Enge had been procrastinating about buying a gun. The soft-spoken 69-year-old grew up around firearms, and always wanted one to protect her household. But in her highly conservative region of inland California, most training courses were linked to the National Rifle Association (NRA), whose politics she hated.
Then, in early 2021, she realised that she was transgender, and suddenly the situation was different. Not only did she feel unsafe presenting as a woman in her community, but she could see conservative rhetoric about trans people growing increasingly hostile across the US.
