More liberals, people of color and LGBTQ say they're buying guns out of fear

https://www.npr.org/2025/11/15/nx-s1-5607064/guns-liberals-trump-administration-people-of-color-lgbtq-fear

by makerdiety • 8 months ago

61 84 8 months ago

npr.org

catigula• 8 months ago

This story was based on more than 30 interviews

Yikes

nomel• 8 months ago

I'd be interesting in seeing the recruitment method and spatial distribution of those 30.

000ooo000• 8 months ago

Subjects selected from local gun store line

greenavocado• 8 months ago

The student-run cafe in the basement of the Sociology building, whose patio opens onto the main quad's designated protest lawn.

warbaker• 8 months ago

See https://www.reddit.com/r/liberalgunowners/

unionjack22• 8 months ago

I’m really curious about the amount of screen time and news/social media consumption of these groups. I assume it’s a couple standard deviations above what’s healthy.

happytoexplain8• 8 months ago

Why would you explicitly assume something that confirms your bias? Why not just say that you suspect a trend?

Individual anecdote, but I bought a pistol for defense in the US because of the (two way) threats I constantly read and hear in my real life, and I do not consume any social media. No Twitter, no Facebook. I don't read news outside HN, my local paper, and the occasional CS Monitor story. I rarely sit around scrolling TikTok/YouTube/etc on my phone, and when I do, it thankfully just shows me engineering/trades stuff (BigClive type stuff, plumbers, etc). Admittedly, I have visited 4chan occasionally since it was established.

My opinion is: It's fallacious to imply that the hatred and violence of Americans against Americans is negligible, and could only be considered a real problem through the lens of dishonest media. Yes, consuming garbage media will amplify that fear, but the fear is absolutely, obviously based on real, actual attitudes and words in the US.

integralid• 8 months ago

because of the (two way) threats I constantly hear and read, and I do not consume any social media

Where do you hear the threats then? In real life? Are they quoted in the local news you read?

(Sight nitpick - HN is social media)

qwerpy• 8 months ago

In my social circle (mostly Asian tech employees in the PNW) there were many first-time gun purchases immediately after the social unrest in 2020. Hysterical social media posts about "the riots are going to come to the suburbs" factored into it. The fears ended up being completely overblown.

Now there are different groups of people who are predicting violence and feeling the need to do something about it. Too early to tell whether the fears are overblown this time around as well.

In any case, I hope all first-time gun owners properly train with them and secure their guns at home. I wouldn't be surprised if the main outcome of both of these clusters of gun buying is not actual defense against the feared threats, but that guns get stolen and used for crimes.

m-hodges2• 8 months ago

I assume the social media consumption of [whatever you think the opposite groups are] is also a couple standard deviations above what’s healthy.

ekidd• 8 months ago

I know a bunch of trans gun owners. They're pretty standard gun geeks, and a few of them do shooting competitions.

I've asked them how they got into shooting sports, and a lot times, they tell me some pretty scary stories of real-life encounters with bigots. Some have also encountered armed right-wing protestors outside of a bar that held a late evening drag event.

So at least among the people I've met out in the real world, it was fairly common to be motivated by specific real-life events. The numbers might be different for gun owners who don't go to the range regularly.

lcnPylGDnU4H9OF• 8 months ago

The whole topic reminds me of Deviant Ollam's talk "Lawyer. Passport. Locksmith. Gun." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ihrGNGesfI) He spends a fair amount of time talking about getting his queer and trans friends interested in guns. I suspect this has been the trend for a few years, at least.

He includes a quote that is rather salient: "If you do not have the means of violence, you aren't peaceful; you're harmless."

IAmBroom4• 8 months ago

I bet they drink a lot of fluoridated water, too.

tharne5• 8 months ago

This makes sense. If one of your political platforms is to weaken and reduce the police force, then buying a gun is a very logical and practical thing to do.

happytoexplain8• 8 months ago

This seems dishonest. Surely the liberal position - on average - is the rejection of dangerous police, even if that means rejecting a large number of police officers, until the police force (nationally and/or locally) is once again a trustworthy foundation of democratic civilization? The unfortunate reality is that, when you have a class of people with authority and guns, even if only a small minority of them are dangerous, that immediately ruins the image of the whole thing until they are rooted out. Americans have historically proven that, if there's one thing they won't stand for, it's being oppressed/frightened by those in power.

HeinzStuckeIt2• 8 months ago

That might be the liberal position on average, but if you have a social circle that’s lefter than average, as in many metro areas, you’ll occasionally hear a desire for outright abolition of police. Not even a simple local constabulary walking the beat, as there is a meme going around that such law enforcement came out of gangs that hunted down fugitive slaves and is inherently tainted. (Nevermind the existence of such police in countries around the world that never had race-based chattel slavery.) Instead, more investment in social services will supposedly remove the need for them entirely.

But of course, whether that position or the number of people who hold it, has any real influence on gun sales is doubtful and the GP may have been a bait post.

lukev• 8 months ago

Quite the opposite. The increased fear is that there will be bad actors (brownshirts, racists, klansmen, etc) that the police are not making an effort to restrain, or even with whom the police are are allied.

Your average liberal/progressive is still probably less afraid (relative to the median) about random or property crime.

Jensson3• 8 months ago

Your average liberal/progressive is still probably less afraid (relative to the median) about random or property crime.

But random crime is much more likely to affect you than brownshirts or klansmen, so that seems irrational.

seanmcdirmid2• 8 months ago

It is more like if you have to worry about masked goons breaking into your house and trying to kidnap you or your family members then maybe you can't trust the government either.

kcplate9• 8 months ago

Wait, what? I thought the main leftward argument against the necessity of the second amendment was that we can now trust our government to not overstep its authority and people protecting themselves against tyranny was no longer needed?

orwin• 8 months ago

From my understanding, the issue with the police in the US is that they have to do to much, work as EMT, social services, mental health services, community police (proximity police? basically neighborhood cop), peacekeepers (during protests or organized events), investigating, policing traffic...

So you actually have a big "company" responsible for something you could dispatch to at least 4 other services (i've heard call to divided it in 7 parts, but i can't find where i read that, so let's be reasonable and say 4), and they have too much political power because of it. Divide the budget accordingly, correctly train teh police and "new police", call it "police" too because branding works and to stop people from crying out in fear ("mental health police" might not be the best brand, but other might work), and actually separate departements, and concerns. Separate training material, separate training place, split the union. Also make a department that will take care of orphaned police kids.

"Divide the police" is a way better catchphrase anyway.

jerlam• 8 months ago

No, this doesn't make any sense because the "liberals" have not been recently voted into power in order to achieve their political platforms. The opposite has occurred - they are the powerless ones.

jauntywundrkind• 8 months ago

Ratio of gun ownership per party has shifted maybe from 40:1 to 39.99:1. While this is real, by the numbers it's inconsequential and of no note. But it is a vibe shift. Both inconsequential. But: this is worth noting.

And it's just cursed as frell that the left has seen such a shift that they abandon governance, abandon the state, feel the Dont Step On Me militarizing insanitude viruses that has afflicted & demented so much of America for hundreds of years.

One of the circulated highly-discussed topics of the day on BlueSky was The South. There was a lot of dragging & disdain, and some occasional 'I can't believe we're being so hostile here' outcries, but largely just bitter anger that US history has faced such a strong adversary against equanimity, such a tilted wild force built so purely around negative hateful biases that has resorted to such violence & force again and again. That violent clutching to illegitemacy has ridden so rough-shod over America for so very deep long, has once again gotten such an enormous violent clutch-hold over the land.

But with regards to this article: the tables aren't tipping IMO. Nothing's changing, violence wise. The violence insurrectionist tendencies are still 100% on one side. None of the people who were wetting their pants / podcasting ad infinitum about Jade Helm (a hypothetical violent government takeover of states) have said a peep about the radically unprecedented incursion of military forces into peaceful "what so happens to be"-liberal American cities. I empathize strongly with those who see whats happening, the horrific vile acts & the enjoyment of despicability/deplorability, who decide to arm up. But this story is about exceptions that prove the rule. This story is a tell: a tell about how brutal and mean and nasty much of America is, and how 0.02% of the good decent respectful folk have decided that, for their basic most primitive safety, they have to go buy guns. Most such calls for arms have never been in any real sense out of defense, IMO.

The longer story, what the viewpoint should really be looking at, is how radical and extremist so much of America has been for so long. How much they defy (have defied for getting near two centuries) even the most basic constitutional calls for respect & peace are, and how armed they've made themselves to resist the state/become an vigilante force of fear/terror/oppression. This minor anomaly is an indicator that the corrupt pro-violence mafia-state has just gotten way way too uppity & dangerous. But in truth, very few of even these people have any hope of resisting this bitter violence-happy mafia-state if these hooligans keep escalating.

delichon• 8 months ago

Ratio of gun ownership per party has shifted maybe from 40:1 to 39.99:1.

More like 5:2.

https://news.gallup.com/poll/653621/gun-ownership-rates-spik...

kcplate9• 8 months ago

Perhaps it’s just my location in the country but virtually everyone I know is armed regardless of political leaning in my area and it’s been that way for at least the four decades I have lived here. You just assume it and it’s no big deal.

Of course here left and right tend to socialize together here and no one seems to hung up on if someone disagrees politically. For instance, I’ve been to a neighbors house and drank shitty Trump branded wine while playing Eucre with Trump casino playing cards. Had a respectful discussion about politics and while no one changed any minds, we had a great time nonetheless.

happytoexplain8• 8 months ago

I've been to places like that! And my microcosm of personal friends is certainly like that (sans political merchandise). Unfortunately, the opposite case is a much stronger tone-setter and cautionary prompt. E.g. to use a metaphor, a person considering home security is looking at how often break-ins happen - not how often break-ins don't happen.

m-hodges2• 8 months ago

In case anyone is actually interested in US gun ownership trends in the data — instead of just posting your prior-affirming vibe take — there is a lot of data.¹𝄒²

¹ https://news.gallup.com/poll/653621/gun-ownership-rates-spik...

² https://news.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx

esseph4• 8 months ago

Hmmm

Results Overall, 11% of respondents reported purchasing a gun since 1/1/20, 35% for the first time. Among recent purchasers, larger proportions of Democrat, Black, Asian, and Hispanic respondents were new gun owners than Republican or white respondents. Compared to prior owners, odds were 4.5-times higher that new gun owners’ recent purchase was motivated by racial violence and 3.2-times higher for political violence.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11378614/

RickJWagner3• 8 months ago

What does the Gun Control side of the left have to say about this?

Will the factions just politely agree not to talk about it?

happytoexplain8• 8 months ago

I am a staunchly pro gun-control leftist and I own a gun. Are you trying to imply that gun control means "nobody can have guns", or something similarly incompatible with gun ownership?

SauciestGNU3• 8 months ago

I'm basically the opposite of you (leftist, opposed to gun control as it's been implemented in our country). I am frustrated by model and feature bans and magazine capacity bans. I am frustrated by the new push to ban self-manufactured firearms, something that has always been legal in the US but now that 3d printing has made it more attainable it's a target for bans.

It would be one thing if these laws were studied and shown to reduce gun crime. But I'm not seeing data, I'm seeing "guns are bad" vibes from Democrats while there are armed Nazi goon squads kidnapping people off the streets.

16594470912• 8 months ago

I don't see much difference with this than when gun buying spikes after publicized mass shootings[0].

Gun sales also spike when new gun control laws are proposed. People are afraid (however unfounded) that their right to protect themselves and their family will be taken away. It use to be one of the biggest issues to scare people into voting republican (at least in Texas), the boogyman threat that "they" are coming for your guns and taking your right to protect yourself always came up just before important elections.

When the government's tagline as "cruelty is the point" and people find themselves on the wrong side of that it's gonna scare a few of them, and scared people buy guns -- "identity" and sides stop mattering.

[0] https://law.stanford.edu/press/gun-sales-us-spike-mass-shoot...

IAmBroom4• 8 months ago

You've described the "what". The article is about the "who". "Who" makes it newsworthy.

16594470912• 8 months ago

True. And I agree in a clickbait sort of way; it could have been better if they focused more on the overall fear part that drives gun sale spikes(regardless of who). I find understanding why the "who" are buying guns at greater rates to be an important point to understand gun buying spikes/trends. And if the who gets people new to the subject to read about it then okay, but it should not be overlooked that scared people of all kinds buy guns, and then maybe we can move to looking at why we accept our political apparatus scaring people (of all kinds) in the first place.

More liberals, people of color and LGBTQ say they're buying guns out of fear

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