Two members of the Socialist Rifle Association’s fledgling Alaska chapter met Nov. 4 at Rabbit Creek Shooting Park in Anchorage for the group’s first range day. (Photo by Jacob Resneck/CoastAlaska)
There are some pro-Second Amendment citizens that say they feel put off by the National Rifle Association’s politics. That’s leading to the emergence of left-leaning shooting groups[1] across the country. Meet the Socialist Rifle Association[2] in Alaska.
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ktoo/2018/11/16SOCIALIST.mp3[3]It’s the Sunday before the election and members of the Socialist Rifle Association are meeting at a public shooting range on the outskirts of Anchorage. It’s the group’s first “range day” where the membership (all two of them) meet to shoot guns and talk politics.
“When I tell people that I’m a member of the Socialist Rifle Association, they get confused,” said the 30-year-old member, who didn’t want to give his name. (We’ll get to why in a bit.) “There’s just a notion that socialists are authoritarian and anti-gun, and they get really scared, just by that word: socialist.”
This self-described socialist who works on the pipeline sports a ball cap, fuzzy facial hair and knee-high steel toe rubber boots. He believes strongly in the Second Amendment but said he’s put off by the apparent axis between mainstream gun culture and right-wing populism.
“I was actually on the verge of joining the National Rifle Association but this one just seemed more in line with my views,” he said.
The Socialist Rifle Association legally incorporated last month in Kansas. It’s part of trend of leftist gun groups that’s sprung up as an alternative to the NRA’s fiery rhetoric[4].
“You look at some of the rhetoric that the NRA has been
