The Second Amendment — the right the Constitution gives Americans to bear arms — is a hotly debated topic both within deeply political environments and in casual conversations between regular people. The amendment itself states that America will have “a well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state” and that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed”. The intention of this amendment is to keep within the rights of the people to arm themselves against a tyrannical government and those who are actors in tyranny.
The left being generally in favor of common-sense gun laws and control to manage the use of firearms and the right’s staunch advocacy for the possession of guns seems to leave no room for a middle ground. Despite these clear and obvious sides of the debate, recent activities have muddied the waters of what each side truly believes. Do conservatives believe in protecting guns at all costs? Do leftists believe no one should have them at all? It’s more complicated than that, and nothing highlights this more than the Department of Justice’s recent proposal to restrict the use of guns for trans folks.
In light of the recent shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis, allegedly committed by a 23-year-old trans person, our federal government has been discussing classifying trans identities as a mental illness and therefore impeding a trans person’s ability to get ahold of firearms. Killing two children and injuring 21 others is an atrocity and reminds us of the necessity of managing the use of firearms and how we can prevent such events in the future. However, being trans is not what made this horrible event happen and it does not honor the victims to seize this moment for political gain and to spread lies about innocent trans people. Hate will only fan the flames of gun violence that has seen the death of thousands and will kill thousands more.
Regardless of what you believe about guns and the Second Amendment, this is a clear violation of the rights of Americans and is targeting one of the most marginalized and vulnerable groups in this country. The Bill of Rights does not care who you are, what you look like, what you believe in or what you identify as. These rights are intended to apply to every American citizen, and any attempt at making this no longer true is dangerous, hypocritical and emphasizes the state of regression America is heading toward. While many take advantage of their Second Amendment rights, the government is trying to take them away from those who are most vulnerable.
Let’s take a look at some statistics. According to The Gun Violence Archive, within the last decade, less than 1% of shootings involving four or more people were carried out by someone who identified as transgender. By contrast, Everytown states that “more than 70% of homicides of transgender people involve a firearm, with disproportionate impacts on black trans women.” In the same study, they concluded trans people are two-and-a-half times more likely to be victims of homicide compared to their cisgender counterparts. It’s not difficult to see a correlation here. Trans people, making up only 0.95% of the U.S. population, are far less likely to perpetrate shootings and are far more likely to be victims. However, people like Benny Johnson, an alt-right YouTube commentator, want you to believe that the “trans movement is radicalizing the mentally ill into becoming violent terrorists who target children for murder.”
This rhetoric that trans people are dangerous manipulators who intend to cleanse the cis population through gun violence and grooming is not only undeniably false, but also incredibly dangerous. Trans people are already particularly victimized by gun violence. Lies from bad faith actors will only increase the deaths of this population.
On top of this, the targeting of trans people as supposed violent individuals ignores the larger source of deaths due to a firearm: cis white men. From the Rockefeller Institute of Government mass shootings factsheet, 54.4% of perpetrators are white, and overwhelmingly male at 95.3% as of September 8, 2025. Despite this information about mass shooters and repeated calls to action, conservatives insisted upon protecting the right to bear arms. But now that a single trans person committed an act of violence, it’s gun control as far as the eye can see.
It is clear that this dramatic shift in opinions on gun control laws is not to protect victims or to prevent further violence, but instead to crack down on those the government seeks to marginalize. The right’s “rules for thee but not for me” mindset means that the only group who will have regular access to weapons that are consistently responsible for the murder of innocent and unprotected demographics are those who statistically cannot be trusted with them. Trans people were never and never will be the problem, and at a time where their protection is needed the most, their right to bear arms is being threatened and will likely be taken away.