The Chronicle

These remarks were delivered at a September 5 school walk-out against gun violence. Reprinted with permission from the author.

Hi everyone. My name is Lux Matt and I am a senior. I am also unapologetically trans. As many of you know, we are here today to fight for gun reform in honor of the Annunciation shooting last week, where two elementary school children were killed and 21 other people were injured. The perpetrator of this crime happened to be trans. 

A big narrative that the government is trying to push right now is that trans people make up a large amount of school shooters, and that is not only false, but blatant scapegoating and disinformation. Trans people make up only 1% of the US population, and out of over 2800 mass shootings from 2018-2023, four of those were committed by trans people. Instead of actually passing gun reform, the government is making efforts to ban ONLY trans people from purchasing firearms. They are distracting you from the real issue at hand, gun laws, by blaming it on trans people.

We are not the villains here. The system is.

We must put aside our politics and acknowledge the facts. This is not a red or blue issue. Human lives are on the line. Assault rifles and large capacity magazines were designed to kill. These weapons should not be sold to any individual, no matter their identity. When we pass gun reform, we are protecting the lives and futures of millions of Americans. Thank you.

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