Pink Pistols is a left-of-center activist group that provides training to members of the LGBT community on how to use firearms for protection against anti-gay and anti-transgender violence. Its motto, as of 2025, was “Armed Gays Don’t Get Bashed, “with its logo being a person aiming a handgun. ¹ It claims to be a project of Operation Blazing Sword, a firearms-ownership advocacy group supporting LGBT gun owners. ²

Utah resident Ermiya Fanaeian, a “transgender woman of color” and child of Iranian immigrants, founded the Salt Lake City chapter of Pink Pistols in 2020. She later founded the Utah-based Armed Queers Salt Lake City (SLC), a pro-gun, pro-LGBT armed group. Following the assassintation of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University, the Armed Queers SLC came under law-enforcement scrutiny due to its presence on Utah campuses. ^{3 4 5 6 7}

Background

According to Pink Pistols’ “Utility Manual,” published in 2013, Gwendolyn S. Patton was its “First Speaker.” The document stated the group was founded in 2000. ⁸

Activities

Pink Pistols hosts firearms training sessions at shooting ranges, educates members about gun safety and purchasing firearms, and calls for LGBT people as well as
“polyamorous persons” and members of “BDSM communities” to acquire weapons. Members gather at local firing ranges “at least once a month” to practice and to train people new to firearms. The group helps novices select a firearm or firearms, acquire gun-possession permits, and receive self-defense training. ^{3 1}

The group describes its activities as changing the alleged public perception of LGBT people as “safe targets,” writing that it promotes concealed carry among its followers so that people “do not know which ones are safe to attack, and which are not.” It brings ammunition and firearms to its range sessions so more participants can practice. ¹

Pink Pistols has a “utility manual” teaching members and supporters how on “dealing” with the press, governments, lawyers, and court cases; how to start new Pink Pistols chapters; and detailing various membership rules. ⁸

Controversies

In 2021, Pink Pistols organized protests outside the office of Taylor Randall, the president of the University of Utah, demanding that the school defund campus police and reallocate the funds to “social programs.” Ermiya Fanaeian, the founder of the Salt Lake City Chapter of Pink Pistols, argued, “The fact is we can not only imagine, but start working towards a police-less society.” ⁹

Utah resident Ermiya Fanaeian, a “transgender woman of color” and child of Iranian immigrants, founded the Salt Lake City chapter of Pink Pistols in 2020. She also founded the Utah-based Armed Queers Salt Lake City, a pro-gun, pro-LGBT armed security group. She had previously been involved in organizing efforts with David Hogg’s March For Our Lives prior to her conversion to a pro-gun position, as well as in Marxist study groups affiliated with the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). Following the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on September 10, 2025, at Utah Valley University, Armed Queers SLC came under law-enforcement scrutiny due to its presence on Utah campuses. ^{3 4 5 6}

Fanaeian’s Instagram bio reads, “Revolution + Trans liberation in our lifetime!” and allegedly commented in a past TV interview. “Sometimes violence, protest, and really riots and those kinds of loud rebellions must take place for tangible change,”  ⁵

Following the alleged comments, the Pink Pistols’ national leadership distanced itself from Fanaeian, arguing that she split away a year after the Salt Lake City chapter she led was formed. According to a statement, the national leadership alleged, “While initially welcomed, [Fanaeian] began using the Pink Pistols name to promote broader political issues, violating our rule that we are a single-issue organization devoted solely to the safe, legal, and responsible use of firearms by the queer community.” The group further alleged that Fanaeian had renamed her chapter “Armed Queers Salt Lake City” while breaking away from the national Pink Pistols organization, and that the Salt Lake City chapter of Pink Pistols was defunct. ^{5 7}

1. “About the Pink Pistols.” Pink Pistols. Accessed September 30, 2025. https://www.pinkpistols.org/about-the-pink-pistols/.
2. “Home.” Operation blazing sword, September 16, 2025. https://www.blazingsword.org/.
3. Means, Emily. “’Pink Pistols’ Seeks To ‘Empower’ LGBTQ Communities To Defend Themselves.” KUER, November 27, 2020. Accessed September 29, 2025. https://www.kuer.org/politics-government/2020-11-27/pink-pistols-seeks-to-empower-lgbtq-communities-to-defend-themselves.
4. Christenson, Josh; Nesi, Chris. “Charlie Kirk assassination investigation widens to probe whether pro-trans, online groups knew in advance.” New York Post, September 14, 2025. Accessed September 29, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/09/14/us-news/charlie-kirk-assassination-investigation-widens-to-probe-pro-trans-online-groups/.
5. Christenson, Josh; Nesi, Chris. “Founder of Armed Queers group investigated in Charlie Kirk shooting is radical trans leftist who advocated violence.” New York Post, September 17, 2025. Accessed September 29, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/09/17/us-news/armed-queers-founder-ermiya-fanaeian-is-radical-trans-leftist/
6. Hudson, Vanessa. “PSL Forms Study Group, Seeks to Fight Against Oppression.” Daily Utah Chronicle, March 29, 2022. Accessed September 29, 2025. https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2022/03/29/party-for-socialism-and-liberation-psl-oppression/
7. “Official Statement on the Charlie Kirk Murder.” Pink Pistols, September 15, 2025. Accessed September 29, 2025. https://www.pinkpistols.org. Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20250929200038/https://www.pinkpistols.org/.
8. Patton, Gwendolyn S, First Speaker. “The Pink Pistols Utility Manual,” October 2013. Accessed September 30, 2025. https://pinkpistols.org/PPUtilityManual.pdf.
9. O’Leary, Jack. “Pink Pistols Call on New U President to Change Policing on Campus.” The Daily Utah Chronicle, August 27, 2021. Accessed September 30, 2025. https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2021/08/27/pink-pistols-u-president-policing-campus/.