You’ve likely seen the image with a bold text stating, “If one trans shooter makes you think all trans people are dangerous…” It’s a callout, a mic-drop moment, and necessary as hell. Because yes, people stay looking for reasons to hate trans folks and they’ll use any tragedy to do it.
But Who Are They Talking About?
The image is talking about a recent shooting involving Robin M. Westman, a transgender individual who carried out the Annunciation Catholic School shooting in Minneapolis on August 27, 2025. Two children were killed, and seventeen others were wounded. It was horrific and heartbreaking. Let’s be clear, this doesn’t mean all trans people are dangerous!
Data confirms what many of us already know that this narrative is built on fear-mongering and manipulation. The Violence Project and Gun Violence Archive data show that transgender individuals account for a vanishingly small fraction of mass shooters which is just 0.11% over the past decade. When it comes to school shootings specifically, trans perpetrators amount to just 2%. Just 2%!
And yet let’s face it, social media and conservative news all over the internet are quick to twist every rare case into a huge threat. They’re eager to inflate, distort, and shift blame. That’s how we end up with racist, xenophobic, and transphobic conspiracy laden narratives instead of calls to address gun violence.
Honey, I’m tired. We’ve seen this play before! When a Black person commits a crime, we’re painted as all criminals. When a Muslim person does, there’re all terrorists. Now it’s trans folks’ turn. This isn’t progress….it’s an extension of the same oppressive logic, repackaged.
Just like you wouldn’t judge me and the rest of us Black women by one person’s behavior, you can’t judge an entire marginalized community by one violent act. That’s scapegoating, plain and simple.
This faux outrage? It’s transphobia. Those folks are trying to distract you from the real problem: gun violence, inadequate mental health support, systemic failures in preventing massacres not “trans ideology.”
Let That Sink In
• It’s not a trend. These are rare cases, not a growing menace.
• The narrative is manufactured. They want trans people in the headlines so they can chase clicks and mask the fact that cis men commit the overwhelming majority of mass shootings .
• Don’t fall for it. Your empathy, energy, and solidarity are precious. Use them to fight real threats, not those invented to demonize already oppressed communities.
My Final Word!
As a Black woman, I’ve been watching “hate” dress itself as “concern” for years. I see the pattern. The weaponization of tragedy to humiliate, rile up fear, and consolidate power….yeah, I recognize that.
So next time someone tries to pivot a mass shooting into a case against trans people, call it out. This isn’t just deflection; it’s cruelty masquerading as outrage. We will not let the focus shift to transphobia under the disguise of concern.
Because we’re tired of “us versus them.” At the end of the day, we stand together….and that’s the real resistance.
As always have the day you voted for…
Yours Truly,
Day
