LGBT Self-Defense Site 'Pink Pistols' Gains Followers After Orlando Massacre

By John Burnett

Published June 23, 2016 at 4:31 PM EDT

An "LGBT self-defense" website called Pink Pistols run by a disabled woman in Philadelphia has taken off since the Orlando massacre. The group's founder says her Facebook page has quadrupled in likes, and gun instructors all over the country have stepped forward to offer instruction for concealed carry licenses.

Corrected: June 26, 2016 at 12:00 AM EDT

A previous Web version of this story incorrectly referred to the founder of the Pink Pistols as a man.

John Burnett

John Burnett is a national correspondent based in Austin, Texas, who has been assigned a new beat for 2022—Polarized America—to explore all facets of our politically and culturally divided nation. Prior to this assignment, Burnett covered immigration, Southwest border affairs, Texas news and other national assignments. In 2018, 2019 and again in 2020, he won national Edward R. Murrow Awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association for continuing coverage of the immigration beat. In 2020, Burnett along with other NPR journalists, were finalists for a duPont-Columbia Award for their coverage of the Trump Administration's Remain in Mexico program. In December 2018, Burnett was invited to participate in a workshop on Refugees, Immigration and Border Security in Western Europe, sponsored by the RIAS Berlin Commission.