As a general rule, gun owners tend to become gun voters. Maybe not perfectly pro-Second Amendment gun voters, but they do have a tendency to oppose some of the big things politicians want.

The more people who own guns, regardless of their political leanings, means fewer people backing the anti-gun agenda in due course.

It doesn’t happen overnight, unfortunately, but it tends to happen. There are exceptions, but it seems to hold true for the majority.

So now that he’s been elected as president for a second time, campaigning in part on supporting the Second Amendment, we have every reason to believe President-Elect Donald Trump is going to be good for the Second Amendment, and if what I said above holds, then he’s already benefitting it.

The misogyny and anti-trans rhetoric that were hallmarks of the 2024 election campaign have seemingly ramped up since Donald Trump’s win, prompting some women, queer and trans people to respond by buying guns – and learning how to defend themselves from potential attackers.

The Guardian spoke to various Americans from marginalized groups taking firearms classes, arming themselves with stun guns and pepper spray and taking their friends shooting in an effort to protect themselves from bigots they fear will be emboldened by the president-elect’s return to power. A few left-leaning gun clubs say their numbers are increasing dramatically.

“I am thinking about carrying every day,” said Ashley Parten, 38, a Douglasville, Georgia, resident who purchased stun guns for herself, her daughter and three nieces after the election. Parten, who is Black and bisexual, is also eyeing a maroon handgun that she plans on buying after taking a firearms class.

“We all feel the need to make sure that we’re aware of our surroundings and protect ourselves in general, but even more so now,” she said.

A few days after Trump’s first presidential win in November 2016, Parten said she was filling up with gas in Charleston, South Carolina, when a white man in a red Maga hat shoved her against the pump. She says she elbowed the man and then drove off.

“He told me that my N-word president couldn’t protect me any more, because it was Trump country,” she recalled.

Of course, you’re free to believe exactly how much of that you want. The fact that it sounds so much like what Jussie Smollet claimed isn’t lost on anyone, but there are jerks everywhere, so I can’t rule anything out.

But let’s understand something, if Parton does decide to buy a gun, she’ll be part of a larger group of people who have at least been led to believe that they’re going to be the target of some kind of hate crime.

From what we’ve seen, the demand for hate tends to exceed the supply, so we get a lot of hoaxes, but there are some legitimately hateful people out there who might actually make comments like that to perfect strangers as they pump their gas. If you’re someone who actually thinks you might be targeted for an actual hate crime, it just makes sense to arm yourself.

If they do, and they do so in sufficient numbers, then the Second Amendment suddenly becomes a big part of the lives of people who are a core part of the Democratic base. If gun ownership is important to them, then the Democrats might need to rethink their push for gun control. After all, if they alienate their base, they’re not getting elected to anything. They could push themselves into a place where they look at 2024’s election and wish they could be that competitive again.

They won’t do that.

As a result, the right to keep and bear arms will be secured, at least for a time.

And while Donald Trump may not have directly done anything, the perception of him and what he’ll do as president–all despite the fact that he didn’t do any of that in his first term–will be the cause.