Marjorie Taylor Greene blames gender-affirming care for Nashville shooting

In the wake of yet another school shooting in Nashville yesterday – this one left three children dead along with three adults who worked at the school – Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) came to the very predictable conclusion that guns are not to blame even though the shooter reportedly carried what police called two “assault-style” weapons and a handgun into the school.

Instead, Greene said the shooting happened because of medications that she just assumed the possibly transgender shooter took.

“How much hormones like testosterone and medications for mental illness was the transgender Nashville school shooter taking?” Greene wrote. “Everyone can stop blaming guns now.”

Greene was referring to early reports that the Nashville shooter is a transgender man. But there is no evidence that he was taking testosterone at all. One source told the Daily Beast yesterday that his transition was a “relatively recent” development, which means that he may not have tried to access gender-affirming care yet, and many transgender men don’t undergo hormone replacement therapy at all for various reasons.

The source also said that Hale was autistic, which may be the reason behind Greene’s comment about mental illness. There is no reason to assume, though, that Hale was regularly taking medications to help with his autism.

Instead, what seems to be important to her is that no one blames guns. Just yesterday, Greene tried to stop the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) from inspecting a gun shop in Georgia.

The ATF agents went to Adventure Outdoors in Smyrna, Georgia for a routine inspection, and Greene was there to meet them. She confronted the agents and told them that she is a member of the House Oversight Committee and convinced them to leave without inspecting the gun store.

“After we questioned their motives and informed them of Oversight and Republican controlled Appropriations, they all left,” she later tweeted. “Protect the Second Amendment and the law abiding businesses.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called out Greene for her comments.

“It’s absolutely disgusting and she should be looking into a mirror as to why she’s defending and posing with the same weapons that are being used to kill children, teachers, and educators,” she told The Independent.

“It’s not about their identity,” Greene said in response. “It’s the questions or this is what kind of hormones are they on?”

“It’s important because what will testosterone do to a biological woman? She’s taking tons of testosterone trying to make herself look like a man,” Greene said, even though there is no reason to believe that Hale was taking “tons” of testosterone, or any more testosterone than most men have.

On Twitter, Greene faced pushback from commenters.

I bet you think you’re a very serious person. Like, you think you really are something. Good, God, help us.

— Wilson Cruz (@wcruz73) March 28, 2023