The Saint Gabriel Possenti Society is an organization promoting the public recognition of St. Gabriel Possenti, including his designation by The Vatican as the Patron Saint of Handgunners.
St. Gabriel Possenti was a Catholic seminarian whose marksmanship and proficiency with handguns allegedly saved the village of Isola, Italy from a band of 20 marauding bandits in 1860. However, the historical accuracy of this has been questioned.[1]
The Society was founded in 1989 by John Snyder, a Catholic layman and gun lobbyist, to broaden public support for self-defense through gun ownership and to promote the "historical, philosophical and theological bases for the doctrine of legitimate self-defense."