A national gun club built for Jewish people and their allies is setting up shop in Coventry, with organizers citing rising antisemitism and a desire for firearm preparedness as the driving force. Lox & Loaded will hold monthly meetings at Midstate Gun Company, and before anyone picks up a firearm, new members will have to clear a mandatory safety course scheduled for November 2.
The Rhode Island chapter is being launched with help from the Rhode Island Coalition for Israel, according to WPRI. Ken Schneider, board president of the coalition, said threats against Jewish organizations are part of what pushed the group to establish a local chapter. “There's a lot of Jew hate hatred going on out there and it's getting worse,” Schneider told Turn to 10, explaining why he believes Rhode Island needs its own chapter.
Membership runs $118 a year, per the station's report, and is open to anyone who considers themselves an ally of the Jewish community, regardless of religious background. Organizers say the chapter focuses on firearm safety, professional training and building a community, and that instructors will work individually with participants once the initial safety training wraps up, training both people who have never handled a firearm and experienced gun owners alike.
Safety First, Then the Range
The chapter's actual launch is a deliberately low-key affair. Its first official meeting is set for November 16, but organizers stress that the opening gathering will be a two-hour session with no shooting and no guns involved, the same account notes. Chapter members are invited to take Midstate Gun Company's mandatory basic safety course together on November 2, ahead of any live-fire training.
That emphasis on safety before shooting reflects the group's broader philosophy nationally. Lox & Loaded was co-founded by Gayle Pearlstein, a firearms instructor in Chicago who began offering free firearm lessons following the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. Pearlstein has said there was enough interest in those lessons to build a larger organization, one she has described as a “shoot-and-schmooze” group that provides both professional training and community connections.
Why Some Members Are Choosing Firearms
Organizers note that firearm training gives some members another option for protecting themselves, particularly because physical limitations can make certain hand-to-hand self-defense techniques difficult for some people. Lox & Loaded's membership reportedly includes people aged 65 or older, and the group frames a firearm as something that can give people in dangerous situations a few extra seconds and a choice.
Organizers say about 40 people have already expressed interest in the Coventry chapter. The broader numbers around the organization carry some discrepancy: Turn to 10 reported the Rhode Island chapter will be Lox & Loaded's 64th nationally, with roughly 2,000 members, while the Forward previously reported the group had attracted more than 1,000 members and 49 chapters nationwide. A separate CBS Chicago report found more than 200 people had signed up for the organization since its March launch, and noted that sales for firearm instruction had jumped some 60% since October 7, 2023, according to Pearlstein.
A Broader Pattern Nationally
Rhode Island's new chapter fits into a wider trend. The Forward reports that Lox & Loaded is one of several Jewish gun groups that has emerged nationally since the October 7, 2023 attacks, with many targeting first-time gun owners. That outlet also reported the National Rifle Association announced a partnership with Lox & Loaded granting access to NRA resources, described as the first partnership of its kind between the NRA and a Jewish group.
The data on antisemitism locally is mixed. According to Ocean State Media, the Anti-Defamation League recorded 26 antisemitic incidents in Rhode Island in 2025, down from 52 in 2024, with New England as a whole seeing 400 incidents compared with 638 the year before. Even so, the same report found that while overall incidents dropped, assaults and assaults involving deadly weapons increased, and the state continues to see more anti-Jewish incidents than it did before the October 7 attacks.
Midstate Gun Company, which will host the new chapter's monthly meetings, describes itself as Rhode Island's original indoor public shooting range, offering classes and hands-on, personalized instruction, according to its own site. For now, the Coventry chapter's immediate roadmap is simple: safety training in November, then a slower build toward the range, with organizers framing the whole effort around community and preparedness rather than confrontation.
