'Never seen a surge like this': Panicked liberals are stocking up on guns

NPR reports liberals and members of the LGBTQ community are buying guns to protect themselves as both the White House and national discourse grows increasingly hostile.

"He could dispatch citizens or the government," one Maryland doctor said of the Trump administration. "I'm not saying that's what's going to happen. What I'm saying is none of this is out of the question any longer."

“Charles, who is Black, says he bought his handgun after the Trump administration did things that scared him, including arresting a foreign student who criticized her university's policy on Israel and handcuffing a U.S. senator who was forcibly removed from a Homeland Security news conference,” NPR reports.

"What I'm talking about is protecting myself from a situation where there may be some kind of civil unrest," says Charles, adding that he also worries that some of President Donald Trump's supporters may feel emboldened someday to target minorities like him and his family.

Based on interviews with more than 30 sources, NPR reports the face of gun ownership is changing. Once perceived as white, rural and Republican, gun clubs, trainers, Second Amendment advocates and academic researchers now say more liberals, people of color and LGBTQ members have been buying guns and training with them since Trump's reelection in 2024.

"I've never seen a surge like this before," said Thomas Boyer, spokesman for the San Francisco Chapter of the Pink Pistols, whose motto is: "Armed gays don't get bashed."

Liberal Gun Club Firearms instructor David Phillips said his club has chapters in more than 30 states and its 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 told NPR.

When reached by NPR, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson refused to address the communities’ growing fear and attempted to deflect to Democrats.

"Instead of covering Americans exercising their Second Amendment Right and trying to disingenuously blame President Trump, NPR should highlight the dangerous language from elected Democrats that has driven leftists to commit actual violence against Republicans – including the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk," Jackson said in a statement.

Investigators have released no determination that Kirk’s shooter qualifies is a member of a left wing group.

In response to NPR making the inquiry, Jackson also cheered the Trump administration cutting funding to NPR earlier this year. “That's something we can all celebrate," she said.

But while the White House is refusing to address the increasing violent rhetoric against the LGBTQ and liberal community, new liberal gunowners are rolling into firing ranges for training.

Bill Sack, director of legal operations with the Second Amendment Foundation, told NPR that he's glad to see more liberals exercising their right to self-defense – but he’s unhappy with their reason why.

"Is it a good thing that people are scared?" he says. "No, of course not."

Read the full NPR report at this link.