State of the Sword 2023

Seven years ago yesterday, an atrocity occurred.

Seven years ago today, a diverse group of people banded together to claw hope from the wreckage of that atrocity, and through their efforts Operation Blazing Sword was born.

Seven years later, and we have accomplished so much:

• We have 1,560 volunteer firearm educators in every state of the USA, along with volunteers in Canada, Australia, and Europe.
• Our volunteers educated a reported number of 82 people, or just under an average of 1.6 people per week. However, understand that we do not require our students to out themselves and so this data is voluntary; the actual number is higher, although we cannot know by how much.
• We have filed numerous Amicus Curiae briefs opposing firearm prohibitionist legislation, most notably in NYSRPA v. Bruen. This landmark Supreme Court case shifted all states into "Shall Issue" concealed carry, and the origin of the Pink Pistols was quoted in the concurring brief of this decision.
• We are the largest pro-gun queer group in the nation, if not the entire world, and we continue to grow through the creation of new Pink Pistols chapters and new volunteers signing up to be  Operation Blazing Sword instructors.

We still have much work to do, though. Even though we live in a post-Bruen world, many legislators seek to make the lawful carry of defensive firearms as difficult, as expensive, and as restrictive as possible, and we will continue to file AC briefs to oppose those laws. One only needs look at the Club Q shooting last year to see a reflection of the 2016 Pulse massacre, albeit one with a mercifully smaller body count, and so we must continue our quest to teach everyone who wants to know how to defend themselves.

We are Operation Blazing Sword – Pink Pistols, and we teach everyone how to shoot. And then we tell the world that we have done so, because armed queers don't get bashed.