Although our organization advocates solely for the Second Amendment and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, OBS-PP staunchly supports all Constitutional Rights, including the vigorous exercise of Free Speech. Whatever Mr. Kirk’s opinions regarding queer people, he had the right to express them peacefully. Those who claim to cherish liberty yet celebrate his murder reveal they cherish expedience over principle. OBS-PP condemns both Mr. Kirk’s murder and the celebrations surrounding it in the strongest possible terms, and solemnly affirms our purely defensive mission. The murderer, and those who cheer him, do not represent us, our ethics, or our mission. Our hearts go out to Mr. Kirk’s family for their tragic loss.
Accusations that the murderer was tied to a Salt Lake City Pink Pistols chapter are false. No such chapter exists now, nor did one exist at the time of Mr. Kirk’s death. From 2020 to 2021, a University of Utah student named Ermiya Fanaeian ran a Salt Lake City chapter. While initially welcomed, she began using the Pink Pistols name to promote broader political issues, violating our rule that we are a single-issue organization devoted solely to the safe, legal, and responsible use of firearms by the queer community. In 2021, her group and Pink Pistols parted ways, and she renamed her organization Armed Queers of Salt Lake City. From that point forward, she no longer represented Pink Pistols, and the Salt Lake City chapter was formally listed as defunct on our website, where it remains. Any Utah-labeled social media tied to her group did not and does not represent Pink Pistols.