In June, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared firearm violence a public health crisis. It was a historic move from the Department of Health and Human Services, whose previous declarations on tobacco and alcohol set off waves of reforms and regulations in the 20th Century. The 40-page advisory report explaining Murthy’s decision is teeming with harrowing statistics. Firearm injury has been the leading cause of death for children and adolescents since 2020. Firearm-related homicides have been skyrocketing for the last decade; suicides for the last two decades.
For many leftist Asian gun owners, none of these revelations were particularly surprising — nor did the findings make them reconsider wielding firearms. Members of Yellow Peril Tactical, an anti-capitalist collective of Asian gun owners, told me — in response to the Surgeon General’s warning — that the risks of firearms are worthy of concern. (They declined to be on camera or provide me with their legal names during our Zoom calls, for the sake of their privacy and safety.) However, they believe that while they live under the constant threat of fascism, firearm ownership is as much a matter of necessity as it is of ideology. “To me, there’s nothing sacred about guns, and I wouldn’t mind getting rid of mine if we could just magically get rid of all of them,” said Bella, who says they are a member of the group. “But are you going to guarantee that the right-wing Trump voter who’s best friends with his sheriff buddy in the middle of the country is also going to get his taken away?”
Yellow Peril Tactical’s main hub of activity is an Instagram account with about 16,400 followers. The page features safety tips, lessons on historical anti-imperialist luminaries, videos of members in tactical gear shooting targets in the wilderness, and pictures of various Asian noodle soups. The group also uses the account to raise money for resistance fighters in Ukraine and Myanmar by selling custom merchandise like Lunar New Year decorations emblazoned with AK-47s. Another Yellow Peril Tactical project is “The Tiger Bloc Podcast.” In the first episode, the hosts introduce themselves, identify their pronouns, and then discuss the finer points of close-quarter battle and leftist organizing.
Some members see themselves as part of a legacy of radical groups that brandished guns partly as a form of political expression. Bella pointed to the history of the Black Panther Party conducting armed patrols, which she saw as a statement of empowerment for marginalized communities. “Having that militancy from the start, there’s messaging inherent to that. There’s propaganda inherent to that. That’s part of what I think [Yellow Peril Tactical] is trying to push,” she said. “We’re not here to just rely on the politicians and the people in power.”
Beyond viewing guns as symbols of self-reliance, Yellow Peril Tactical also treats them as practical tools against racist and political violence. John Chinaman — whose pseudonym is a reference to a 19th Century placeholder name for Chinese people — purchased his first firearm after a White supremacist drove a car into counter-protesters at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. “These fuckers were willing to go out and commit a car attack against people,” John said. “I’m not the kind of guy who’s like, ‘I’ll call the cops.’” The clusters of anti-Asian attacks during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, police brutality, the rise of right-wing militias, and the general escalation of political violence in the U.S. have only given John more reason to own firearms.
Members of the group are currently concerned about the prospect of upheaval associated with the 2024 election. In the latest episode of the “Tiger Bloc Podcast,” which featured a discussion on the election, the hosts discussed the importance of building relationships with communities of like-minded firearms owners who they could turn to in the event of political unrest. Bella also noted that she is looking out for outbursts of street-level violence in November.
In our conversation, John emphasized the importance of de-escalation and non-lethal forms of self-defense, but saw firearms as a necessary last resort.
“This is the tool the state uses. This is the tool that the Oath Keeper or the Three Percenter down your block has,” John said. “Why would you not have it? There is no equal among defensive tools that a civilian can have.”
It is ultimately these goals of self-defense and resistance that seem to make John and Bella see guns as a crucial part of a leftist political project, despite their acknowledgement of many of the societal consequences outlined in the surgeon general’s report.
“There is a very clear line of political ideology that separates people who are willing to actually throw down, versus those who are stuck in official channels and still have faith in the system,” said Bella. As John put it more bluntly, “If someone from Patriot Prayer tries to shoot you, will you shoot back? Or will you just die?”
Of course, it isn’t only Asian Americans who have been purchasing firearms due to a deep mistrust of the state’s ability to protect the public. Fears of deteriorating social order have long fueled gun purchases among the conservative base. More recently, there have growing numbers of women, LGBTQ individuals, and other identity groups who have become first-time gun owners. A parallel fear of the government’s inability to protect vulnerable populations seems to drive many of these purchasing decisions. “It is that just in case that compels many women — Black women in particular — to become gun owners,” Roxane Gay wrote in “Stand Your Ground,” an essay exploring her firearm ownership from a Black feminist perspective. (She says more here in The Emancipator.) “We are unprotected, and so we must protect ourselves.”
The page features safety tips, lessons on historical anti-imperialist luminaries, videos of members in tactical gear shooting targets in the wilderness, and pictures of various Asian noodle soups.
Tom Nguyen, the head of L.A. Progressive Shooters, is also sympathetic to the surgeon general’s concerns, particularly surrounding suicide. In fact, he purchased his first firearm with the intent to commit suicide when he was 21. He openly shares this cautionary tale with students at L.A. Progressive Shooters, a firearms academy that caters to progressives, people of color, and others who may feel unwelcome in traditional gun spaces. For years before the surgeon general declared a crisis, Nguyen has made it a point to tell his classes that suicides make up the overwhelming majority of firearm-related deaths. He’s also keen to tell students about the outsized role of guns in fatal incidents of domestic violence. “Whether it’s suicide, whether it’s domestic violence … I don’t think anyone’s immune to these issues. And once you introduce the gun into your household, those risks increase,” he said. “I don’t sugarcoat it.”
Despite being very aware of the risks, Nguyen nevertheless believes that gun ownership can often be valuable for members of marginalized communities. He founded the group in 2020 after noticing an uptick of gun purchases among queer people and people of color during the pandemic. At that time, about a third of his clientele was Asian, many of them becoming firearm owners out of fear of xenophobic violence. Nowadays, he’s noticed fewer Asians attending classes, but those who show up tend to be politically active and younger.
Nguyen recalled asking an Asian American woman in one of his recent classes why she wanted to learn how to use a gun. She responded: “Because I don’t like fascism.”
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