Ermiya Fanaeian was still in high school when she organized one of the largest rallies to happen in the state of Utah to protest gun violence. She was the face on local television news stations speaking about the need to control gun violence. Today she is running a group that seeks to train and arm people in the LGBTQ community.

“My position shifted because of the continuous violence that I saw happening to trans women across the nation,” Fanaeian told QSaltLake Magazine. “Nothing was being done about violent attack after violent attack that was happening against working-class trans women.”

She said that she gave up on politicians solving the problem of murders most often perpetrated by those with guns.

“We kept protesting for years, and all politicians would do is end up letting the attackers off the hook with a slap on the wrist,” she said. “And often these were the same liberal politicians who were calling to disarm people...”