Pink Pistols : The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight

Infoshop.org – G. W. Miller III

Members of the Pink Pistols try to deal with hate crimes by arming themselves. Their pro-gun views haven’t made them many friends within the gay community.

Elderly ladies in prim tan suits and buttoned-up white blouses chat at a nearby table as children squeal and laugh in the adjacent booth. Attractive young waitstaff in maroon shirts and khaki pants stand around flirting with each other, tittering and posturing, because this Huntingdon Valley restaurant isn’t all that full on this cold afternoon.

Off to the side at Calloway’s-a typical family-oriented restaurant and sports bar with lots of neon beer signs, wood paneling, vinyl tablecloths, video games and basketball games on big-screen TVs-an eclectic group of average-looking people gleefully talk about guns.

“I brought the Uzi along,” says Andrew Greene, a 36-year-old self-proclaimed computer geek, former firearms dealer and Libertarian Jew from New York who now resides in Bridesburg.

Greene is a short, stout man with a large head covered in thick, dark hair. His beard covers much of his face. Wearing his glasses, he bears a slight resemblance to Jerry Garcia.

Phrases like “double-action trigger pull” and “recoil springs” easily and repeatedly flow from Greene’s mouth as though he’s talking about a baseball game or a movie. His eight lunch companions chime in with smiling, excited responses about new developments in gun technology, concealed weapons, violent crime and ultimately self-protection.