“This is my bedside gun” a man named Jeff explains to SBS journalist Patrick Abboud, as he reaches for a large semi-automatic rifle. Within minutes he has pulled out several rifles and pistols from hiding spots around his bedroom.
“How many guns do you have?” Abboud asks, as Jeff’s cache of weapons piles up on the bed. Jeff won’t say how many he has in his bedroom, but argues it’s his right as an American to have guns at the ready.
At first glance you’d be forgiven for making some assumptions about the kind of guy Jeff is, you probably wouldn’t tag him as a member of the LGBTIQ community, but he is.
“Gays that are armed and trained, don’t get bashed, or worse yet killed.” Jeff says.
On the second anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting SBS will air Abboud’s disturbing report as he heads to the USA to meet members of the queer community who are embracing America’s gun loving culture.
The number of gay hate crime acts in the US has never been higher, but now there’s a growing legion of people who identify as LGBTIQ+ fighting back – with bullets. Some call them the ‘GAY NRA’; they call themselves ‘The Pink Pistols’.
Every week in America, someone is killed because they identify as LGBTIQ+. In 2017 alone, 52 LGBTIQ+ people were murdered, so The Pink Pistols explicitly advocates the exercise of Second Amendment rights for self-protection.
Two years since 49 people were shot and killed at Pulse, Walkley nominated investigative journalist for The Feed and host of SBS’s Mardi Gras broadcast, Patrick Abboud, gains unprecedented access to The Pink Pistols in a special half-hour documentary.
With more than 45 chapters across the US and at least 10,000 shooters, the organisation – under the slogan ‘pick on someone your own calibre’ – say they are one of the most rapidly growing pro-gun groups in the US.
March for Our Lives put America’s gun problem in perspective like never before, when thousands of school students flooded the streets nationwide urging lawmakers to heed their calls and enact stricter gun laws. But The Pink Pistols don’t necessarily want tighter gun control. Their motivation to bear arms stems from the continued surge in hate crimes against LGBTIQ+ Americans.
Gays & Guns premieres Tuesday 12 June at 7.30pm on SBS VICELAND and on SBS at 10pm. The program is available after broadcast anytime, on your favourite device via SBS On Demand.
OIP Staff
