Gay gun-rights group reports big jump in membership after Orlando shooting

Violence against gays and lesbians was already too common in the U.S. before the murder of 49 people and wounding of 53 others at a gay nightclub in Orlando put the issue in the glare of the national spotlight. That terrible mass shooting, by a single gunman, has led to a sharp rise in membership and interest in the Pink Pistols, a national gun rights organization aimed at "sexual minorities." Dylan West, a gay member of the Atlanta chapter who grew up in Alabama, tells USA Today that "there's always been a necessity for self-defense in the LGBT community,” and that since the Pulse nightclub shooting, membership in the Atlanta Pink Pistols has almost doubled, to 230 members.

Nationwide, there are 35 active Pink Pistols chapters, and the group's Facebook page spiked to 6,500 members as of Monday, from 1,500 before the Orlando shooting, according to Pink Pistols spokeswoman Gwendolyn Patton. Pink Pistols says it helps its members "select a firearm, acquire a permit, and receive proper training in its safe and legal use for self-defense," but also tries to publicize its work. "The more people know that members of our community may be armed, the less likely they will be to single us out for attack," the group says on its website. "Armed queers don't get bashed."

Timothy McCarthy, the director of Harvard's Sexuality, Gender, and Human Rights Program, isn't thrilled with this strategy, telling USA Today that responding to Orlando by stockpiling guns "might be misplaced and problematic." The more guns in circulation, "that sets us up for more violence," he said, adding that 6,500 Facebook users is a "tiny, tiny fraction” of the LGBT community, "so I also don't think we should make so much of this."