Singling out transgender shooters ignores the facts

Kane County Board member David Young is concerned about facts. So am I.

Young has spoken multiple times lately about four shootings in the past year where a transgender person was identified as the alleged shooter. That is a fact.

According to Gun Violence Archive Data, of 4,147 mass shootings since 2018, the attacker was a transgender person 0.17% of the time. That is a fact. And the victims involved in that 0.17% absolutely lost their lives in a tragic and inexcusable way.

But I really struggle to understand why Young can’t see the community’s anger about his failure to consider the other 99.83%.

Reading the names and ages of shooters and victims from four specific incidents as Young has done is indeed sharing facts. Reporting cherry picked information and then casting all transgender people as an “evil group” is absolutely not facts. At best, it’s an illogical conclusion. According to the Violence Project, in cases from 1966-2021, 98% of perpetrators of mass shootings were cisgender men. By Young’s logic, should we denounce all cisgender men? After all, they’re responsible for the vast majority of mass shootings. Are they an “evil” group to be taken down?

At worst, Young’s rhetoric is dangerous and just plain sad. Transgender people are not some demonic monolith intent on killing, as he seems to suggest. They’re human beings, and they’re currently a marginalized group under increased attack. To target them is cowardly and unfounded.

Every single incident of gun violence breaks my heart, regardless of the shooter’s demographics. But the fact is, demonizing an entire group based on the actions of a few has never solved the actual problem.

If we really care about facts, here is the truest one: It’s not any single demographic. It’s the guns.

Alice Froemling

South Elgin