Keep Factually independent
Whether you agree or disagree with our analysis, these conversations matter for democracy. We don't take money from political groups - even a $5 donation helps us keep it that way.
How many of the mass shooters in the US were trans
Executive summary
Available databases and fact-checkers show that only a very small fraction of U.S. mass-shooting incidents have involved people who were reported to identify as transgender or nonbinary: the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) tallied five such shooters out of roughly 5,700 mass shootings from 2013 to mid‑September 2025 (≈0.09%), and other datasets using narrower definitions find one confirmed transgender mass shooter in longer timeframes (the 2023 Covenant School/Nashville case) [1] [2].
1. What the major databases count — and why the numbers differ
Different organizations use different definitions of “mass shooting,” which drives divergent counts. The Gun Violence Archive (GVA) counts incidents with four or more people shot (excluding the shooter) and told FactCheck.org it has five confirmed transgender or nonbinary shooters between 2013 and Sept. 15, 2025 out of 5,748 incidents [1] [2]. The Violence Prevention Project (a more restrictive definition focusing on four or more people killed in public, excluding gang/drug contexts) identified 201 mass shooters from 1966–2024 and counts only one transgender perpetrator, Audrey (Aiden) Hale in 2023 [1]. Use of broader versus narrower definitions explains most apparent discrepancies [1].
2. How large a share of mass shooters are transgender?
Across reputable trackers the share is vanishingly small. GVA’s five transgender-identified shooters represent about 0.09% of its ~5,700 incidents [2] and other counts that use different windows or stricter fatality thresholds find one or four incidents in comparable multi‑year samples [3] [4]. Analyses conclude transgender people do not appear disproportionately represented among mass‑shooting perpetrators [5] [6].
3. Population context and misused statistics
Advocates and researchers note that transgender people are a small minority of the U.S. population (UCLA’s Williams Institute estimated ~2.8 million, ≈1% of people 13+ in 2025), so raw counts must be compared carefully to rates per population and to the dominant perpetrator profile — cisgender men — to avoid misleading conclusions [4] [6]. Some viral charts have cherry‑picked small samples (e.g., identifying 32 perpetrators in one poster) or combined incompatible datasets, producing inflated-looking rates that fact‑checkers have debunked [6].
4. High‑profile cases and political amplification
A few high-profile shootings involving someone reported as transgender — notably the 2023 Covenant School/Nashville shooter and the 2023 Club Q and 2019 STEM School incidents depending on classification — have been seized on by political actors to argue for a trend. Commentators including some right‑wing figures amplified an “epidemic” narrative; fact‑checkers and researchers say the data do not support such a claim and that such amplification often occurs before full facts are known [3] [1].
5. Misinformation dynamics after shootings
Reporting and social media frequently produce rapid, unverified claims about shooters’ identities. Independent analyses and watchdogs (Wired, GLAAD, The Trace) documented dozens of violent events falsely blamed on transgender people between 2022–2025, and caution that false or premature labeling tends to spread widely and persist even after corrected [7] [2] [3]. FactCheck.org and other outlets emphasize that premature identity claims fuel stigmatizing narratives rather than informing policy [1] [2].
6. Competing viewpoints and remaining uncertainties
Scholars quoted by outlets concede that anecdotal clusters of high‑profile incidents merit study and that definitive trend lines require more time and careful statistical framing; some experts say it’s reasonable to investigate whether the recent cluster is aberrant or signals something new, but current datasets show no statistical evidence that transgender people are more likely to commit mass shootings [4] [5]. Others highlight the policy stakes: opponents of trans‑related rights have used such incidents to argue for restrictions, a political motive flagged by many civil‑rights groups and researchers [7] [2].
7. Bottom line for readers
Available, reputable databases and fact‑checks show very few mass shooters have been reported as transgender — typically reported as 4–5 incidents in thousands of mass‑shooting events recorded by major trackers — and researchers and fact‑checkers conclude transgender people are not disproportionately responsible for mass shootings in the U.S. [2] [3] [6]. Given the propensity for rapid misinformation after attacks, treat identity claims with caution and rely on updated counts from established datasets that document definitions and methodology [1] [6].