The Washington Post article on trans gun owners that I commented for in January is now out and I think the author, Hallie Lieberman, did a fine job.
Here is a Washington Post gift link to the article so you can decide for yourself.
I was pleased that my point captured in the title of this and the original post made it in the story:
“What’s happening today among trans people is in the tradition of people demanding their rights and saying that they’re willing to defend those rights with force if necessary,” Yamane said.
As a reminder, I am transitioning my writing on guns from this blog to my “Light Over Heat” Substack this spring. As here, there is no paywall over there so please sign up for a free subscription. (Of course, you can also opt to pay for a subscription if it fits your budget and you value my work.)
Original Post Follows
That’s it. That’s the post. That’s my answer to why so many nontraditional gun owners bought guns after November 6, 2024. And why other marginalized people have done so before them. As told to someone writing for the Washington Post yesterday. I hope it makes the cut.
Gun Culture 2.0 
“As a reminder, I am – transitioning – my writing on guns from this blog to my “Light Over Heat” Substack this spring.”
Pun intended? 😉
Glad your point made it through in context.
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Hahahaha. Totally unintended!
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“The shooter in the adjacent stall wore a sweatshirt emblazoned with “Jesus is My Savior/Trump For President” in large letters. If he noticed the shooters next to him, he didn’t let on.”
Setting aside the assumed gendering, note the implicit bias in this statement. Why would he “let on” anything, notice or not? Isn’t it possible he had no reaction because he didn’t -care-?
There is a narcissism involved here, that “I must be noticed and responded to” and if that need is not met, it must due to some disguised contempt or fear.
The idea that many, if not most, people don’t give a rat’s patootie about you or what you do as long as you leave them alone, appears a foreign concept to many iconoclasts of all stripes.
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My experience is that the vast majority of gun owners at a range don’t care who or what you are, except that you are a fellow shooter. And the people who make up the shooting community tend towards being helpful to new shooters.
As for the “Republicans playing on fear,” I see much more fear mongering coming from the left than the right.
All in all, EVERYONE has a right to self defense, regardless of race, creed, sexuality or gender identity so I have no problem at all with trans Americans arming themselves. Hell, I gave my trans daughter a pistol for protection several years ago and made sure knew how to safely use it.
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I could not get the article, so let me comment on what I see in the blog item itself.
The phrase “use force to defend our rights” is ambiguous, not least because trans people are wont to claim as “their rights” social rules to which no national consensus has ever been attained.
To avoid ambiguity which might be interpreted as an intention to commit murder if not allowed to have one’s way, let us more precisely say:
“Trans people have the same right to defend their lives under the statutes and case law concerning the use of deadly force in self-defense as anyone else.”
This includes defending themselves from murder (and murder of trans people is not unknown).
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“After the 10-day waiting period, she picked up the weapon and filled out a required form asking whether she was Latino.”
Welcome to the form 4473. That question has been on the form has been required since 1968 and has always included democratic questions.
Q9: Did previous versions of ATF Form 4473 include demographic questions?
Yes, per federal regulation, all previous versions of ATF Form 4473 have included demographic or identifying questions, including a question pertaining to race of prospective firearms purchasers. Title 27, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), section 478.124 (formerly 178.124), has required collection of information concerning the race and other identifying information of the transferee on Form 4473 since 1968.
https://www.atf.gov/firearms/atf-form-4473-faqs#:~:text=Title%2027%2C%20Code%20of%20Federal,on%20Form%204473%20since%201968.
And it is against federal law for the ATF to retain the information contained in a Form 4473 (although it appears that ATF may have an illegal database of 4473 information, but that has nothing to do with ethnicity).
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