Who We Are
The Mid-Missouri John Brown Gun Club is a community-defense organization based in Columbia, Missouri, rooted in direct action and mutual aid. We are anti-capitalist/-racist/-fascist/-patriarchy; we are pro-worker (we are workers!); we seek the abolition of policing and prisons. Without a hierarchy, we operate through direct democracy.
Community defense means many things to us. It includes offering basic training and education in safe and effective use of firearms, especially for marginalized groups and those uninterested in the hyper-masculine, often right-wing character of mainstream gun culture. Another aspect of community defense includes mutual aid programs. We work in solidarity with our neighbors to build a stronger, more just Columbia. We are motivated to build coalitions that challenge the status quo, which is currently dictated by the wealthy and politicians (of both parties) who do their bidding.
Ultimately, our community-defense strategies seek to effectively combat the inherent coercion, exploitation, and degradation of this white-supremacist, capitalist society. The Mid-Missouri John Brown Gun Club works for a Columbia that can withstand and resist this abuse while building a new world in the shell of the old.
What We Do
The Mid-Missouri John Brown Gun Club implements its philosophy of community defense through a variety of initiatives, including:
- a mobile soup kitchen and distribution services primarily directed at the local unsheltered population during winter months;
- public range days and workshops to instruct firearm usage;
- regular volunteer work at a local soup kitchen;
- brake light clinics to limit potential interactions with law enforcement;
- protest security;
- and support, financial and otherwise, for various efforts led by other groups, including a community bail fund and a recent nation-wide prison strike.
The John Brown Mobile Soup Kitchen operates in cold weather months, primarily serving Columbia’s unsheltered population. 
Mid-MO JBGC partners with Operation Safe Winter -CoMo for free store events.