These sex workers in Minneapolis never thought they would own a gun. Then ICE came to town
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CN is afraid of guns. She’s never imagined herself with a weapon, but on this day she’s holding an unloaded gun as part of a ‘dry fire’ class at the Sex Workers Outreach Project office in Minneapolis, better known as SWOP. She and others in the class are learning how to hold and point a handgun.
She says she has felt more nervous after Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti were shot and killed by federal agents last month. Pretti was legally carrying a firearm, which led to conversations around second amendment rights during the surge.
CN’s story is similar to other Minnesotans with immigrant roots. CN asked MPR News not to use her full name out of fear for her safety. Her uncle is an immigrant and was recently detained by agents when they were looking for someone else. She worries her dad and grandma who don’t speak much English will be racially profiled.
She feels hopeless. This disempowerment has led her to consider learning gun safety.
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“It’s scary, I don’t even know how to put it into words. I feel like I have to protect me and my family and everyone that I love,” she said. “I’ve never been interested in it before. I haven’t been to a range before, but I think knowing the safety behind it is really important. Especially if I come across handling a gun in any situation.”
The surge of federal agents in Minnesota intensified in January, and with it has come an increase in the number of applications for permits to carry firearms. According to the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, more than 8,200 permit to carry applications were filed in January. That's an increase of 74 percent compared to the number of permits applied for in January 2025.
The data alone doesn’t explain why more people are seeking gun permits in the midst of the ICE enforcement surge. However, a similar pattern emerged in 2020 during the upheaval and disruption caused by the pandemic and the murder of George Floyd by a police officer. Those permit applications spiked in the metro area, which also experienced a rash of violent crime that summer. Unlike in 2020, crime in Minneapolis has been on a downward trend.
Athena Papagiannopoulos, the operations and program director for SWOP, said the idea to host a class came from sex workers sharing that they wanted more protection as ICE agents descended on the city. Sex workers are people who engage in consensual acts like stripping, dancing or camera work.
They shared with MPR News that regardless of the area they work in, clients are coming in less, clubs are empty and they believe agents patrolling the area are deterring business. And for women of color in the field, they said they feel less safe at work due to reports of agents at adult entertainment venues.
“A lot of sex workers are so fearful. They’re already losing their incomes, a lot of them can’t go to clubs or get new clients because they’re just very scared. We don’t know who ICE is, or who is an agitator,” she said.
None of the participants in the class say they’ve been personally threatened at their work places by federal agents, but some say they know someone who has had some kind of confrontation with them.
The organization has done self-defense classes in the past, but when they posted the heart-themed “Girls Got Guns” advertisement for their free permit to carry class, it filled almost immediately.
It was important for SWOP to offer the class for free to remove any barriers sex workers may have. Papagiannopoulos, who is a permit-carrying gun owner, said she wanted attendees to feel comfortable with the responsibility of gun ownership and safety and that it pairs as another form of harm reduction the organization practices.
“Whether they have to use it or don’t, it’s better to know something and not need to do it than to not know and have to do it,” she said. “With the ICE situation, it made it even more of a ‘this can happen to anyone’ and especially (to) femmes. You can’t rely on others and even if someone does come to your aid, they could also be killed.”
The class went through safety training, practicing holds and stances in the pink-dominated space. Posters reading “Minneapolis Supports Strippers” and “F--- 12,” a phrase used against law enforcement, decorate the walls. Between lessons, guests in velour tracksuits and animal prints mill about, grabbing pizza and drinks and talking about what life has been like lately with the surge and the common theme: that none of them quite expected to ever take this type of class.
Position, point and shoot
After the dry fire instruction was over, the group packed up for the gun range. Carpools began to Stock & Barrel Gun Club in Eagan for a live fire class. The first-time shooters start with instructors on hand, and as the sound of the bullets fill the gallery, the group’s anxiousness turns into a steady calm. They position, point and shoot.
Manuel Manchea, the founder of Atlas Defense, helps guide them, but he’s careful to let them lead. He says his business, which focuses on de-escalation tactics and first-time gun owners, has been booked seven days a week for the last month.
A sort of rhythm takes over as participants go in and out, waiting their turn. Some come back with different guns and more confidence. Others finish up and debrief in the lobby.
Aaliyah thought about getting a gun after George Floyd’s death, but she says she was too scared. This day felt different. She asked MPR News not to use her full name in order to protect her safety. She’s older now, serving the community more and not letting her insecurities get in her head. If she was going to take a class, she wanted it to be in community.
“I have the people that I had before the club, but then there’s that piece missing. They don't fully understand what I’m going through. I think it’s really nice to be able to do this with people who also know the risks that we take,” she said, “versus a friend who has a nine-to-five. And she’s like, ‘Hopefully this never happens to me,’ and when I go to the club I’m usually wondering, ‘Is tonight the night?’”
Before the class, Aaliyah had seen guns but never held one. While she isn’t sure if she will pursue a permit, she wants to be prepared and learn more in the name of representation. For women in her family, guns have usually been a source of trauma; but after she finished shooting, she felt a mix of emotions.
“I feel like there’s something oddly healing about doing this as a woman. I can still be scared and still get myself to stand up for myself. It was like, even in terror, I’m gonna love me and pick up this gun and know what to do with it.” she said.
SWOP plans continue a sex worker-only gun club twice a month moving forward, with a dry and live-fire class.
