For decades, the image of a gun owner in America looked a certain way. White. Rural. Conservative. Republican. That picture no longer holds, and what is replacing it says a lot about who truly relies on the right to keep and bear arms.

Across the country, liberals, people of color, and LGBTQ Americans are walking into gun shops, signing up for safety classes, and learning how to responsibly own firearms. This shift is not about politics or posturing. It is about something far simpler and far older. Survival.

As NPR recently reported, more Americans from these communities say they are buying guns because they feel unsafe and increasingly targeted in their daily lives.
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/28/nx-s1-5546865/why-liberals-people-of-color-and-lgbtq-americans-say-theyre-buying-guns

This is not about turning into “gun people.” It is about people who have realized that when threats become personal, self defense stops being theoretical.

Recent years have brought rising political hostility, open calls for violence, and a steady increase in hate crimes. According to FBI hate crime data, reported incidents have climbed sharply in recent reporting years, with race, sexual orientation, and gender identity among the most targeted categories
https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/explorer/crime/hate-crime

Many Americans who once opposed gun ownership now say they feel less safe in public spaces, less protected by institutions, and less confident that help will arrive when needed.

For Black Americans and other people of color, racial intimidation is not a new fear. What is new is how loud and unapologetic it has become. For LGBTQ people, especially trans Americans, threats are no longer confined to online spaces. They happen in parking lots, classrooms, workplaces, and houses of worship.

Some families have reached a difficult conclusion. If the current system cannot guarantee their safety, they must take responsibility for it themselves.

Gun ranges and training courses are seeing faces that once felt unwelcome or invisible. Community based gun groups have grown rapidly, offering education, safety training, and a sense of belonging outside traditional gun culture.

The Liberal Gun Club, a national organization focused on firearm education and responsible ownership for progressives, has expanded significantly in recent years
https://theliberalgunclub.com/

Pink Pistols, an LGBTQ focused gun rights group founded with the message “pick on someone your own caliber,” continues to grow as queer and trans people seek confidence and competence in protecting themselves
https://www.pinkpistols.org/

These groups are not glorifying weapons. They are demystifying them. They emphasize training, restraint, and the serious responsibility that comes with ownership.

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Fear may be the spark, but empowerment is the result. For many people in marginalized communities, owning a firearm is about agency. It is about refusing to be seen as an easy target. It is about knowing that when danger shows up, you are not helpless.

This does not replace advocacy, community building, or policy reform. It acknowledges a hard truth. Police cannot always arrive in time. Laws do not stop violence in the moment it occurs. When someone is threatened right now, personal safety becomes personal responsibility.

The right to self defense has always mattered most to those with the least protection.

This moment forces a rethink of how we talk about gun rights. The Second Amendment does not belong to one party or one culture. It exists to protect people, especially when the balance of power is not in their favor.

When communities that have historically been targeted begin exercising this right, it exposes the flaw in treating gun ownership as a partisan identity. Rights only work when everyone can use them without fear or exclusion.

It also challenges progressives to hold two ideas at once. Gun violence is real and devastating. So is the need for self defense among people who are openly threatened. These truths do not cancel each other out.

Liberals, people of color, and LGBTQ Americans are not embracing firearms because they want conflict. They are doing it because they want to live. To walk safely. To protect their families. To exist without fear.

In moments like this, the Second Amendment is not an abstract debate. It is a tool of last resort for people who know that safety is not evenly distributed in America.

The right to bear arms was never meant to belong to the loudest voices. It was meant to belong to everyone. Especially those who need it most.

Be curious, not judgmental.

Till next time, that’s the story from the ‘Back Forty’. — John W. Peace II

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John W. Peace II is a fifth-generation farmer from Big Stone Gap, Virginia, where he grew up on his family’s dairy, Clinch Haven Farms, and still lives today. He’s a proud father to Trey and Shelby Peace, and partner in life to Cathy Swinney. A Virginia Tech graduate with graduate studies at Penn State, he served as the youngest Chair of the Wise County Board of Supervisors (2004–2008). John co-owns urTOPIX LLC (urTopixLLC.com), a Democratic campaign training firm focused on reaching rural voters that is sponsored by www.RuralAmericaRising.com PAC. He’s also a two-time Amazon bestselling author. Learn more at www.JohnWPeace.com.