For decades, the image of gun ownership in America was white, rural and Republican, but that’s been changing, according to gun clubs, trainers, Second Amendment advocates and academic researchers.

They say more liberals, people of color and LGBTQ folks have been buying guns for years and particularly since Trump’s reelection in 2024. This story was based on more than 30 interviews. David Phillips is on the training team of the Liberal Gun Club, which has chapters in more than 30 states and provides a haven for liberals to train and learn about guns. He says club membership has grown from 2,700 in November to 4,500 today. Requests for training, he says, have quintupled.

“The concern is about the supporters of the right-wing who feel that they have been given permission to run roughshod at least, if not commit outright violence against people they don’t like,” Phillips says.

  • overthere@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    6·
    2 days ago

    Suppressors are a prime example of how Hollywood has shaped so much of the population’s perception of firearms. You even make a great example yourself by calling them silencers.

    Suppressors are a great tool for making a loud hobby less likely to damage people’s hearing (yes, even with proper ear protection) and less annoying to everybody else within a few miles. They don’t make guns silent like in the movies. Some countries like the UK even require them or make them readily available because they’re so obviously beneficial.

    • HubertManne@piefed.socialEnglish
      22·
      2 days ago

      I really think the folks who get all up in arms about silencers (another legitamate word for suppressors) are being disengenous. It makes guns a fuck ton less noisy and that is what people know. No one thinks it makes them silent any more than a bow, sling, or rail gun is silent. When folks hear gunshots though they get the hell out but if “suppressed” they might react with. What is that. Thats weird.