The Nazis Took the Jews’ Guns First Too
Conservatives have proposed taking the right to bear arms from trans Americans, here is what trans gun owners have to say.
by Adelaide Kung
Recently, the Trump administration has publicly proposed a total ban on firearm sales to transgender people. While this was widely criticized by many papers including the Associated Press and the Independent, the crucial piece missing is the trans gun owners themselves. Reasons why trans people buy guns are rarely discussed. To understand the issue it is extremely important to understand why trans people are interested in buying guns. In order to do this, I spoke with several trans gun owners in various parts of the United States
“One of Hitler’s first acts was to strip all Jews of their rights to own a firearm,” said a trans gun owner and advocate for self defense who asked to go by the alias жрец (pronounced zhrets). "With the news that the Trump administration plans to do the same I think it’s extraordinarily pertinent to get armed. If conservatives say LGBT people can’t have something, you damn well should have it.”
Many Americans have a monolithic and flawed perception of gun owners–a conservative white man in the rural regions of America driven by love of military culture and NRA rhetoric. However, an increasing number of people, including many trans people, are interested in firearms not because of this, but because of their vulnerability in an America increasingly characterized by anger, bigotry, and hate.
A trans gunsmith from Pennsylvania, who requested to remain anonymous, spoke with Assigned Media about her experiences with firearms. She brought up a violent incident where both she and her friend were attacked in an attempted hate crime, and where she used a firearm to ward off the attacker.
“There's a pretty massive overlap between gun rights and civil rights that people don't like to acknowledge, things like the abolition of slavery, the ending of segregation, the creation of the weekend,” she said. “[These] only happened through force or with the constant threat of force.”
According to the US Department of Justice’s National Crime Victimization Survey, roughly 100,000 people were victims of violent crime per year from 2018-2022. However, according to the NCVS statistics on transgender people in particular, trans people are about 2.5 times likely to be victims of those same violent crimes.
Based on early NCVS statistics (as of this decade, data is not collected on firearm self-defense in violent crime) , it seems that cases where a person has repelled an attacker by firing a gun are relatively low. However, the criminologist Gary Kleck conducted a survey by phone that found dramatically higher rates of gun self defense. He argued his results were more reliable because people would be much less likely to tell the federal government that they fired a gun at someone.
Most experts believe the numbers are somewhere between the NCVS’s low estimate and Kleck’s high estimate. The Socialist Rifle Association, a left-wing gun rights organization, explained that many cases of self defense using guns do not actually involve firing the gun or police intervention. Gary Kleck’s data supports this, as according to his study less than a third of gun self defense use actually involved firing the gun. This suggests that the NCVS may have underreported certain types of gun self-defense where a gun is used but never fired.
Over the course of an interview with an anonymous trans gunsmith from Pennsylvania, I heard another testimony of having used firearms in self defense. When I asked about her experiences with violent crime, she mentioned using a handgun and assault rifle in order to preserve her own life, and that she was able to deter the perpetrator with a handgun entirely.
There are, of course, important precautions to take with a firearm. Regular shooting range practice is important for both safety and efficacy, and openly carrying a weapon involves more risk than having a concealed weapon. Additionally, the Socialist Rifle Association representative advised to avoid investing in expensive modifications of a weapon before learning basic proficiency. “Firearms are not a magic talisman that wards off violence, but simultaneously a skill and a tool,” their representative explained, “Both sides of this coin need to be invested in with dedicated training and education to be properly employed in self defense. Those with honed skills and tools are far better off when met with violence.”
Many members of the trans community have no interest in owning a firearm, which is a perfectly valid choice. However, the trans community is frequently in danger of violence due to the hatred of those around us, and for some people proficiency with a firearm can be a valuable tool for personal or communal safety. Whether we like it or not, we are facing increased danger in a land full of violence. We must exercise our rights as needed, and we cannot deny ourselves needed means.
Adi Kung is a journalist, writer and poet. She currently resides in New York.