberal gun owners are telling the country that their lives, communities, and yes, their rights, are worth defending — by any means necessary. The post Inside the World of Leftist Gun Nuts appeared first on The Intercept.