The proposed gun ban for trans people

The Trump administration trying to deny gun rights to trans people has very ugly implications. Many Trump supporters talk a lot about how gun ownership is a “fundamental human right” which provides a necessary bulwark against “tyrannical” government. Do the math.

A wise friend passed this along, from a person they respect who asked folks to share it without attribution:

However you feel about guns, please understand that the move to restrict trans people specifically from gun ownership would create legal precedent that is dangerous and far-reaching. We are in a very bad situation here.

I don’t post here anymore. I don’t trust US corporations or the United States, so, yeah.

But I’m going to do this post. Because right now, there is a very real move to ensure trans people in the US are stripped of their rights in a further step towards our extermination. The most recent bit is reported talks within the DOJ to consider us unable to own firearms.

Regardless of how you feel about gun ownership, I need you to understand how they plan on doing this: 18 USC 922(g)(4). It’s illegal to own a firearm if you’re “adjudicated as mentally defective”.

What this means? From the federal register:

A person is “adjudicated as a mental defective” if a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority has made a determination that a person, as a result of marked subnormal intelligence, mental illness, incompetency, condition, or disease:

• Is a danger to himself or to others;
• Lacks the mental capacity to contract or manage his own affairs;
• Is found insane by a court in a criminal case; or
• Is found incompetent to stand trial, or not guilty by reason of lack of mental responsibility, pursuant to articles 50a and 72b of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 850a, 876b.

Which means? They can in essence restrict the rights of every trans person to defend themselves in an increasingly hostile country with the wave of a hand by saying that by our trans status we are mentally defective.

I want you to think about what this means. It means, that by “adjudicating as mentally defective” every trans person in the United States, that the ability to imprison us without trial is right there, on the doorstep. I saw this coming 10 years ago. Everyone thought I was being paranoid. Unfortunately, I wasn’t.

So.

To my US based cis friends

There aren’t many trans folks out there. And even if we had a loud enough voice? There are enough transphobic pricks in both parties (looking at Newsome-stans) that no one would give a shit. We need you to be our voice. We need you to protect us. We need you to shout so damn loud, that what I see coming, doesn’t.

To my non-US based friends

The US is no longer a safe country for LGBTQA+ folks, for migrants, for a lot of people. Please. Petition your governments on removing the US as a safe country for asylum reasons.

To my US based trans friends

If it’s not time, it’s getting real close. Get ready, please. Have a plan to run. Get your documents in order, get a go bag ready. Have a destination or 3.

More

I have a big index post about guns & policy if you need it.

The National Rifle Association

A widely reported pleasant surprise from the National Rifle Association: