(continued)
But openly gay state Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) tempered any criticism, pointing out that gay-lesbian groups are a cross-section of America, after all.
"If they're simply about affinity--we're interested in our own self-defense and target practice and so on--that's fine, but I hope they're not going to try to convince the community that carrying a gun makes you safe, because it doesn't."
Libertarian Party spokesman George Getz said his party promotes the gay pro-gun group in its publications.
"We're proud of the Pink Pistols," Getz said. "Crooks and murderers don't agree with gun control, which is why people need to have guns to defend themselves."
Back at the rural shooting range north of Santa Clarita, where the buzz of cicadas rises as soon as the thunder of gunfire echoes off into the distance, Los Angeles Pink Pistols organizer Tony Assenza was getting ready to signal for another round of live-fire training.
Assenza, a 48-year-old advertising copywriter and competition pistol shooter, is straight, but he helped launch the group because his gay and lesbian friends are interested in shooting. He lets the Pink Pistols shoot as his guests at the private Americana range, where he is a member, and he offers the use of his collection of firearms and supplies ammunition.
Best watched Cooper pick up a .45-caliber pistol, after telling Assenza that the 9-millimeter felt too light in his large hands.
"For me, it's a personal safety issue," Best said. "I think I'd be safer with a weapon in the house."
Sue Peabody, a printing sales representative from Valley Village, slipped a magazine into a purse-sized .25-caliber semiautomatic that she bought several years ago, fearing what she called an aggressive prowler. Now she enjoys an outing to the range as "a recreational, stress-relieving thing."
Not that she's gung-ho gun-obsessed, she hastened to add.
"I just don't understand why the gun lobby doesn't like background checks," she said. "I don't see what the big deal is to wait two weeks to get your gun."
Her partner, Lisa Costanza, a Valley Village real estate agent, said she enjoys the mental exercise of shooting her .357 magnum revolver.
"It's a discipline the way you have to time everything and the way you anticipate a shot, control your breathing and everything," Costanza said. "Some people think it's a big macho thing, but it's not."
Costanza said people react with more curiosity than condemnation when they learn of her hobby.
"I've never had anybody say, 'Oh my God, that's terrible, you shouldn't own a handgun,' " Costanza said. "Usually people say, 'I can't own one, I have kids in the house.' "
Assenza, who spread out a smorgasbord of firepower--9-millimeter semiautomatics, .38 specials, .45s--said he was pleased with the way novice shooters Best and Cooper were taking to their lessons. But then, he said, he has found that most people will enjoy a day on the firing line if they give it a try.
"A lot of people are against guns because of a lack of information, lack of training," Assenza said. "When people come out and see what this is all about, my experience is that knowledge at least takes away the extreme end of the negative perception pattern."