No gun, no shooting. That’s my firm stance regarding the American “right” to bear arms. (Read the Second Amendment and tell me how gun-owning Joe Citizen living in an apartment in Peoria is part of a “well regulated militia.”) When it comes to gun control, I’m firmly against gun possession unless someone is on the job in a militia-like position, say a police officer, security guard or member of the military.
That said, I’m also against stripping gun rights from certain people in the population while gun possession remains permissible to regular folks. The only exception I can accept is when someone is determined by a judge or a psychiatrist to be a threat to oneself or others. Safety then becomes a greater concern.
But gun advocates in the U.S. always blame the shooter and never see a problem with the existence and widespread ownership of guns. This blaming occurs following every mass shooting. Recently, two children were killed and eighteen were injured when a twenty-three-year-old shot up a Minnesota church. According to multiple reports, the shooter identified as transgender.
You can guess where this is going…
In addition to the obligatory, ineffectual thoughts and prayers, some people are calling for a ban on gun ownership for all people who are trans. If one shooter who happens to be trans can cause harm with legally-obtained guns then, by golly, maybe every trans person is similarly dangerous. Yes, preposterous.
It’s a slippery slope when laws start cherry-picking who has a certain right and who doesn’t. Such tactics are inherently discriminatory. The onus then falls on the government to show that the discrimination is justified.
According to a CNN article (and other news outlets), the Department of Justice is “seriously considering whether it can use its rulemaking authority to follow on to Trump’s determination to bar military service by transgender people and declare that people who are transgender are mentally ill and can lose their Second Amendment rights to possess firearms.”
My initial response was an eye roll. However, nothing said or associated with Trump can be dismissed as rhetoric. There are plenty of executive orders (including the ban on transgender people serving in the military) that have arisen from what might have once been considered idle threats and/or cheap talk to “rally the base.”
The argument for labelling people who identify as transgender mentally ill arises from the current DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) of the American Psychiatric Association. “Transgender” is not listed as a mental health condition but “gender dysphoria” is. There are nuanced differences in definitions such that gender dysphoria may only include some people who are transgender, that being those with “strong” desires or convictions associated with discontent regarding gender. The nuance can unfortunately feel tenuous.
As I’ve noted in previous posts (for example, here and here), because transgender people are a relatively small sector of the population (say, 2%) and are unlikely to vote Republican, they are easy targets of a conservative agenda seeking to demonize or freak-ify not just trans people but anyone who is anything under the LGBTQ umbrella.
I will admit I cringed when reports came out the shooter was trans. Trans people must be perfect citizens. There can be no opportunity for criticism or attack on account of the words or actions of any single person who identifies as trans or genderfluid. Conservatives froth. As noted in the CNN article, however, only five trans people have been perpetrators in the 5,700 mass shootings in the U.S. since 2013. (5,700! Let that number sink in. Clearly, mass shootings cannot be significantly reduced by banning guns as acts of politically-based tokenism.)
Selective gun bans are unlikely to be upheld in court. In January of this year, a federal appeals court struck down a law that prevented 18-20 year olds from buying handguns. I suspect any executive order, policy or law that restricts the gun ownership from people who are trans or even gender dysphoric will be deemed an overly broad infringement on the hallowed Second Amendment. Still, that talk and the contemplation further villainize and cast hate on the trans community. Damage is done.
This “serious” talk may go away within days. It may only be part of the blame game that conservatives play after every mass shooting. Blame videogames, blame a song, blame a book. Blame divorces, blame basement living, blame an affinity for Goth appearances. Just never, never blame guns.
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