Building a Non-Toxic Space for Latino Gun Owners
“Latinos had been the target of a horrific terrorist attack by a white nationalist and I knew that many Latinos were going to start exploring the prospect of armed self-defense,” he says. “My fear was that they would be walking into an environment that was hostile and would only make our communities less safe.”
Building a Non-Toxic Space for Latino Gun Owners
“Latinos had been the target of a horrific terrorist attack by a white nationalist and I knew that many Latinos were going to start exploring the prospect of armed self-defense,” he says. “My fear was that they would be walking into an environment that was hostile and would only make our communities less safe.”
“I wanted there to be a safe space that had a more community-oriented, socially responsible view on self-defense,” he says.
Gomez, who’s from Sacramento, makes clear that his group is for people who don’t fit the conservative stereotype of gun owners. He and the group are unapologetically progressive and often, by his own description, “outright leftist.”
“This is not the NRA for brown people. We have zero tolerance for xenophobia disguised as ‘law and order,’” he says. “The rights of trans people are not up for debate in the LRA. There is a lot of ideological diversity on the left and we don’t gatekeep for a specific philosophy, but truthfully, we aren’t interested in integrating with mainstream gun culture — we want to be a complete alternative to it.”
You don’t have to be Latino to join the group, he says. It has several hundred members and Gomez hopes to one day see chapters all over the Southwest and beyond, teaching community defense and socially responsible gun ownership.
He’s already garnered national press attention, including from CBS News.
He chose Berkeley Law because of its robust public interest program, and for what he felt was a notably less hyper-competitive environment than other top law schools.
Gomez is a member of La Alianza Law Students Association and has found fellowship there. He dips into Second Amendment discourse occasionally, but it’s not his career focus: He spent the summer in Hawaii, advocating for Indigenous rights, and is also interested in police misconduct and digital privacy.
“The sense of community at Berkeley Law has been really strong. Although Latinos are a pretty small minority here, it really feels like everyone participates in Alianza,” Gomez says. “The school really encourages a lot of student organizations and it seems like everyone can find a home.” — Gwyneth K. Shaw