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.

  • Milk_Sheikh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    3·
    2 days ago

    IIRC the bump stock was designed as an aid for veterans who had lost a limb to allow them to use a pistol one-handed.

    The bump stock is derpy and just for simulating full auto. You’re thinking of the pistol brace that you strap to your arm - they both were in discussion for bans around the same era, that’s likely where you got them mixed up 🙂

    Pistol braces are in a “legal but the ATF doesn’t like that fact” area atm. Tl; dr they made an interpretative rule change out of whole cloth, got slapped in the courts, and have a permanent stay on enforcing their rule change.

    • Bad_Engineering@fedia.io
      4·
      2 days ago

      To add to that, the whole short barrel rifle/shotgun thing is a mistake anyways. When they were first hammering out the national firearms act in the 1930s they were going to outlaw handguns entirely. To cover their bases they wanted to ensure that no one would simply cut down a rifle or shotgun to make a “pistol” they put in a section outlawing those too. After a lot of lobbying from the gun industry they ditched the legislation on handguns, but more or less forgot to remove the parts about SBRs and SBSs.