The Socialist Rifle Association is a leftist gun education, training, and community organization. The organization claims to exist to provide “working-class people the information they need to be effectively armed for self and community defense.” They provide training, resources, information, range days, community events, and mutual aid. They seek to create an inclusive firearms community that pushes back against the claimed toxic firearms culture in place today that has been perpetuated by the right. An organization with the same name was originally founded in Kansas, MO in 2013. Claims stipulate the original founder did it as something of a joke. The current Socialist Rifle Association was formed when individual chapters operating under the moniker of the SRA agreed to unite. The organization was incorporated in New Mexico, in March 2018. They currently have 62 chapters operating across 36 states. … “We are a multi-tendency association of Social Democrats, Communists, and Anarchists united by class, for our class. We respect one another’s political stances and differences, especially when we disagree.” … The SRA makes sure to clearly label itself as not a militia. This is needed, not only to protect themselves from the right whose gun culture they stand in opposition to both structurally and politically but to protect their tax status as well. Like the NRA, the SRA is a 501(c)(4) entity, also known as a “social welfare organization.” They can have political opinions, support candidates and policies, keep members' names anonymous, and even engage in unlimited lobbying when classified this way. According to the IRS, in order to remain tax-exempt a social welfare organization “must not be organized for profit and must be operated exclusively to promote social welfare.” The debate then lies on whether or not a militia promotes social welfare. Several militias have successfully registered as 501(c)(3), or charitable organizations, in the last few years. While the IRS has revoked tax-exempt status for 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations in the past for promoting acts of violence, which falls within the actions of a standing militia, they rarely reject applications for tax-exempt status. They receive over a hundred thousand tax-exempt applications per year and reject only a few dozen. Most militias eventually lose that tax status when it is later revoked by the IRS. While the SRA can make political statements and even lobby policymakers, they regularly separate themselves from local chapters and their actions. On Feb. 23, 2023, the Minnesota Chapter of the SRA released a violent political statement against reactionaries on Twitter. The SRA was quick to respond reiterating “We are NOT a vanguard party or revolutionary army. We are an organization that seeks to provide marginalized communities and the working class with the education, the skills, and the advocates necessary to be effectively armed for self and community defense.” The organization officially forbids local chapters from attending political demonstrations under the SRA banner. However, they do encourage members who wish to participate in armed protests, counter-protests, and community defense demonstrations to join other organizations that participate in those activities. According to them, “opposing fascism and reactionary ideologies is a multifront struggle.” They aim to be the education front of their cited struggle.

The Latino Rifle Association is a non-profit firearm training, education, and advocacy organization for Latino communities. They identify as a progressive organization that wants to “empower all marginalized communities.” Like the Socialist Rifle Association, they make sure to identify themselves as a non-militia. While the SRA promotes members joining other organizations if they want to participate in armed demonstrations or protests, the LRA does not advocate the use of violence for achieving political change. The organization welcomes allies from other communities. The organization was founded in 2020 by P.B. Gomez, who was a law student at U.C. Berkeley at the time. For Gomez, self defense shouldn’t be limited to the right. He felt obligated to start the organization after the August 3, 2019 mass shooting in El Paso. The shooting is the deadliest domestic terror attack against Latinos in recent history. 23 people died. The LRA is one of the youngest gun organizations in the US, regardless of political identification. The age shows. Centralized efforts by the organization are few. Resources provided by the organization are limited, and the scope of meetings greatly falls behind that provided by other groups.

The National African American Gun Association is a firearm education, training, safety, self-defense, advocacy group for and by African Americans. The organization exists to provide a safe space for Black gun owners to learn about and train with firearms in a nonpartisan setting. The centralized organization is adamant about its apolitical nature, however, the organization does provide a history of Black gun owners which heavily features prominent political actors, events, and movements. Chapters of the NAAGA also often allude to famous political figures including politicians, soldiers, freedom fighters, abolitionists, and civil rights leaders. The NAAGA is one of the fastest-growing firearm organizations in the country. NRA membership hit a 10-year-low in 2023 according to a report by The Reload, a firearms industry media outlet. For the NAAGA the opposite is true. Founded in 2015, by the end of the first year they were only 8,000 strong. By 2019, membership totaled more than 40,000. The killing of George Floyd in 2020 saw membership inquiries increase, and the organization has continued to grow. Current member counts are unknown, but the organization has more chapters than any other left-wing gun organization. 130 active chapters operate across the United States. … “The mission of the National African American Gun Association (NAAGA) is to establish a fellowship by educating on the rich legacy of gun ownership by African Americans, offering the training that supports safe gun use for self-defense and sportsmanship, and advocating for the inalienable right to self-defense for African Americans.” … Despite branding itself as nonpartisan, the organization recognizes the need to act on ongoing social and political issues. While the organization itself might appear to be nonpartisan, the members are not. The NAAGA is comprised of mostly Black Americans, yet anyone can join. 1% of members are not Black. The majority of their members, however; are Black women. This demographic is the most consistently left-leaning in the United States. In the 2022 KFF Survey of Black Voters, 74% of Black Americans reported being Democrat or Democrat-leaning. Black women are even more likely to skew to the left. In the 2020 presidential election, 91% of voting Black women voted Democrat. However the NAAG wants to appear, the majority of their membership is made up of a group that consistently leans left.

The Liberal Gun Club is the left-wing corollary to the NRA. Founded in 2008, they are a moderate left-wing firearm advocacy, education, and training group poised at gun owners who are left-of-center, typical liberals, who are also pro-gun. The organization wishes to serve as a national firearm owners’ forum for all, free from the “destructive elements of political extremism that dominate this subject on the national scale.” The LGC provides similar resourses to the NRA. Unlike the NRA, which has millions of members that support a nationwide system with range safety training, weapon safety informaiton, and community events, the LGC provides training with less of a political skew. Like most other gun training organizations, the LGC is a 501c4 non-profit. … “The mission of The Liberal Gun Club is to provide a voice for gun-owning liberals and moderates in the national conversation on gun rights, gun legislation, firearms safety, and shooting sports.” … As of 2019, the last time the Liberal Gun Club released a membership count, the organization had 11,500 supporters and 2,500 contributing members. They have 31 chapters across 35 states. Compared to other organizations, this count is really low. While other organizations appeal to those on the fringe of the left or to an identity that doesn’t demand a certain level of political adherence, the LBC is aimed solely at liberals. The liberal push for stronger gun control has been consistent in American politics for the last several years. While one-third of gun owners in America identify as left or left-leaning, according to the PEW Research Center, they are often more cautious about broadcasting their gun ownership, if they are even willing to own one.

Named after the notable abolitionist John Brown, the John Brown Gun Club was originally formed in Kansas in 2002. Although the original chapter is no longer as active as it used to be, several chapters still operate under the moniker of John Brown Gun Club. Unlike other organizations, the JBGC is decentralized with chapters operating independently. Anonymity is preferred within the organization. Members identify themselves with pseudonyms, and no identifying information is shared. Although they don’t explicitly identify as a militia, many chapters operate like one. Staunchly anti-fascist, chapters have varying takes on how to deal with the far-right. Some chapter,s the most prominent being the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club, claim to be a “public-facing, above-ground, community defense group.” Chapter interactions are usually calculated displays of force. Range days are used to practice combat drills, and community defense initiatives are used to show the opposition how far some members of the organization are willing to go. In 2019, a member of the Puget Sound chapter was killed by police after infiltrating an ICE facility in Tacoma, Washington. The chapter claimed he was killed while attempting to disable the facility’s prisoner transport buses. Official accounts claim he attempted to set the facility on fire. Although most chapters of the JBGC recognize violence is not always immediately necessary, they are willing to go as far if necessary. The organization also offers community training and mutual aid. Being decentralized, official chapter and member counts are unavailable. The JBGC has chapters operating across the United States, Most notable are the Puget Sound, Elm Fork, and Connecticut chapters. Some chapters are prominent on social media, but due to extreme viewpoints are regularly censored, or outright banned. According to the Mid-Missouri chapter, several chapters were purged from Facebook in 2020.

The Pink Pistols are a sexual-minority firearms self-defense training and shooting group. They claim that self-defense is their right, and aim to provide the LGBTQIA+ community with the tools they need to protect themselves during a targeted attack. The organization's sole purpose is self-defense. … “We teach queers to shoot. Then we teach others that we have done so. Armed queers don’t get bashed. We change the public perception of the sexual minorities, such that those who have in the past perceived them as safe targets for violence and hateful acts - beatings, assaults, rapes, murders - will realize that now, a segment of the sexual minority population is not armed and effective with those arms.” … The Pink Pistols have 45 chapters. They meet at least once a month to practice and train. The Pink Pistols are the most prominent organization of their type, aimed at a traditionally left-leaning group.