The nutcase right wing is trying to pin gun violence on trans people, and calling for either taking away their 2nd Amendment rights (*) or just putting all trans people in camps. Here are some fun facts:
- 94.6% of mass shootings are committed by a solitary cisgender man.
- 3.8% of mass shootings are committed by a solitary cisgender woman.
- 0.7% of mass shootings are committed by a trans person. (But about 2.7% of the population self-identifies as trans or nonbinary.) (Note, this statistic does come from a different source than the above two, which did not consider trans people at all. The definition of “mass shooting” varies somewhat. But it is known that of the approx. 3400 mass shootings in the past 5 years, at most three of the shooters were trans. There is often a rush to spread rumors and disinformation about shooters being trans when they are not, as part of society’s general transphobia.)
- 96.6% of lone actor terrorists are cisgender men.
- Men are twice as likely as women to personally own a gun. Men are conditioned to see themselves as protectors, warriors, hunters etc. Guns are marketed in a very masculine manner. And social pressure is more likely to push men to suppress emotions, internalize trauma, act out violently and feel a need to “prove” their masculinity.
- 63% of murders overall are committed by cisgender men.
- 86% of US mass shootings are committed with legally owned firearms.
- The only countries with higher rates of violent gun deaths than the US are those rife with drug trafficking and political unrest. A huge majority of the guns used in those countries came from the US, and the US is also the biggest market for illegal drugs.
- There are more guns than people in America. If guns made you safer, we’d be the safest country in the world. We absolutely are not.
- 72% of gun owners claim that it’s for protection. But having a gun in your household makes you 2x as likely to die by homicide, 3x as likely to die by suicide, and 7x more likely to be killed by your spouse, than not having a gun in your home. Guns are 6x more likely to be used to intimidate and abuse a family member than to be used in defense.
- Even in most “self-defense” claims by gun owners shooting people, they were never in danger and no violent response was justified.
- Despite NRA claims, the 2nd amendment has never, ever protected anyone in the US from “government oppression” and never will.
(*) I am really not a fan of the cult of guns, if you can’t tell. The 2nd amendment dates from the age of muskets, before the US had its own military or even local police, and people seem to forget the whole “well-regulated militia” part entirely.
But if it applies, it applies to everyone. If 2nd amendment rights can be taken away from trans people, why not use the same justification to take away other rights? Or to take rights away from gay people… or women… or Black people… or non-Christians… or people who don’t vote for the ruling party.
Alright, for something a bit more fun, today is Bandcamp Friday and I expanded the collection. (I have concerns about the amount of storage space on my phone, and may have to more aggressively cull my music library…)
No reviews this time (at least not yet), but this is the new stuff:
I’m not at KnobCon this weekend where POB is performing again, but I at least caught up with recent releases. Plus some shoegaze, and…
Squirrel Nut Zippers got back together at some point. I thought they were gone forever after the short-lived swing revival of the 90s collapsed. I missed 2018’s Beasts of Burgundy as well as the 2020 Lost Songs of Doc Souchon (the only one available on Bandcamp). They’re also doing a “Jazz From the Back of Town” tour (not coming to STL, unfortunately) so perhaps another album release is in the pipeline.