Chicago Reader

It’s a Saturday morning at the gun range in Orland Park, and pilates mats are set up in the VIP room—a first for me. To my left are chilled, handcrafted matchas and iced coffees, and to my right is a room full of semi-automatic pistols, revolvers, and rifles. Between three Palestinian-owned businesses—Cello Cafe, Olive Pilates Studio, and Eagle Sports Range—is one unusual, unlikely event.

It may sound like a 2026-word salad, but behind the local class is something real. Gun ownership amongst women in the U.S. is rising steadily and across party lines, and so is pilates. The women who showed up, some 30 miles south of Chicago, look nothing like the assumed demographic for either.

Read the full story: https://bit.ly/43x3ZdA

✍️ Gretchen Sterba
📸 Susanna Turner