When Sheima Muhammad takes her Glock pistol to her local gun range in central Ohio, she gets funny looks. As a 25-year-old woman, she stands out from the other customers, who are mostly older men. Then there is the matter of her head scarf.

“I don’t get looked at like a normal person who’s just trying to protect themselves,” said Ms. Muhammad, who emigrated from Turkey as a baby with her family, who are Kurds, and is a naturalized American citizen.

American Muslims like Ms. Muhammad say they own guns for the same reasons as anyone else: for protection, for hunting and sport shooting, for gun and rifle collections or for their work.

They also cite another factor: fear of persecution, at a time when hate crimes against Muslims have soared to their highest levels since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

But owning a gun is no assurance of security. Muslim gun owners are viewed with suspicion by gun stores, ranges and clubs, and occasionally met with harassment.

Sheima Muhammad Goes to the range once a week, but doesn’t feel welcome

Ms. Muhammad said she decided to buy a pistol after a frightening encounter with a stranger in the parking lot of the grocery store where she worked in Columbus.

“I just felt defenseless,” she recalled. “I did not feel like I could protect myself. It took a toll on me even until today. I’m overcautious, always watching my back.”

She goes to the gun range once a week.

“People stare at me and look me up and down, kind of like: ‘What are you doing owning a gun? We know what you people do with the guns,’” she said. “I walk into the place and I feel like an alien.”

Sheima Muhammad, a Kurdish-American who emigrated from Turkey, worked out at a gym in Columbus, Ohio.

A Pew Research Center survey of American Muslims last year found that nearly half said they had experienced discrimination: 32 percent reported being treated with suspicion; 19 percent said they had been called offensive names; and 6 percent said they had been physically threatened or attacked.

Muslims represent about 1 percent of the United States population, and there is no reliable data on how many own guns. Of a dozen Muslim gun owners interviewed recently in Florida, Ohio, Oklahoma and Virginia, most said they had faced skepticism and even hostility.

Gun ranges and gun shops in several states have declared themselves “Muslim-free zones.”

One gun range owner in Arkansas, Jan Morgan, gained national attention in 2014 when her business was one of the first to declare a ban on Muslims. (She used her newfound prominence to run for governor, losing in the Republican primary last month.)

In Florida, a gun store and range that banned Muslims was sued for discrimination in 2015. The suit was dropped, but the company still sells bumper stickers that proclaim it “Muslim-free.”