In a sunny Modesto backyard, a plastic table slowly filled with a mixture of BB-guns, handguns and shotguns as people trickled into the space. Almost 20 people sat in a loose circle on folding chairs, and most of them had never held a firearm before.
But they all came to learn how to do just that, and more.
The female-led, LGBTQ+ friendly firearm training workshop was held earlier this month in collaboration with the Central Valley BIPOC Coalition and the Valley chapter of Brown Berets. The event’s goal was to create a safe and welcoming environment for marginalized community members to learn how to protect themselves with guns.
But organizers Ela (who declined to share her full name for privacy concerns) and Eli Coleman emphasized that the workshops were not led by any organization, nor did it have leaders. Instead they were creating anonymous spaces for Black, Indigenous, other people of color, women and LGBTQ+ people to learn how to protect themselves and their loved ones.
The reasons for not formalizing the group are strategic, Coleman said.
“You can’t kill something that doesn’t exist,” he said. “You can’t pursue something that doesn’t exist.”
Coleman, a member of the Central Valley Brown Berets, identified himself as Black and Native American with roots in what is now southern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. The Brown Berets is a Chicano activist group, rooted in the late 1960s Civil Rights Movement,which advocates for the rights and self-determination of the Chicano/Latino community.
Coleman opened the workshop speaking about the need for this kind of firearm safety training.
“When the boat showed up, the Spanish had firearms and armor, and my people had sticks and stones,” he said. “Now the playing field is level, and I have access to the things that my oppressor does. It’s very naive to not know how to utilize them or own them for myself.”
He described growing up in Turlock and watching his uncles involved with the American Indian Movement navigate violent confrontations. He said these workshops emerged from a recognition that nobody outside these communities would step in to protect them.
The idea for the workshops came well before they started in February, both Ela and Coleman said.
“I think we would both agree that it’s something we would have wanted to do for a very long time, but now there’s actually the interest — strong enough interest that actually brings people out on a Sunday,” Ela said.
The session included explanations of parts of the guns, basic safety regulations, how to reload and unload a magazine and how to handle a live firearm. The attendees, who remained anonymous in line with the group’s mission, included some experienced gun owners, but most had never even touched a gun before. Two attendees brought their own shotguns and gave their own demonstrations of how to use a shotgun.
One participant from Merced, said it was the closest she had ever been to a gun.
“I grew up in a very anti-gun household, and so (having a gun) was just not even a question,” she said. “But as I’ve gotten more involved in my community, I realized that there are some things that I just need to do to keep myself and other people safe.”
Ela said the firearm community can be isolating for women and LGBTQ+ people. She recalled multiple occasions where she was questioned by firearm salesmen and instructors about her capabilities as a female gun owner. Those experiences pushed her to start organizing the workshops.
“They’ve challenged me sometimes,” she said. “They assume I don’t know anything about anything, just because I’m a woman.”
Another participant described what led her to her first gun safety class elsewhere in the county, which came after a traumatic encounter.
“My first experience with the gun was watching it get pointed at my family,” she said. “And so after that point, coming to a gun safety class and being able to learn how to safely disarm a gun was really empowering, from them being terrifying to them being an understandable tool.”
Participants said the workshop filled a need they were unable to find elsewhere locally. One attendee researched traveling to Houston or Austin to train with groups such as Arm Your Friends — a Houston-based organization that offers firearm training specifically for people of color — before learning about the coalition’s program closer to home.
For many in the room, the workshops represented something that had been missing for a long time — a space where the politics, the community and the practical instruction were all aligned.
“The sad reality and the likelihood of you encountering a gun in this country is extremely high,” Ela said. “Even if you don’t want to shoot it, the least you can know is how to make it safe. God forbid you ever come across a firearm, at least you know. I can make sure this thing doesn’t do more damage than it might have already.”
While for many participants, the event marked the first time they held a firearm, several left with plans to visit their first gun store, now equipped with enough vocabulary and the confidence they needed. Demand has continued to grow, the coalition said, and it plans to hold future workshops, though no date has been announced.
Ximena Loeza is the bilingual communities reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact her at ximena@themodestofocus.org.