It is noon on October 8th and I just turned on the news. It is a day, so far, to celebrate. No one has walked into a mall, a school, the streets of a major city, or a church and unloaded their gun on innocent people. With the nearly daily reports, one could get de-sensitized to this national epidemic of madness, but I prefer to think it will make all of us weigh in on what packing heat really means. And, how does the lesbian community feel about the second amendment. That is when I discovered THE PINK PISTOLS.
According to the Pink Pistols website, “Thirty-one states allow all qualified citizens to carry concealed weapons. In those states, homosexuals should embark on organized efforts to become comfortable with guns, learn to use them safely and carry them. They should set up Pink Pistols task forces; sponsor shooting courses and help homosexuals get licensed to carry. And they should do it in a way that gets as much publicity as possible. “
Personally I have never thought that going back to a gun toting Dodge City society is the way to remain alive. That said, I’m not out to battle the NRA or The Pink Pistols. I just do have to say that I hope that the LGBTQ community doesn’t pick up the gun mantle and cerate a “we against them†mentality that we have fought so hard to break down. Hate and illogical views regarding gay/lesbian people has been there since Sodom and Gomorrah. It didn’t magically disappear when more states said yes to same sex marriage. But I for one prefer education to gunfire and I always will.
There are now over 45 Pink Pistols chapters nationwide, and more are starting up every day. The organization is dedicated to the legal, safe, and responsible use of firearms for self-defense of the sexual-minority community. The mantra of the organization is that lesbians no longer believe it is the right of those who hate and fear gay, lesbian, bi, trans, or polyamorous persons to use us as targets for their rage. Self-defense is our RIGHT.
The Pink Pistols get together at least once a month at local firing ranges to practice shooting, and to acquaint people new to firearms with them. We will help you select a firearm, acquire a permit, and receive proper training in its safe and legal use for self-defense. The more people know that members of our community may be armed, the less likely they will be to single us out for attack. Join us today. It is your RIGHT.
According to Gwendolyn Patton, First Speaker of the Pink Pistols. We are a shooting group that honors diversity and is open to all shooters. We help bring new shooters into the practice and provide a fun social environment for all our members. We work to build bridges between the shooting community and other communities, such as those based on alternative sexualities. We advocate the use of lawfully-owned, lawfully-concealed firearms for the self-defense of the sexual minority community.
The organization states, “We teach queers to shoot. Then we teach others that we have done so. Armed queers don’t get bashed. We change the public perception of the sexual minorities, such that those who have in the past perceived them as safe targets for violence and hateful acts — beatings, assaults, rapes, murders — will realize that that now, a segment of the sexual minority population is now armed and effective with those arms. longer be safe targets.
