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The debate over gun reform escalated once again following the deadly school shooting in Nashville on March 27, much as it did after mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Buffalo, New York. What made this situation somewhat different is that the Nashville shooter was a female at birth who identified with male pronouns in social media accounts.
Republican lawmakers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA) questioned if hormones may have played a part in the shooting, and Fox News’ Tucker Carlson called the trans community Christianity’s natural enemy.
Straight Arrow News contributor David Pakman says it’s clear that conservatives are using the Nashville shooting to declare war on the trans community.
One of the things that’s important to remember is that mass shootings in the United States are so common, that very often media outlets don’t necessarily comment about every shooting. It’s like, oh, three people were killed in a shooting? Happens every day. Is it really a story? And, of course, the reality is, we just have to be honest about it. The vast majority of mass shooters in the U.S. are white men under age 25. That’s the typical profile.
It is different in Nashville, Tennessee. It was a trans person. And they never want to talk about the identity issue, except when it’s convenient for them. 2,500 mass shootings, 5,000 mass shootings and what, three or four have been non-binary or trans people–clearly no evidence that that is actually the problem. And then they go to their often used retorts: this isn’t about guns, it’s about mental health. Well, mental health may be a factor, I’m willing to concede that. So let’s better fund access to mental health treatment. Oh, no, they don’t want to do that. Wait, but didn’t you say mental health was the problem? Yeah, but we’re not going to fund it. Of course, now, they pathetically say the problem is drag shows as if a drag show had anything to do with this particular person showing up at this particular school. Sometimes they’ll say, ‘Well, thoughts and prayers, thoughts and prayers for the victims and thoughts and prayers to prevent more shootings,’ or whatever the case may be, and it doesn’t work. So I’m willing to take an all-of-the-above approach, but they don’t want to deal with the real issues, which are guns, and the toxic culture around guns in the United States.
