Do Transpeople Need A '2nd Amendment Remedy' To The Anti-Trans Violence Problem?

"It doesn't mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time, I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don't call it violence when it's self-defense, I call it intelligence."-Malcolm X

I'm pondering this quote and the gun debate in the wake of more infuriating news out of Philadelphia of another anti-trans violence incident. 

A gunman forced his way into a trans woman's third floor apartment, pistol-whipped her and shot her in the head.  She fortunately survived it and is recovering at Hahnemann University Hospital.

I stumbled across a January 2009 TransGriot post that I wrote during another wave of anti-trans violence incidents and began to examine once again the question of whether we should consider '2nd Amendment Remedies' to deal with the problem of the out of control anti-trans violence.

I live in Texas which along with 32 other states has an ALEC sponsored Stand Your Ground law I hated before the Trayvon Martin killing and I despise even more today.  My personal philosophy about guns is a mixed one.  

On one hand Malcolm X has a point in the quote I posted at the beginning of this essay.  When you are being repeatedly subjected to near genocidal levels of unprovoked violence, then it is a viable option for the people that unprovoked violence is being aimed at to intelligently consider using violence in self-defense 

Translation:  Bust a cap in 'em, but only in self defense.

But that conflicts with my personal philosophy on guns that primarily mirrors what FoxSports.com columnist Jason Whitlock wrote in a December 2012 column in the wake of the Kasandra Perkins-Jovan Belcher murder-suicide last December. 

"Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it."

I'm quite aware that something has to be done about the unacceptable levels of anti-trans violence disproportionately affecting Latina and African-American trans women.  But I'm also not keen on additions to the over 300 plus million handguns already causing havoc on American streets.

I'm also concerned if we have an instance in which an armed trans woman found herself in a situation in which she shot and killed someone that instigated an unprovoked attack on her and then claimed the Stand Your Ground defense because of justified fear her life was in jeopardy, I submit that jacked up law would work no better for us than it did for Marissa Alexander.

Anti-trans violence is a multifaceted problem requiring a multifaceted solution.   While the gun manufacturers and their NRA shills might be happy to see more trans customers parting with their precious T-bills to buy their instruments of death in designer colors, I'm not. 

But at the same time I'm beyond sick and tired of the long lists of names we read at TDOR's around the world every November.   If the trans-haters out there know there is a possibility their desire to bash or kill a transperson may end up with them taking the long dirt nap instead of the transperson, that's a point in the favor of the trans folks packing heat in whatever color and caliber they desire. 

I'm not going to criticize trans people who believe that 2nd Amendment remedies need to be part of the discussion in terms of the measures we employ in putting a dent in and eventually ending anti-trans violence or who paraphrase the Pink Pistols slogan in that armed transpeople don't get jacked with.

But as I said at the conclusion of the 2009 post and will restate and remix here, I'd much rather see a resolution to the problem of anti-trans violence that doesn't involve busting caps in people and getting concealed carry permits.

But since the trans haters aren't going to renounce violence aimed at us anytime soon, it would be wise for us in the trans community to consider the intelligent use of violence in self defense.