Removing Tinfoil Hats: America’s School Shooting Problem is Real. Transgender Students Aren’t to Blame
Removing Tinfoil Hats: America’s School Shooting Problem is Real. Transgender Students Aren’t to Blame
America has a school shooting problem.
That’s not news—at least it shouldn’t be to anyone paying attention. Schoolchildren in the United States experience gun violence at rates unseen in other developed nations.
According to a CNN report released yesterday, there have been at least 46 school shootings in 2024 alone, leaving 24 people dead, 62 injured, and countless more traumatized. So why is it that time and again, right-wing conspiracy theorists blame “transgenderism” after each tragedy?
The answer is both simple and disturbing: A coordinated disinformation campaign exists among right-wing influencers and pundits aimed at demonizing transgender students for their own cheap political gain (looking at you, Chaya Raichik).
The latest example came just last week, following the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School in Georgia, where two teachers and two students were killed on the first day back to school. Shortly after the attack, a widely-shared Facebook post falsely claimed, “Every single mass school shooting in the last two years has been carried out by a transgender individual.” This blatant lie was accompanied by a doctored image of the shooter wearing a trans pride shirt and a “Kamala 2024” hat.
In reality, evidence released by the FBI shows that the shooter was neither transgender nor sympathetic to the transgender community. In fact, the individual had expressed frustration on social media that transgender people were being accepted by society.
This isn’t an isolated incident. Similar false claims were made earlier this year about the perpetrator of the Lakewood Church shooting in Texas. These lies gained traction even among elected officials, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Sen. Josh Hawley, both of whom shared them on social media. Once again, a cisgender shooter was used as a vehicle to smear the transgender community.
The fact is, transgender students do not pose a threat to their peers. Data from the Gun Violence Archive, which has tracked mass shootings since 2013, shows that less than 1% of all mass shootings have been committed by a transgender or nonbinary suspect. In school shootings, that figure is under 2%.
So what do these shooters have in common? Their access to AR-15-style rifles. From Sandy Hook to Covenant to Apalachee, America’s most popular rifle has been a consistent factor in school shootings. The disinformation campaign linking school shooters to transgender people is not only a lie but a distraction from the real problem: gun violence.
The right wing’s fixation on scapegoating marginalized groups prevents us from having the critical conversations needed to implement effective gun safety legislation.
In the end, pushing false narratives about transgender shooters is a disgusting and irresponsible attempt to divert attention from real solutions. Instead of spreading hate, we need to focus on addressing the root causes of gun violence and creating policies that actually protect our children.
Facts.