An increase in mass shootings by gender-confused individuals is sparking worry over the ‘volatile cocktail’ of mental health issues and body-altering chemicals.
Mental health issues that manifest in gender confusion, combined with potent cross-sex hormones, can be a recipe for violence, some experts have said.
Since 2018, five people who identified as transgender or were gender-confused have gone on killing sprees at schools and businesses. Authorities have been increasingly slow to confirm so-called gender identities and motives in cases such as these.
When shooters’ “gender identities” were revealed, some news outlets and commentators were quick to point out that people who identify as transgender and those who say they’re neither male nor female represent a small fraction of mass shooters.
But the numbers show a concerning pattern.
A mass shooting is defined by the Crime Prevention Research Center as the killing of four or more people in a single incident that’s not gang or drug related.
Of the 37 public mass shootings from 2018 through 2023, two were carried out by gender-confused individuals, according to John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. Three additional shootings were carried out by gender-confused individuals that resulted in fewer than four victims.
The case that has received the most intense media scrutiny is that of 28-year-old Audrey Hale, who went on a killing spree at the Covenant School in Nashville in March 2023.
She gunned down three 9-year-olds and three adults before police shot and killed her.
Ms. Hale identified as a “transgender man,” according to Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake.
Ten months after the heinous act, a clear picture of Ms. Hale’s motive remains unclear. Media organizations have filed lawsuits asking to view her journals, which are still held by police.
After most mass shooting incidents, any writings that suggest a motive are released to the public quickly, Mr. Lott said.
Eventually, three pages of what police confirmed to be Ms. Hale’s journal were leaked to media commentator Steven Crowder, who posted the writings online. The pages contained racial slurs against white people. Ms. Hale was white.
