The State of Trans Gun Rights

"How exactly Trump and his supporters pose a threat (to LGBTQ+ gun rights) is left unsaid. We're the ones who have consistently insisted--for decades--that the right to keep and bear arms belongs to all peaceable people. It's the Democrats who want them disarmed."- David Codrea, Gun Rights Column in American Handgunner, July/August 2025

Well, that didn't age well did it?

To be sure, Democrats are usually the folks pushing dumb gun policies. Most of them have never even picked up a gun, let alone shot one. And it shows! In public discourse, they routinely mistake semi-auto for full auto. They don't know background checks are already a thing. They don't know guns, don't know gun policy, and seem like they don't want to know. Nonetheless, they feel qualified to decide how a private citizen might best arm themselves.

Odd, isn't it? You don't see vegetarians demanding to write the menu of a steakhouse, but you see anti-gunners curating the options available for armed self-defense!

The Trump administration, on the other hand, knows a hell of a lot about guns. But, alas, it knows next to nothing about trans people. It doesn't know that trans people existed thousands of years ago, and will probably exist thousands of years from now. They think it's a recent phenomenon. They confuse "unconventional" with "mentally ill". They're unwilling to admit the existence of millions of good, sane,moral, prudent trans folks who have no agenda other than going to work, going home, being there for their families, and being left in peace. More broadly, the idea of "live and let live" seems alien to them.

The one thing the Trump administration does know about trans people is this: you can get a hell of a lot of attention by bashing them, and if you stoke the fear just right, you can use that attention to distract from scandal and drum up donations.

For years, queer gun owners have been told they're voting against their own interests by marking a ballot for the Dems. If there's one silver lining to all this Trumpist chatter about a trans gun ban, it's this: the mask is now off. If you're a trans person, you now know without a doubt that the primary threat to your Second Amendment rights comes the Trump administration, who would prefer to have you disarmed completely.And if you're not a trans person, you now surely understand the LGBT hesitance to vote Red.

The Dems will at least allow trans folks ten rounds in a handgun. While that's a dumb limitation, it's better than the utterly brain dead limitation suggested by Trump's D.o.J.

Thankfully, there are a LOT of brave Republicans who stood up to the Administration's unconstitutional trial balloon. They have given me confidence that the Republicans aren't all MAGA cultists fighting over the right to lick the President's boots. I pray they continue to oppose the trans gun ban.

I also pray the Democrats use this as an opportunity for some soul-searching. Maybe this strange episode in our strange times will lead them to look more positively on armed self-defense.