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After 28-year-old school shooter Audrey Hale killed six people at a Christian school in Nashville, TN, conservative commentators wasted no time in using the shooter’s gender identity to explain the motive. Hale — who was born female but used male pronouns on social media — was receiving treatment for an “emotional disorder” but authorities haven’t tied her mental health to a motive. The question of whether or not mass shooters kill because they’re mentally ill has been studied and debated for years, but there isn’t an easy answer.
