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It’s an issue at the fore for many Americans, whether for or against it, or somewhere in between: gun legislation. And as colleagues on our video team recently discovered, the conversation about the right to bear arms is cropping up in some historically surprising places. We’ll hear from Stephanie Leydon, executive producer of digital video for GBH News, as she and her team spend time at firearms training sessions, talking to people who don’t especially like guns but are learning to use them anyway.
But first, some headlines to start your day.
Four Things to Know
1. The White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night was interrupted by violence when gunfire was exchanged between suspect Cole Allen and Secret Service agents at a Washington, D.C. hotel. “I don’t know if there’s a person in Washington since Jan. 6 [2021] who hasn’t sort of ... reassessed their level of comfort,” Tal Kopin, deputy Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe, who was at the dinner, told GBH News’ Tori Bedford.
2. Staff at Community Healthlink in Central Massachusetts are decrying the planned closure of the health agency, saying it could cost hundreds of people their jobs and compromise much-needed care for vulnerable residents. The move comes as Community Healthlink has faced financial challenges, cutting several programs across Worcester County in recent years. In 2025, UMass Memorial Health President and CEO Eric Dickson said the agency recorded $49 million in losses over the previous three fiscal years.
3. The Red Sox organization was caught off guard when the Department of Homeland Security shared a social media post that showed Fenway Park. When asked about the photo at an event last week by reporters from GBH News and The Boston Globe, Red Sox President and CEO Sam Kennedy offered no comment except to say the organization was “totally surprised.” The post, shared by the department’s official X account, showed a photo of the ballpark with “Worth Fighting For” written over the image, paired with the caption “Our nation and our people are worth fighting for.”
4. Charlie Baker says college sports can help colleges navigate declining enrollment and financial strain. Speaking in Boston last week, the former Massachusetts governor and current president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association linked athletic success to increased visibility and student interest, while acknowledging broader structural challenges affecting colleges and universities nationwide.
Why Black, queer and liberal people in Massachusetts are turning to guns
By Stephanie Leydon, senior editor and executive producer for digital media
Over the past month or so, my colleague Rob Tokanel and I have been hanging out at firearms training sessions, talking to people who don’t especially like guns but are learning to use them.
Ihioma Bremeus, of Boston, told us her kids were shocked that she was learning how to handle a gun because she’s never allowed so much as a toy gun in her house. Now she’s planning to get a license — and possibly a gun.
“Every day we wake up, it’s something new,” Bremeus said. “I don’t know where our world is going; I just want to be able to protect my family.”
Repeatedly, we heard concerns about an unstable political environment, coupled with a desire to protect one’s family and oneself as a motivation for learning how to use a gun, at a time when state records show gun license applications at a 20-year high. And while Pew Research Center data indicates that, nationally, most gun owners are male, white and lean Republican, we found evidence in Massachusetts of an uptick in interest in training sessions geared toward women of color, members of the LGBTQ community and people who lean left politically.
Ed Gardner, who runs a national group called the Liberal Gun Club from his office in Newton, told us that after ICE agents killed two protestors last January in Minneapolis, interest in his club spiked.
“They’re freaked out and a little pissed off, and they’re thinking about exercising their rights and protecting themselves,” he said, ”because they’re not seeing a government that’s doing that for them.”
Concern about the government was a common thread among the people we spoke with on a blustery March day, when members of the LGBTQ community crowded onto a gun range to take target practice with volunteers from a group called Pink Pistols.
Ross Goyette of Leominster offered a note of defiance after firing off a few rounds: “The state of the world is going insane, so I decided it would be a good idea to learn how to defend myself and my family because I’ll be damned if anyone tries to abduct the people I love.”
We’d love to know what you think about the story. You can watch it here and add your thoughts in the comment section on our YouTube page.
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