Queer people are the canaries in the Gun Rights coal mine, and those alleged conservatives who are pushing to deprive us of our Second Amendment rights without due process are sawing off the branch upon which they sit.
You see, it follows a simple formula:
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- Gender dysphoria is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fifth Edition, aka the DSM-V, a reference book on mental health and brain-related conditions and disorders. [1]
- The general public believes that if you suffer from any of the conditions listed in the DSM-V, you are mentally ill in the “unstable, likely crazy” sense.
- “The mentally ill shouldn’t have guns” is a common rallying cry on both sides of the political spectrum. [2]
- Therefore, since transgender people “are crazy”, they shouldn’t have guns and that means stripping them of their Second Amendment rights without due process “for the greater good.” [3]
- However, once that precedent is established, things only get worse. The next people to be stripped of their 2A rights are veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, because that’s in the DSM-V as well. After that is likely to be people with depression because “they’re a suicide risk”, after that is likely people with anxiety or perhaps ADHD, and so on.
- The coup de grace against the Second Amendment comes as an emboldened federal government, with the weight of precedent behind it, declares that anyone who distrusts and defies the authority of the government clearly has Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), which is listed in the DSM-V, just like Gender Dysphoria. ODD manifests as anger and defiance toward authority figures, and after the past three years there are an awful lot of folks who fit that bill. Since ODD is in the DSM-V, that means anyone who mistrusts and opposes the government is mentally ill, and therefore “should be denied their Second Amendment rights for the good of all.”
- I expect some people are thinking “Weaponized psychiatry can’t be used against people like that.” Well, it’s what some folks are calling for right now, even some people in government, so don’t be so sure. [4]
The Second Amendment applies to everyone, not just those on your political side. If you enable the government to strip rights from people you don’t like, then that tactic will eventually be used against you when the party in power switches; but as long as the weird outsiders have Second Amendment rights, the mainstream is safe.
Keep your canaries safe, folks.
Footnotes:
[1] Gender dysphoria is listed in the DSM-V for the same reason PTSD, depression, anxiety, impotence and others are: so that insurance will cover their treatment such as counseling, hormone therapy, and surgery.
[2] This is wholly separate from the unfortunately common belief among hoplophobes and firearm prohibitionists that merely wanting to own a gun is a sign of mental illness (“because why else would you want to own a murder weapon?”) and is therefore a disqualification.
[3] The combined diagnoses of the DSM-V apply to millions of Americans. Before the age of 75, 31% of Americans are estimated to suffer from an anxiety disorder and 21.4% from any mood disorder. That’s 103 million and 71 million Americans, respectively.
[4] There is a long, sad history of weaponized psychiatry against queer people. Homosexuality was listed as a disorder in the DSM-I (1951), and was only removed in the DSM-II (1973).