Posted on 08/16/2005 3:07:44 AM PDT by jsh3180
Posted on Tue, Aug. 16, 2005
PINK PISTOLS
GAY GUN OWNERS
MEMBERS OF NATIONWIDE ORGANIZATION PACK HEAT TO FIGHT HATE CRIMES
BY ASHLEY FANTZ
afantz@herald.com
Keith Jackson disappears into his Wilton Manors bedroom and returns with a taupe suede clutch. He unzips it carefully.
''I love this one, because the bullets just fly out and you don't have to reload,'' he said, ejecting a clip from a nickel-plated .45-caliber semiautomatic Smith & Wesson.
``And if some redneck decides he's going to harass or harm me, he'll be thinking twice about it pretty quickly.''
Raised in rural Pennsylvania, Jackson is an avid hunter who keeps a gun on his boat, in his car, and on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. But he's allowed his membership to the National Rifle Association to lapse since he heard about the Pink Pistols.
In fact, Jackson wants to start a local chapter of the nationwide organization of gay gun owners who believe that packing heat reduces their chances of becoming hate-crime victims.
The Pink Pistols have more than 7,000 members in the United States and British Columbia, many of whom feel alienated from conservative gun rights organizations like the NRA.
The name was coined by a gay journalist in a Salon.com essay five years ago. There are other gun-owner' groups for minority populations whose members believe that the law fails to protect them from bigots: Jews for the Preservation of Firearms; the Second Amendment Sisters, which caters to women of all backgrounds; and the Tenth Cavalry Gun Club, named after the U.S. Army Civil War regiment of black soldiers.
''A lot of gay people want to feel protected, but when I first tell them about the Pistols, they laugh hysterically for five minutes,'' Jackson said. 'When I ask them, `Why haven't you considered getting a gun?' they just say, 'Well, because I'm gay!' ''
''It's a ridiculous stereotype,'' he said. ``That we're too queeny or that guns scare us. I don't have to be straight to have good aim.''
FIRST MEETING
Last week, Jackson hosted the group's first meeting at his home, drawing six people. The Pistols will gather in early September, he said, at the shooting range at Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World off Griffin Road.
Pink Pistols members don't have to register or pay fees. ''Some people don't want it out there that they're gay,'' said Jackson. ``Or, that they own firearms.''
Alan Kurland, Jackson's partner of more than a dozen years, has been open about his love of guns since his early 20s. Jackson bought the Fort Lauderdale hair stylist his first firearm, a .25-caliber Baretta.
Kurland has since traded up to a Smith & Wesson .357 magnum, a model light enough to wear on his ankle, even while snipping and teasing hair at his Victoria Park salon. He also keeps an automatic for extra firepower, just in case the place is robbed.
''I think I feel more afraid than Keith does about being targeted for being gay,'' he said. 'I'm not going to a gun range. There's this macho good ol' boy thing going on. I don't think most of my friends would feel comfortable.''
TARGET PRACTICE
Kurland sometimes practices at a cabin in rural Pennsylvania that Jackson's family owns.
Recalling a night when someone threw a bottle at his head a few minutes after he left a gay nightclub, Kurland says several of his friends have been harassed as well. His clients tell similar tales.
''It's a bigger fear than most people realize, especially in Wilton Manors. Where do you think people who want to enjoy a little gay-bashing go?'' he asked.
Hate crimes against homosexuals and transgendered people in Florida have increased steadily in recent years, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
FDLE statistics show that in 2003, 55 hate crimes were committed against homosexuals and transgendered people statewide. That's the largest proportion of hate crimes ever attributed to sexual orientation, as opposed to race, religion and other hate crime categories.
Kurland, who grew up in Pembroke Pines, says he is still haunted by the 1987 beating death of gay musician Leslie ''Les'' Wan outside the Copa Cabaret and Disco in Fort Lauderdale. David Schwartz of Sunrise went to prison for 10 years for the crime.
The case of Wyoming 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, who was beaten, tied to a fence post and left to die in 1998, has been a powerful Pistols recruiting tool.
''That frightened the hell out of everyone,'' said Gwen Patton, national spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania-based Pistols. 'It made a lot of people think, `Do I ever want to find myself alone without protection of any kind?' ''
Gun control advocates don't object to groups like the Pistols, as long as they emphasize gun safety over vigilantism.
''I'm not going to tell a group their fear isn't valid.'' But most people who own guns are more likely to shoot themselves than an attacker, said Casey Anderson, a spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.
Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Dean Trantalis, who is gay, said he's not surprised that a group like the Pistols would form in South Florida.
''We live in a society where some people -- the Broward County School Board -- think it's acceptable to promote bigotry,'' said Trantalis, referring to recent anti-gay comments made by members of the schools diversity committee about an educational DVD featuring children's characters. ``Obviously, we're not as tolerant an area as some might think.''
While some Pistols chapters are social clubs, others are informational, teaching members how to store, use, and clean their firearms and about the laws governing self-defense. Others are political. In San Francisco, Pistols organize voter outreach and have recently been vocal opponents of the mayor's gun control initiatives.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, Pistols have taken to the streets to demand that the city step up its vigilance against hate crimes. An unarmed lesbian was murdered there this summer, although police have not said the crime was motivated by her sexual orientation.
SUPREME COURT
Nationally, they have joined Supreme Court cases defending Second Amendment rights.
Jackson said the local chapter will educate members on gun use and laws, including a new state law that will take effect this fall that allows anyone to open fire when they have a ''reasonable belief'' they are in danger.
''Hopefully, you never have to shoot anyone,'' said Jackson. ''We're not about violence or vigilantism. Gay people are constantly aware that they are extra vulnerable. So having something like this'' -- he fingers the Smith & Wesson -- ``is just a confidence booster.''
This article has liberal agnst written all over it, starting with the all caps headline. And there will be a lot of future agnst by the MSM over the right that "shall not be infringed", especially as people like gays discover that the MSM has worked to deny them the *universal* right of self-defense.
Part of the MSM's opposition to the right that "shall not be infringed" came from a convenient utilitarianism: nobody they respected felt the need to exercise the right, so therefore that right must be obsolete.
But wait! Maybe there is utility in this right after all, when it comes to self-defense for favored minorities.
Florida and Virginia laws are not even close to being the same. Look up the "stand your ground" law from Florida. In Virginia... you have to retreat if you have the option.
Smokers
In Virginia... you have to retreat if you have the option.
``And if some redneck decides he's going to harass or harm me, he'll be thinking twice about it pretty quickly.''
"redneck" More of that double standard "judging"(reverse bigotry) by queers and the left. Everyone who does not agree with their lifestyle is automatically labeled a redneck.
Christians who try and meet on school property.
"no black or Hispanic would ever harrass this guy , now would they. Only rednecks harrass gays, Yeah right."
Didn't ya know, only "progressive" (code for reverse bigotry) people like gays are permitted to use bigoted slurs like redneck, breeders, soccer moms and hausfras to label heteros.
Or, in Latin, rufuscollumaphobia. (Fear of rednecks.)
The requirement to retreat if possible is neither new nor limited to VA. It is part of English common law and goes back many centuries. It is intended to limit claims of self defense when two guys get into an argument which escalates into violence. If you don't attempt to retreat, your claim of self-defense is usually disallowed under common law.
Well, I just clicked on the link in my post and the Herald has changed the headline since this morning. It' no longer all in caps like my post showed.
Wonder why?
bttt
Don't know... I live in Virginia Beach. I work with a lot of cops and have had this discussion several times. Bottom line... one has the right to defend themselves, but one never has the right to kill someone. By the way... they all agreed that if you have to shoot someone... you'd better kill them because if you don't... they'll soon own your house and everything else you own via the courts system. Go figure.
"Gun Control Spokesman" is a synonym for "liar"
If somebody supports the Second Amendment his or her sexual orientation doesn't bother me. It's just a case of a liberal finally getting smart.
About the only form of gun control that makes any sense to me is disarming the demonstrably mentally ill. Pink Perverts, this includes you.
Gays have a right to protection from agression too. Especially with Phred Phelps types running around openly advocating their deaths. Shouldn't that be up to God to decide?
I hope no one expects me, my cane and Sir Arthur Ritis to run!
By the way... they all agreed that if you have to shoot someone... you'd better kill them because if you don't... they'll soon own your house and everything else you own via the courts system. Go figure.
You can legally kill someone who has broken into your home while you are in the house also. Anyone who tells you otherwise is quite ignorant of the law. This is why my Cop friends say if you shoot the SOB, make sure to drag him in the house.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.