Early Sunday morning, 50 people were killed after Omar Mateen opened fire at Orland gay bar Pulse nightclub. Mateen, who was reportedly a regular at Pulse, was also killed. It was the deadliest shooting in U.S. history.
Members of the LGBTQ community are now rallying against guns in the wake of the attack. But, there are some who still want guns—including the Pink Pistols.
Pink Pistols is a gay gun rights organization in the U.S. and Canada founded in 2000. Its motto, according to its website, is "Pink On Someone Your Own Caliber." According to Pink Pistols first speaker Gwendolyn Patton, they promote self-defense and teach queers how to use guns properly and lawfully.
Following the Orlando shooting, Patton released a statement addressing the attack. In it, she cautioned that Mateen's violent actions should be blamed, not guns.
“The Pink Pistols gives condolences to all family and friends of those killed and injured at Pulse. This is exactly the kind of heinous act that justifies our existence. At such a time of tragedy, let us not reach for the low-hanging fruit of blaming the killer’s guns. Let us stay focused on the fact that someone hated gay people so much they were ready to kill or injure so many. A human being did this. The human being’s tools are unimportant when compared to the bleakness of that person’s soul. I say again, GUNS did not do this. A human being did this, a dead human being. Our job now is not to demonize the man’s tools, but to condemn his acts and work to prevent such acts in the future.”
But why exactly are the Pink Pistols pro-guns? We spoke to Patton about the organization's take on gun control and whether or not more LGBTQ people have reached out to them after the Orlando shooting.
What is the Pink Pistols' mandate?
While we do recommend people to defend themselves when threatened, the purpose is more to create a deterred effect. Part of the reason why people in the sexual minority community get targeted for harm is because of a stereotypical assumption that says GLBTQ people are more passive, that they’re perhaps weaker, that they’re more vulnerable, and they’re less willing to fight back. We seek to break down that stereotype and to dissuade those who have tried to hurt us from believing that we are safe targets. And since we recommenced concealed legal firearms they don’t know which ones of us are unsafe to attack. So, they have to realize they are attacking a risk when they attack us. We hope that will make them think twice about it.
Now, there is a caveat though. Even though that we recommend the use of firearms that’s only because the firearm is the best tool for defending yourself from harm. There are other tools and we do recommend people learn to use other methods to defend themselves when they can’t use a better tool. If all they can use if pepper spray, learn to use pepper spray. But take responsibility for your own safety.
I don’t like the idea of it, that someone is going to take away my right to defend my family or relegate me to always being weaker or more vulnerable than the people trying to harm me.
There are members of the LGBTQ community who are galvanizing to ban guns.
Of course they are. There’s a great many people in the GLBTQ community that believe their political poem is among the left because the left has promised them gay rights. They think they can only get gay rights from them so they follow their lead. The reason why I personally don’t like the idea of gun control is because it’s restricting my right, and it’s not just because I might have to defend myself from harm, I might have to defend my family from harm. I don’t like the idea of it, that someone is going to take away my right to defend my family or relegate me to always being weaker or more vulnerable than the people trying to harm me. I think that’s unacceptable. I believe in liberty, and part of liberty is taking responsibility for that to which someone is given authority. Take away my authority over my life and you’ve taken away my liberty. You’ve made me a slave. I don’t like that. I don’t want to accept that.
Have the Pink Pistols received backlash from LBGTQ community because of your stance on gun control?
We’ve always had people who didn’t like what we were saying. I’ve gotten hate mail. There are people who are saying, "How could you?" How could I? Easily. Should I feel ashamed? No. I don’t feel ashamed for asserting my liberty. I don't feel ashamed for refusing to be vulnerable.
Does that backlash affect you or the organization?
No. Not in the least.
What do you say to people who argue that two guns don’t solve anything?
It reminds me of the old Martin Luther King Jr. quote when he said violence begets violence,and leads to a spiral of violence, and he’s right. Violence begets violence, and using violence against violence only succeeds in creating more violence. But, this is where there’s a difference. Violence means to violate, when you violate or are violating something. In this case, it’s violating the law, it’s violating custom, it’s violating accepted behavior. When you use a weapon to harm others indiscriminately as was done on Sunday you’re violating their right to live. That’s a violation. It’s clearly a violation.
So what I am allowed to do under the law, under custom, is to stop them from threatening me. I may take certain actions under the law to that end. But, what I can’t do is that if they see that I’m armed and ready to defend myself against them, and they decide to drop their gun and run away in fear, I can’t chase them and shoot them down. I can chase them and subdue them, hold them for the police, but I can’t run up and execute them. The line is where i have taken a minimum amount of force required to stop the threat. When I cross that line and leave the realm of defender and become aggressor that’s where it turns from reasonable force to violence.
Have more people reached out following Orlando?
Yes. I have had more requests to start chapters of the Pink Pistols in the past three days than I have in the past two years.
What are people saying to you?
"Thank you. We didn’t know about you. We didn’t know. We want to be involved. We don’t want to be vulnerable. We don’t want to be afraid. We want to be able to defend ourselves. Help us.” And that’s what we’re here to do—to help them.
I don't feel ashamed for refusing to be vulnerable.
What do you think should be done now?
The first thing is not to immediately blame the bad guys’ gun for the ill that was brought with it. The gun has no brain. The gun is just a dumb piece of metal. Omar knew exactly what he was doing, he went out of his way to do it. He was the one who loaded it and pulled the trigger. Blame the man. The man was the one truly responsible for it. That’s the first thing: stop going after the gun.
After that, I would look closely not at the gun laws but the laws that prohibited lawful people from carrying firearm to a bar. Someone with a lawful firearm and lawful permit to carry was not allowed to carry it in Florida. This made them vulnerable to Omar who didn’t care guns weren't allowed in a bar. He was going to commit murder. What does he care about a gun law?
Banning guns won’t do some good. Don’t ban more guns because what if the bad guys can get them from the black market or smuggle them into the country to hurt you and you can’t have a tool to defend yourself? Banning guns only bans them from the people who didn’t do it. The laws are not meant to punish the people who didn’t do the wrong thing, they’re meant to punish the people who did bad things. Let’s keep it that way.
