Why Some Trans Americans Are Taking Up Arms – It’s Not Just About Guns
Under Trump 2.0, fears of violence are rising, and some are choosing to fight back with training, community, and ammunition
When Donald Trump returned to the political spotlight, Aeryn stocked her garage not with food or bottled water, but with oestrogen and bullets.
Since Trump’s re-election on November 5, the 52-year-old trans woman has quietly gathered up to 30,000 rounds of ammunition and enough hormone therapy to last a year. “Starting with the election, I became very concerned,” she told Uncloseted Media. “It leaves our community to fend for itself.”
Aeryn isn’t alone. Across the United States, trans people are taking personal security into their own hands as anti-trans sentiment escalates.
The Rise of Armed Self-Defence
Trans Americans have seen their rights rolled back under Trump, with executive orders that stripped away legal recognition and reinforced dangerous stereotypes. His campaign promised to end what he calls “transgender insanity”, and many fear that rhetoric could escalate into violence.
That fear is backed by data. In 2023 alone, LGBTQIA+ people were five times more likely to be victims of violent crime than others, according to the Williams Institute. The FBI reported 547 hate crime incidents targeting gender identity, up from 469 the year before.
With safety uncertain, more are turning to firearms. Pink Pistols, an LGBTQIA+ gun rights group, has seen a revival since the election, with more than 20 chapters launching or relaunching nationwide. Their focus is education—how to load, aim, and fire safely, and how to clean and store firearms properly.
“There’s definitely been a lot of interest and a lot of concern,” said Erin Palette, the group’s national coordinator and founder of Operation Blazing Sword, a queer firearm education initiative.
The idea of queer people arming themselves is nothing new. In the 1970s, the Lavender Panthers took to the streets of San Francisco to protect their own from hate crimes. Decades later, the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, where 49 people were killed, rekindled that urgency.
Palette called it the “queer 9/11”. It was a wake-up call that the threat wasn’t theoretical. “There are still people who want me dead,” she told Uncloseted Media. “It just became personal.”
The anxiety today isn’t just about physical attacks. It’s also about policy. Project 2025, a 920-page conservative blueprint for a second Trump term, includes proposals that could criminalise gender-affirming care and classify being transgender as a mental illness. It was enough to convince Carly, a former gun store manager, to rearm after years without a weapon.
“I saw the writing on the wall,” she said.
Carly, like many others, is also worried that stricter ID laws could make it harder for trans people to buy firearms. “If they see me as mentally ill, they can refuse the sale,” she said. Her gun licence now lists her sex assigned at birth, not her gender.
For many, carrying a weapon is about more than defence—it’s about dignity. “You can call me a sissy,” Carly said. “But you can’t call me soft.”
Dorothy, another trans woman, has been verbally harassed and threatened multiple times. One incident turned physical on her way home from work. She stood her ground. She was armed.
“I’ve been threatened online and in person over the last 20 years,” she said. “It hasn’t stopped.”
Still, not everyone embraces the gun culture. Carly herself once left the industry over fears she was feeding a system that could harm her. But the growing wave of anti-trans rhetoric, violence and political targeting changed her mind.
One surprising outcome of this surge in firearm ownership is a sense of community. Group training sessions have become spaces where queer people connect, support each other and gain skills that make them feel empowered.
“How do you train? You do it in a group,” Carly said. “It’s a great way for everybody to organise right now.”
At DNA, we understand why some are stepping into unfamiliar territory to protect their identity, their bodies, and their sense of self.
With Trump’s influence looming and right-wing ideologies hardening, trans Americans are bracing themselves—some with words, some with laws, and some with loaded weapons.
As Erin Palette put it, “I don’t believe a gun will solve every situation. But it’s comforting to have the proper tool for the proper task rather than be completely helpless.”
