MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Winter is usually Mick Sharpe’s slow season.
The founder of Protection Far Left of Center teaches firearms and self-defense training courses for people who lean left, politically. He typically holds two or three concealed carry classes a month with between five and eight participants in each course.
But in the weeks since Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has blanketed the Twin Cities, and federal agents killed two people, Sharpe has held twice-weekly classes for between 25 and 30 participants. And he is booked into July.
Data reveals ‘tipping point’ for permits
The sharp spike in demand isn’t limited to Sharpe’s classroom. Public records obtained by Straight Arrow News reveal a marked increase in the number of residents applying for gun permits. Other firearms instructors catering to either historically or outright left-leaning groups say the surge has been immense. National gun groups are also seeing a boost in interest.
“It’s been pretty insane as far as the numbers go,” Sharpe said. “And it’s not just carry permit classes either. It’s less lethal classes. It’s situational awareness. It’s pretty much everything that I offer.”
What Sharpe has seen, data shows, is the tip of an iceberg in another ICE tipping point: How Minnesotans — especially politically liberal Minnesotans — feel about guns and the right to arm themselves for their own safety.
“This feels different because it is an order of magnitude above even the last couple elections in terms of interest in Second Amendment rights,” said Edward Garner, executive director of the Liberal Gun Club, a national organization that promotes Second Amendment rights amongst the political left.
Garner said in all of 2025, his group received between 2,000 and 3,000 inquiries about training and membership. Through the first week of February 2026 alone, the organization received 1,700.
A 280% surge: Minnesotans tool up
Minnesota issues two types of gun permits: concealed carry and purchase. Purchase permits are handled by local police departments, while county sheriff’s offices oversee concealed carry.
Both types allow legal firearms purchases, and each requires a background check.
Proof of basic firearms training is required to receive a concealed carry permit, which is good for five years. This training includes classroom education on firearm handling, legal fundamentals and self-defense as well as live shooting. Permit applicants must turn in their certification via an in-person appointment with the sheriff’s office, which can delay permitting based on availability.
Purchase permits are less restrictive and only require an application turned in to the local police department or sheriff’s office. The application is free and good for one year.
Both types of gun permit applications have increased significantly year-over-year in the Twin Cities, according to data obtained by SAN.
Purchase permit applications more than tripled in Minneapolis, jumping from 112 in January 2025 to 350 in January 2026. St. Paul saw a similar spike of 280%, from 90 in January 2025 to 250 in January 2026.
Concealed carry permits also showed significant growth, though given the need for training, these permits are considered a lagging indicator.
In January 2025, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, which covers Minneapolis, received 691 total permit applications, excluding the 160 for “information changes,” such as updating names or addresses. That spiked to 1,239 applications in January 2026, excluding 200 for information changes.
Neighboring Ramsey County, where St. Paul is located, showed less growth, bumping from 292 in January 2025 to 369 in January 2026. However, local firearms instructors told SAN Ramsey County also offers fewer appointment times for residents to turn in their paperwork. As of Feb. 18, the earliest appointment available to submit concealed carry applications on the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office website was April 20.
The data obtained by SAN, via public data requests, also hints that the killings of Renee Good on Jan. 7 and Alex Pretti on Jan. 24 had a measurable effect.
Just 12 people submitted purchase permit applications in St. Paul from Jan. 2 to Jan. 7, an average of around three per day. From Jan. 8 through Jan. 23 — the day prior to Pretti’s killing — the department received 154 applications, averaging around 15 per day.
In the three remaining days of the month to submit applications after Pretti’s killing, 59 people submitted purchase permit applications, averaging 20 per day — a sevenfold increase over the beginning of the month.
A new ‘range’ of diversity
Kimmy Hull, 54, founded Sequeerity in 2017. The bouncer and security professional started by providing consulting and security for queer events and educating non-queer venues on best practices.
After George Floyd’s 2020 murder by Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin, Hull — a self-described “military brat” who is comfortable around guns — received an influx of business inquiries. She began offering safety classes on gun basics and, as a person of color, noticed a gap in the firearm education market.
“It really brought to my attention the need for POC instructors to teach other POCs,” Hull told SAN. “Because the biggest complaint I heard was nobody wanted to go to an ex-cop or an ex-vet who happened to be white, because what they’re teaching you is the response as an ex-cop they want you to see or want you to do.”
She taught one concealed carry course each month. Before Good’s killing, Hull’s class scheduled for Jan. 18 had two people signed up. By Jan. 8, the day after Good’s killing, Hull had 100 emails asking about course offerings.
“By the time the class came around, we had to stop adding people because it was just filled up,” Hull said.
Sequeerity added three more classes between Jan. 8 and her next regularly scheduled class on Feb. 15. Normally, Hull teaches between 10 and 15 students per class. Recently, she had to bump her limit from 40 to 60.
She’s booked through April.
Public permitting data doesn’t identify applicants’ political leanings. But instructors, like Hull and Sharpe, say there’s no mistaking this trend: Left-leaning Minnesotans are at the heart of the increase.
The surge is not confined to outright political organizations. David Taylor, CEO of Stock and Barrel Gun Club, a range and training facility with locations in suburban Eagan and Chanhassen, said his club is expressly apolitical. His concealed carry courses are fairly diverse, serving a lot of women and people of color.
In the wake of Good and Pretti’s killings, Taylor said the club has quadrupled its offerings. Classes are booked months out, and Taylor did not expect that to slow any time soon.
“A normal month, we would have about 150 openings,” Taylor said. “We have gone to about 150 seats per week. And that’s per location.”
The demographics also make sense. Hennepin and Ramsey counties skew heavily Democratic. Vice President Kamala Harris won each by around 43 percentage points in the 2024 election, amongst the largest spreads of metropolitan counties in the country. Ramsey County is tied for the seventh-longest streak of voting Democratic for president, last going Republican in 1924. Hennepin County hasn’t voted for a Republican since 1972.
“People are scared is really what it comes down to,” Sharpe said. “Folks are looking for pretty much anything that helps them to feel some degree of empowered about the situation.”
Kim Austell, 65, of St. Paul, founded People of Color in Support of the Second Amendment, or POCIS, in early 2020.
The group, co-founded with his wife, Robin, caters to people of color interested in firearms through courses and community events.
Austell keeps his classes small, and provides unlimited shooting lessons, covers range fees and supplies ammunition. Families can join for free since Austell believes everyone who lives in a home with a gun should be educated, even if they don’t plan to get a permit themselves.
Austell said he noticed interest in gun ownership amongst communities of color increased somewhat since President Donald Trump’s first term.
“I had people that was like, ‘No handguns. No, I don’t need a handgun. I don’t need to carry one around,’” Austell said. “And telling me, actually what I was doing wasn’t a good thing for the community. But a lot of those people have decided to come sit in my class now.”
He typically capped his courses at about eight participants. He has been steadily booked for weeks in advance and is exploring a larger classroom that can hold 20 or 30 at a time to keep up with demand.
And he’s noticed something about the makeup of his classes.
“I’m getting a lot of white people in my classes now that are afraid after they’ve seen white people can be murdered out in the open and people can say, ‘No, that’s not what you saw. Don’t believe your eyes,’” Austell said. “So they’re afraid. And a lot of people of color are saying, ‘Well, if they’re killing white people out in the open, just imagine what they’re going to do to us.’”
Fear hits home: Lawyers, doctors and new gun owners
While the surge in permit applications is significant, it is not unprecedented. At the current rate, concealed carry applications in Hennepin County would be just shy of 2021’s record: 17,527.
However, unlike 2021, this wave wasn’t preceded by months of pent-up pandemic demand, or from a Democrat entering the Oval Office — which often leads to a spike in gun sales and interest from conservative gun owners who fear coming restrictive gun laws.
This time, one significant driving factor is bringing liberals into the fold.
“Alex Pretti and Renee Good were white, middle class Americans,” said Garner of the Liberal Gun Club. “It’s done something to the psyche of folks who have seen those things. And it was all televised.”
Hull said she has noticed that difference from the jump in interest after Floyd’s murder.
“When George Floyd was murdered, the majority of people coming to us were people of color. The biggest jump in gun ownership was women of color during that time period,” Hull said. “This time around, we’re still getting a ton of people of color. We always get a ton of queers coming in. But there are a whole lot of white people coming in right now.”
And Sharpe said he’s also seeing a shift in age: After Good, most of the surge in his classes was in the 25-30 age range. After Pretti, he’s seeing more in the 30-50 age range.
“We’re talking lawyers. We’re talking doctors. We’re talking homeowners and that kind of thing,” Sharpe said.
It’s also becoming a neighborhood-wide effort.
“Certainly, there’s always been the idea of a group of two or three, but I’ve never seen it with the regularity I’m seeing it now,” Sharpe said. “Which leads me to believe people are getting together and talking about these things. They’re making these plans. They’re coming up with things that might look like real community self-defense. ‘What do we do if it’s in our neighborhood? What now?’ And that feels new.”
Other recent events have compounded the immediacy. The state was rocked by the assassination of former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark; the shooting of state Sen. John Hoffman, his wife, Yvette; and the attempted shooting of his daughter in June. After a two-day manhunt, police arrested 57-year-old Lance Boelter, saying he disguised himself as law enforcement to carry out a hit list of Democratic politicians.
ICE and other Homeland Security officers have operated without identifying themselves, clad in masks and general tactical gear, carrying weapons with no badges present. The look is easily replicable and multiple people have already been charged with impersonating ICE agents to commit crimes.
An unlikely alliance: When then left and right agree
Pretti’s killing has resulted in a novel overlap between the traditional conservative gun crowd and liberals. Pretti was legally carrying a firearm when confronted by a group of officers. Video of the altercation shows he never reached for his pistol. However, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem labeled him a domestic terrorist, using his legal firearm as proof.
Noem tepidly walked back the statement after the gun lobby, including the National Rifle Association, which often aligns with the Trump administration, denounced Noem’s characterization of Pretti’s gun as proof he planned to shoot officers.
Sharpe said that’s led to conservative pro-gun advocates and newfound gun-toting liberals doing something rare in this polarized environment: agreeing.
“It seems like all of a sudden, the right and the left found something they can finally agree on,” he said. “All of a sudden, the general philosophy has become we might not agree on anything else, but we’re on the same side on this. And for now, that’s enough.”
The post Minneapolis gun permits surged after January ICE killings: Exclusive appeared first on Straight Arrow News.