{"id":113574,"date":"2025-11-28T14:26:43","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T20:26:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=113574"},"modified":"2025-11-28T14:31:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T20:31:30","slug":"113574","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=113574","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Trigger warning: Immigrants, armed and American<\/a><\/p>\n

It was a revolver, handed to her at a\u00a0Pennsylvania<\/a>\u00a0range after years of quiet fascination \u2014 years spent in Brazil, where guns were the domain of criminals, police, or politicians, often overlapping categories. \u201cIt was like the forbidden fruit,\u201d she said. \u201cIn\u00a0Brazil<\/a>, very few people own guns, legally. And I was just \u2026 drawn to them.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
She squeezed the trigger, heard the crack, felt the recoil \u2014 and then asked to try the next one. And the next.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cLove at first shot,\u201d she said, laughing. \u201cI became completely addicted.\u201d<\/div>\n
Soon she was shooting weekly, working at a gun shop, and entering competitions. Today, Andrejczyk is a certified instructor, a divorced mother of two, and the self-proclaimed \u201cGun Evangelist.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Stereotypes paint gun culture as America\u2019s most insular tribe: old, white, rural, passing their weapons from one generation to the next. Yet some of its newest recruits are\u00a0immigrants<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 from countries where weapons belonged only to criminals or the state, now claiming America\u2019s most contested freedom as their own.<\/div>\n

The \u2018Gun Evangelist\u2019<\/h2>\n
Andrejczyk grew up in Vit\u00f3ria da Conquista, one of Brazil\u2019s most violent cities. \u201cBrazil is lawless,\u201d she told me when we met at Tanner\u2019s Sports Center, the suburban Philadelphia gun shop where she works. When her parents\u2019 store was robbed in broad daylight, the police never came. \u201cThey\u2019re underpaid, corrupt. If they do show up, they twist the story and take money from you. Most people don\u2019t even bother.\u201d<\/div>\n
\n
\"Nayara
Nayara Andrejczyk. (Photo by Daniel Allott)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Her father, a soldier, kept a shotgun hidden in a closet. She never touched it, but it left a mark. \u201cThe right to self-defense is paramount,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd we didn\u2019t have it.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

She emigrated at 19, spending several years in Massachusetts before moving to King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, where the gun laws were looser and ownership more common. \u201cI started questioning: Why do Americans love firearms so much? Why can almost any law-abiding citizen own one?\u201d<\/div>\n
Studying\u00a0U.S. history<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Constitution<\/a>, she came to see the\u00a0Second Amendment<\/a>\u00a0as less about crime than about government power. \u201cThe real reason is tyranny,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen the people are armed, the government walks on tiptoes. And it should.\u201d<\/div>\n
A friend invited her to the range, where the instructor cycled her through revolvers, bolt-actions, and assault rifles. She was hooked. Soon, she joined a women\u2019s shooting club and then walked into Tanner\u2019s and asked for a job. \u201cI don\u2019t know much,\u201d she told the owner, \u201cbut I\u2019ll learn fast.\u201d<\/div>\n
She did. Within months, she was serving longtime customers and coaching new ones. Women gravitated to her. \u201cEven if all the guys are free, they\u2019ll wait for me,\u201d she said. Before long, she was working six days a week, shooting on weekends, and teaching classes. Her children trained with her, too. Last Christmas, her daughter, now 18, asked for an AR-15. Andrejczyk bought it.<\/div>\n
Her zeal earned her a nickname: the Gun Evangelist. \u201cEverywhere I went, I was like a preacher, trying to convert people,\u201d she said. During our interview, she even referred to the Second Amendment as \u201cthe Second Commandment\u201d \u2014 a slip that showed just how sacred it had become to her.<\/div>\n
\n
\"Zaur
Zaur Nedashkovskiy. (Photo by Daniel Allott)<\/p>\n

Data on immigrant gun ownership are scarce, but the demographics of American gun buyers have shifted. Firearm sales surged in 2020, with women and nonwhite buyers driving much of the increase<\/a>. For many, that year\u2019s chaos made owning a gun feel less like politics and more like a necessity.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Andrejczyk calls guns \u201cthe great equalizer,\u201d especially for women. \u201cIf someone sees me as a target, I want to put up a fight.\u201d Just owning a gun, she said, has changed her. \u201cI\u2019m more confident than I used to be.\u201d<\/div>\n
What bothers her are politicians trying to make ownership harder. \u201cIt gives me flashbacks to Brazil,\u201d she said. \u201cIf the government can take your guns, they can take your freedom.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
These days, Andrejczyk channels her passion into teaching. One of her recent students was a female rabbi. \u201cShe told me, \u2018I don\u2019t like guns, I don\u2019t want to own one. But if people are going to be armed in my synagogue, I need to understand what they can do.\u2019\u201d Andrejczyk walked her through the basics. Another possible convert.<\/div>\n
\n
\"Nayara
Nayara Andrejczyk, left, and Zaur Nedashkovskiy. (Photo by Daniel Allott)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
To see the appeal myself, I joined her on the range. She gathered several students, stressing two rules above all: finger off the trigger until ready, and never point at anything you aren\u2019t prepared to destroy.<\/div>\n
\u201cNayara\u2019s very good, very professional,\u201d said Maria Mitchell, a regular student. \u201cBut she\u2019s so sweet.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Inside, the air cracked with gunfire and brass clinked against the floor. Andrejczyk stood beside me: \u201cBe comfortable, as natural as possible.\u201d She was steady, encouraging. When I fired, she said, \u201cSlowly, gradually pull the trigger \u2014 perfect.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Over the hour, she cycled different handguns and rifles into my hands. The bullets didn\u2019t all hit center mass, but that wasn\u2019t the point. \u201cWe\u2019re not here to be precision shooters at our first shot,\u201d she reassured me. In that moment, I saw what her students saw: calm authority mixed with warmth, a teacher turning something dangerous into something empowering.<\/div>\n
Last summer, Andrejczyk had a brush with fame when she pulled up to a McDonald\u2019s drive-thru in suburban Pennsylvania and found\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0handing out orders.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cMr. President, please don\u2019t let the U.S. become Brazil, my native Brazil,\u201d she told him.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
When she recounted that moment to me, her eyes welled up. \u201cI have such a love and appreciation for this country. I think it\u2019s the greatest nation in the world. I get a little emotional. I\u2019m going to cry.\u201d She contrasted America\u2019s flawed institutions with Brazil\u2019s \u201ctotal chaos\u201d and \u201cone of the most corrupt governments in the world.\u201d<\/div>\n
At the heart of that affection is her belief in the right to bear arms. \u201cThe fact that a common citizen can own firearms and defend their family and property,\u201d she said, \u201cI have no words.\u201d<\/div>\n

The realist<\/h2>\n
At a Brooklyn coffee shop, Zaur Nedashkovskiy leaned across the table, his Russian accent sharpening. \u201cI got a gun to make a statement \u2014 because I can,\u201d he said. It wasn\u2019t about sport or even self-defense so much as principle. To him, freedoms aren\u2019t guaranteed unless people can resist tyranny \u2014 something his birth country\u2019s history taught him firsthand.<\/div>\n
Born in Moscow, Nedashkovskiy spent part of his childhood in North Ossetia, a region scarred by the Chechen wars. His father was killed in the Transnistria conflict of 1992. What stayed with him was how easily the state could crush its people. \u201cListen, [Russians] don\u2019t have constitutional rights, so [the government] can put whatever laws they want.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
That perspective shaped his view of America when he arrived in Kansas in 2011 and became a citizen six years later. A Muslim and now a network engineer in New York, Nedashkovskiy said he had little interest in party politics \u2014 what mattered was the architecture of limits. \u201cImmigrants often appreciate what others take for granted,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause of the Constitution, you can trust the courts, you can speak up whenever you want. That\u2019s why people come here.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
His decision to own a gun came in 2020, when BLM riots convulsed U.S. cities. \u201cIt was crazy. Cops couldn\u2019t do anything. People felt entitled to assault other people in the streets.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Two years later, the Supreme Court\u2019s\u00a0New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen<\/em>\u00a0decision, striking down New York\u2019s restrictive concealed-carry law, gave him an opening. \u201cWhy can\u2019t I have a gun? I thought it was in the Constitution. I wanted the government to see that the count of gun owners [in New York City] goes up.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Principle aside, the reality can feel sharper. \u201cOn the subway, when some guy\u2019s waving shanks in your face \u2014 of course I\u2019d have liked to have it on me. But I can\u2019t because it\u2019s prohibited. You\u2019re better to have it than not. A lot of crimes happen because perpetrators know you\u2019re not carrying.\u201d<\/div>\n
New York\u2019s licensing system, he found, was \u201catrocious.\u201d He began an application in 2022, abandoned it, tried again in 2024, and finally got approval this year. The process was so opaque that he turned to Reddit for guidance. \u201cThey make it hard not only to go through the process but even to understand the process,\u201d he said. Character references, endless forms, months of waiting \u2014 all designed, he believed, to wear applicants down. After threatening legal action, his license finally came through in February. It felt, he said, \u201clike winning a battle somewhere.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As we spoke, the coffee shop was filling, mugs clattering, voices rising. Our open talk of firearms and Russian politics made me want to lower mine. Nedashkovskiy didn\u2019t. \u201cIf you don\u2019t make your voice heard in the right way, then they\u2019re going to think that it\u2019s OK,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s not OK.\u201d He leaned back. \u201cThat\u2019s what sets us apart. Especially first-generation immigrants. We may not like the law, but we respect the law.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cAny constitutional right is equal to me,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it wasn\u2019t guns, it would be speech. You cannot have a government body telling people what they can and can\u2019t say. That\u2019s a no-go. The Constitution protects all of it.\u201d<\/div>\n
Asked if he could ever imagine not owning a gun, Nedashkovskiy looked at me like the question made no sense. \u201cNo, I\u2019ll always own,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like, do I always want to speak up freely? To me, it\u2019s a weird question.\u201d<\/div>\n

The GunTuber<\/h2>\n
Plink. Plink. Plink-plink-plink.<\/div>\n
Bullets rang against steel in the desert outside the Great Salt Lake as Joseph Osse filmed another YouTube clip. A 32-year-old Haitian immigrant, he hid his face behind a ski mask. He wasn\u2019t just practicing \u2014 he was performing, building an audience one burst at a time.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Osse came to the United States as a newborn and was raised in California by his father, an Air Force mechanic who had immigrated and earned citizenship. Guns weren\u2019t part of his childhood. His curiosity came later, through hours of Halo and Call of Duty on a PC with a big enough screen. \u201cIt\u2019s a one-to-one,\u201d he told me. \u201cVery realistic.\u201d<\/div>\n
\n
\"Joseph
Joseph Osse. (Photo by Daniel Allott)<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
When work brought him to Utah in 2021, everything changed. The crime rate was low, the desert ranges vast, and the gun laws looser than in California. \u201cIt almost feels like a whole other country,\u201d he said. He liked that he could look up his rights on the state website \u2014 open carry, constitutional carry, no disclosure requirements \u2014 and then go test them out. The enhanced gun rights here were \u201cdefinitely a bonus.\u201d<\/div>\n
His first purchase came in 2022, just after the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting, when then-President\u00a0Joe Biden<\/a>\u00a0renewed calls to ban AR-15s. \u201cI felt like these are outside forces, controlling my rights,\u201d he said. So he bought a rifle. Then a Glock. \u201cI thought, \u2018If I don\u2019t get one now. I may never be able to.\u2019\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Soon, he was filming in the desert. The formula was simple: ski mask, ear protection, gun in hand, steel plates ringing in the background. No political speeches, just the sound of bullets hitting metal. He now has more than 2,600 subscribers and 800 videos, most only a few seconds long.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
For Osse, the appeal is less about recognition than sharing what he calls \u201cthe joys of guns, plain and simple.\u201d His clips are part of a sprawling YouTube subculture dubbed GunTube, where firearms content racks up billions of views. Once the domain of veterans and shop owners, it now draws a younger, more varied crowd of creators focused on personal protection and tactical know-how.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Asked if being Haitian-born shapes his views, he didn\u2019t hesitate. \u201cAbsolutely. It makes me appreciate my U.S. rights,\u201d he said, pointing to Haiti\u2019s collapse. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have a weapon, you are at the mercy of whatever the gangs want to do to you or your loved ones. What do we do if something similar happens in the U.S.?\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What fascinates him most about firearms is also what makes him cautious. \u201cThe immediate responsibility and power of life and death,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re a good-hearted person, you don\u2019t have to ever worry about using it.\u201d<\/div>\n
He isn\u2019t a political firebrand. \u201cI got my opinions, but I mostly keep it to myself.\u201d Still, his convictions are clear: \u201cWe are not slaves, and we have a God-given right to protect ourselves. To choose not to own a gun is fine, but to take others\u2019 rights away is absurd.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
For now, his main concern is practical: more bans. He\u2019s stocking up on what he fears might soon be prohibited.<\/div>\n
One August afternoon, he drove me west of Salt Lake City, toward Stansbury Island, where a few other shooters dotted the flats.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Osse shoots about four times a month, with no fixed schedule. What draws him back is partly the gear, but it\u2019s also the calm. \u201cIt\u2019s nice and peaceful. \u2026 You can just turn the world off.\u201d For him, shooting is recreation and meditation. \u201cSome people like to hike. \u2026 This is my nature time.\u201d<\/div>\n
He smiled at the steel plates in the distance. \u201cI like being out here and not thinking about nothin\u2019 and just hitting some steel.\u201d<\/div>\n

The cautious carrier<\/h2>\n
Ray P.\u2019s decision to carry a gun came during the COVID-19 pandemic, as videos showed Asian Americans being knocked to the ground while prosecutors declined serious charges. \u201cThat\u2019s when my worry came back up,\u201d he said. \u201cGot to protect myself. Got to protect my wife.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
In California, immigrants overall remain\u00a0less likely<\/a>\u00a0to own firearms \u2014 about 6% compared to 18% of all adults statewide. But Asian American ownership spiked in response to pandemic-era hate crimes.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Ray, a 45-year-old South Korean immigrant who has lived in California since childhood, was one of them. He already owned a gun, but the surge of attacks, combined with the Supreme Court\u2019s\u00a0Bruen<\/em>\u00a0decision, which made it easier to obtain concealed-carry permits, pushed him to apply for one. \u201cI hope never to have to use it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut better to have it and not need it than the other way around.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Ray was 5 when his family left South Korea for Los Angeles. They settled in a Korean enclave, but his parents pressed him to assimilate. They were archetypal immigrants: hardworking, traditional, intent on keeping their heads down.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
That creed was upended during the Rodney King riots. Until then, Ray had seen guns only in movies. Suddenly, he watched Koreans on the nightly news, people who looked like his parents, standing on rooftops with rifles and handguns to defend their stores. One man in a vest fired into the air, and Ray recalls, \u201cThat just blew my mind.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What struck him even more was his father\u2019s reaction. Watching the footage, his father said it was good that those shopkeepers were armed. \u201cOnly in this country can immigrants like us defend our livelihoods and our lives,\u201d he told Ray. \u201cNo other government would trust us to do that.\u201d<\/div>\n
For Ray, it was a revelation. \u201cThat was when I realized good guys can own guns too,\u201d Ray said.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Years later, early in his tech career, Ray became the target of a fired manager\u2019s threats. \u201cWhat worried me most was that the guy probably knew where I lived.\u201d Dating the woman who later became his wife, Ray decided he needed protection. A police officer friend told him a restraining order was useless and instead taught him how to shoot. \u201cOh, I was shaking,\u201d Ray recalled. \u201cEvery shot I flinched. I remember thinking, \u2018Oh my God, I\u2019m holding something that can kill someone.\u2019\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Pandemic-era attacks against Asian Americans didn\u2019t so much surprise him as confirm an old fear. \u201cNo matter how American we are, we\u2019ll always be seen as outsiders.\u201d What did surprise him was the timing: Just as\u00a0Bruen<\/em>\u00a0made it easier to carry, California legislators moved to claw it back with Senate Bill 2, which effectively banned concealed carry almost everywhere. Ray applied quickly, trained, and qualified before the law took effect. \u201cI was livid,\u201d he said. \u201cThe one means I had to protect my loved ones, they came to take away as soon as it was granted.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The fight left him politically unmoored. He once leaned Democratic but now felt abandoned. \u201cI don\u2019t identify with either side \u2014 they don\u2019t care about me. Just another tally on the Asian American experience: you never truly belong.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Ray doesn\u2019t see guns as a hobby. If anything, he sees them as a burden. \u201cTo this day, I still feel a little bit of fear when I carry,\u201d he told me. \u201cI think it\u2019s healthy to hold that fear and never get complacent.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
He practices to stay sharp, but shooting isn\u2019t fun. \u201cIt\u2019s more like going to the gym. It\u2019s something I feel like I should do.\u201d<\/div>\n
Carrying, he said, even changes how he drives. \u201cIf someone cuts me off \u2014 normally I might honk, flip them off. But when I\u2019m carrying, I just hit the brakes and let it go. Because when you\u2019re carrying, the backstop becomes lethal force, and there\u2019s absolutely no chance I want to deal with that.\u201d<\/div>\n
For him, restraint is the point. \u201cI don\u2019t feel empowered. I don\u2019t feel obligated to play hero. It\u2019s just to get me and my wife out, if it comes to it.\u201d<\/div>\n
He knows gun owners are often judged by their worst examples, but insists most are like him \u2014 cautious, quiet, and rule-bound. His wife, once shaken, came to trust his caution. \u201cShe knows I\u2019m not irresponsible,\u201d he said. \u201cNinety-nine percent of the time, the guns are in the safe.\u201d His parents know he owns a gun, but not that he carries, and he has no plans to tell them.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Ray also accepts regulations that many gun owners resent. \u201cAgainst the mantra of the Second Amendment folks, I do believe certain safety checks should be in place. If you can\u2019t navigate those hoops, maybe you shouldn\u2019t be owning a gun.\u201d Watching unsafe shooters fail qualification tests hardened that view: \u201cThis is a big responsibility, and people die if you don\u2019t take it seriously.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Ray works as a software engineering manager in Silicon Valley. At work, he keeps quiet about guns \u2014 a target-shooting club was shut down years ago in the name of maintaining a \u201crespectful workplace.\u201d \u201cI tend to be selective about who I talk to,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
For him, gun ownership is neither celebration nor crusade. \u201cIt\u2019s a necessary evil,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you have loved ones, you need to be ready to protect them.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
If his younger self could see him now, Ray said, he wouldn\u2019t be shocked so much as proud \u2014 proud to be living in America, exercising rights he never imagined he\u2019d claim. \u201cI have a good job, a wife I love, and I feel competent and able around a gun, which I never thought I\u2019d be able to say. More pride than surprise would be my reaction.\u201d<\/div>\n
America\u2019s gun culture is often cast as a pathology. To these immigrants, it looks more like proof of promise \u2014 a nation willing to trust even its newest citizens with the power to defend themselves.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trigger warning: Immigrants, armed and American It was a revolver, handed to her at a\u00a0Pennsylvania\u00a0range after years of quiet fascination \u2014 years spent in Brazil, where guns were the domain of criminals, police, or politicians, often overlapping categories. \u201cIt was like the forbidden fruit,\u201d she said. \u201cIn\u00a0Brazil, very few people own guns, legally. And I … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rkba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113574"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113580,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113574\/revisions\/113580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}