According to the BBC a wider variety of leftists in the United States are beginning to stockpile weapons. Traditionally only a subset of black American leftists stockpiled arms, but according to the British government's media arm the focus of this growth is among Gay, Lesbian, Transgendered, and otherwise Queer leftists who are forming their own gun clubs. Per the BBC's Brian Wheeler (archived):
But since the election of Donald Trump in November she has started going to a gun range for the first time and is shopping around for a semi-automatic pistol.
"It's been seeing the way that Trump's election has mobilised a lot of the far right and given them hope," she says, citing a rise in reports of hate crimes and neo-Nazi activity.
As a transgender woman, she does not fear for her personal safety in the Californian city where she now lives but she says she knows people in rural areas "who woke up and found a bunch of swastikas and words like 'faggot' and 'trannie' scrawled all over their building".
She foresees a wide-ranging struggle between the Trump administration and the left over issues such as immigration and racial politics.
But won't buying a gun just increase tensions?
"Things are already escalating and they will continue to do so and me not engaging or being prepared to defend my friends by force… isn't going to stop people from being attacked or harassed," Clara says.