Mass Shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church/School in Minneapolis

RileyG · Aug 27, 2025

LizaMarie said:
I'm going to say something that is going to trigger both sides! (I'm an Independent)
Firstly, this shooter had something in common with the shooter in Tennessee in 2023, who was a female to male transgender.
Minneapolis shooter was a male to female transgender who started transitioning as a teen(changed his birth certificate at age 17,had gender affirming care,etc) and his mother worked at the school and he attended the school. So , was familiar with how the school operated, worked,etc.
We don't know the home-life.
I support the 2nd amendment but I agree with durangogodwood above. I also propose to raise the legal age to purchase firearms to be 21, maybe even 25(heck you can't rent a car until you're 25!)nationwide. The frontal cortex of our brains aren't fully formed until the early 20's (I've raised children and been a child myself.) They may not make a difference in all school shootings like this one, but it's a start. I also support red flag laws. Can they be abused, sure but I support them nationwide.
Secondly, and I don't know if it would have made a difference in this case, But gender affirming care/hormones/surgery should not be legal until age 18, or even 21. I can't believe it's even a debate in our society,but children are being sterilized and given hormones before they are fully mature. This is nothing to do with bigotry it's common sense.
Once you are a legal adult then if you want to change your gender, go for it!
This case has strong similarities to the one in Tennessee.
I would add that there is so much toxic stuff on social media and corners of the internet, his manifesto was in Russian, apparently.
If Trump wanted to write these two EO's I'd support them.

Very well said, thank you!

RileyG · Aug 27, 2025

LizaMarie said:
I think there is a difference between an adult transitioning and a child. Children’s frontal lobes are not fully formed and there are hormonal swings and hence we don’t serve alcohol to anyone under 21 and I think that should also go for gun purchases. Surgery and top and bottom surgery is permanent and irreversible and shouldn’t be done before 18 or even 21. Children don’t have the maturity to think about forever

Or even 25! The brain isn’t fully mature until that age!

RileyG · Aug 27, 2025

essentialsaltes said:
Prevalence of identifying as transgender is roughly 1%, and transgender mass shooters are about 0.1% of mass shootings. So they are under-represented by an order of magnitude.

Women are underrepresented by a similar factor.

Perhaps it's time to talk about the high percentage of violence among men.

Also, countless transgender people have been victims of brutal violence.

RileyG · Aug 27, 2025

JosephZ said:
Trans people rarely commit mass shootings
Over the past decade, the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive has recorded more than 5,300 mass shootings, defined as incidents in which at least four people were shot, excluding the perpetrators. Only four of those — less than one-tenth of 1 percent — were committed by people known to identify as trans or nonbinary. They were the 2023 Covenant School shooter, the 2023 Club Q shooter, one of the 2019 STEM School Highlands Ranch shooters, and the 2018 Maryland Rite Aid warehouse shooter. Right-wing personalities frequently point to these four incidents to suggest that trans people are a threat.

I think it’s extremely rare because they’re a very small minority. White, straight, men are more likely to be violent than them ie Eric Harris, Dylan Kebold etc

Hentenza · Aug 27, 2025

JosephZ said:
This comes down to common sense. If a school shooter comes armed with an assault-style rifle with several high-capacity magazines, they are going to be able to kill and injure more children than they would with a rifle or handgun with magazines that can only hold 10 or fewer rounds.

View attachment 369161

Below are a couple of screenshots from a video today's shooter uploaded that show the weapons he brought with him.

View attachment 369159 View attachment 369160

Which weapon would be the most efficient at killing a room full of children? A revolver with 6 rounds, a semi-automatic pistol with several 10-round magazines, or an assault-style rifle with several 45+ round magazines?

Since the answer to the question is obvious, don't you think passing common-sense gun laws that can save children's lives, even if it's a few, is better than doing nothing at all?

“Mass shootings (MS) account for less than 1% of firearm deaths in the US, but the frequency has increased.1 Risk factors for MS perpetration include societal discrimination, contagion effects, firearm access, mental illness, and substance abuse.2 Previous geographically and analytically limited studies found MS with handguns had higher fatality rates than those with rifles,3 and following an age-based assault weapons (AWs) restriction there was a reduction in firearm violence from AWs.4 Another study found that the 1994 federal AWs ban was associated with fewer MS.5 To further investigate the association between type of firearm and lethality of MS, this study examined what firearms were present at publicly targeted fatal MS and determined if AWs were associated with a higher number of injuries or deaths.

Results
From August 1, 1966, to November 6, 2023, there were 184 publicly targeted fatal MS (3.2 per year) with 1342 total deaths and 2084 nonfatal injuries. Multiple firearms were present in 96 events (52.2%) (mean 3.1 per event); handguns were the most common firearm type (145 MS [78.8%] involved a handgun) followed by 55 (29.2%) that involved an AW, but only 13 (7.1%) involved AWs exclusively. Incidents with AWs (vs without) were more likely to have multiple firearms (45 [81.8%] vs 51 [39.5%]) and shooters with no firearms experience (6 [11.1%] vs 38 [29.7%]) (Table 1).

Banning assault weapons could result in less mass shootings, however, assault weapons were only used in 29% of ms compared to handguns being present on 78.8% of ms so banning aws is only going to force those that have the predisposition to do a ms to use a different type of weapon like a handgun or a shotgun.

LizaMarie · Aug 27, 2025

I want to be clear I’m NOT saying that this person was violent because they were transgender. This person obviously had a mental health issue and I also blame the internet as it sounds like this person was radicalized online. What I’m saying is IMO hormones/ surgery which are irreversible should not be performed on minors regardless of what our society says. This person had problems and introducing hormones during puberty that are foreign to the body did not help matters on top of other problems this person must have had. And yes common sense gun laws. Also WHY is this happening with such frequency now, when I was a child( back 60 years ago this didn’t happen and people had guns then too. Most gun violence then was domestic or criminal activity then. There’s a mental health epidemic now for one thing. I blame the internet/copycat this shooter apparently was obsessed with school shootings

JosephZ · Aug 27, 2025

Hentenza said:
Banning assault weapons could result in less mass shootings, however, assault weapons were only used in 29% of ms compared to handguns being present on 78.8% of ms so banning aws is only going to force those that have the predisposition to do a ms to use a different type of weapon like a handgun or a shotgun.

Isn't saving a few lives is better than saving none? Also, many handguns used in mass shootings have high capacity magazines. Assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines being banned would save many lives.

Hentenza · Aug 27, 2025

JosephZ said:
Isn't saving a few lives is better than saving none? Also, many handguns used in mass shootings have high capacity magazines which should also be banned.

During the 1970’s and 80’s it was not uncommon for high school kids to have shotgun racks with shot guns showing through the back windows of their trucks (particularly in the south). There were very few to no mass shootings at school back then. The gun is not the issue.

LizaMarie · Aug 27, 2025

Hentenza said:
During the 1970’s and 80’s it was not uncommon for high school kids to have shotgun racks with shot guns showing through the back windows of their trucks (particularly in the south). There were very few to no mass shootings at school back then. The gun is not the issue.

Yes I remember that I was in high school in the 70s.

JosephZ · Aug 27, 2025

Hentenza said:
During the 1970’s and 80’s it was not uncommon for high school kids to have shotgun racks with shot guns showing through the back windows of their trucks (particularly in the south). There were very few to no mass shootings at school back then. The gun is not the issue.

It was a yes or no question. Isn't saving a few lives is better than saving none?

While it may not be the only reason, there appears to be a direct correlation between the number of guns available and mass shootings.. The number of assault-style weapons in the US has increased from 1–2 million in the 1970s to more than 25 million today.

It was

caffeinated.hermit · Aug 27, 2025

Possible further information about the shooter, Robin / Robert Westman.

Robin Westman manifesto posted videos describing hate for religion

Minneapolis Catholic School Shooter Robin Westman had manifesto that he uploaded to YouTube in which he described hate for religion

scallywagandvagabond.com

https://x.com/HarrisonKrank/status/1960744102363889842

Desk trauma · Aug 27, 2025

RileyG said:
Or even 25! The brain isn’t fully mature until that age!

Yes, only let them make more minor less life changing choices before 25. Like enlisting in the military.

public hermit · Aug 27, 2025

Hentenza said:
During the 1970’s and 80’s it was not uncommon for high school kids to have shotgun racks with shot guns showing through the back windows of their trucks (particularly in the south). There were very few to no mass shootings at school back then. The gun is not the issue.

It's true, and I can remember those gun racks full and ready for hunting after school. But it was a different gun culture then, too. I heard many times growing up that the only people who carried concealed pistols were people too weak to fist fight or criminals. There was a certain amount of stigma and shame associated with it. Of course, I grew up in Texas and people often did have concealed weapons, but there was a shame culture that kept people in order, to some extent.

That has radically changed. People seem to have an inordinate love for guns now and see them as a solution for their problems and disputes in way that wasn't so prevalent then, I don't think.

Hentenza · Aug 27, 2025

JosephZ said:
While it may not be the only reason, there appears to be a direct correlation between the number of guns available and mass shootings.. The number of assault-style weapons in the US has increased from 1–2 million in the 1970s to more than 25 million today.

View attachment 369180

View attachment 369179

View attachment 369178

And yet the aws are used in only 29% of ms. Also, gun ownership has decreased through the years while ms has increased.

OVERALL HOUSEHOLD GUN OWNERSHIP

n From 1973 to 2021, the percentage of American households that reported having any guns in the home dropped by
28 percent.

n During this period the percentage of adults living in households with guns hit its peak in 1980, when more than half
(53.7 percent) of Americans reported living in households with guns. By 2021, 35.2 percent of Americans reported
living in households with guns, a drop of 18.5 percentage points.

n In 2021, just over a third of Americans reported living in households with guns.

n In 2012, the percentage of adults living in households with guns hit its lowest level ever recorded by the GSS (32.1
percent). And while this percentage increased slightly since 2012, the percentage of American adults that reported
living in households with guns in 2021 (35.2 percent) is 34 percent lower than its peak in 1980 (53.7 percent).

https://vpc.org/studies/ownership.pdf

So gun ownership has actually decreased substantially since 1973 but ms incidents have increased exponentially. Your analysts above is missing the human component. Why do ms actually occur? I’ll think you will fund that the answer is quite complex so just an analysts about guns misses the mark.

JosephZ · Aug 27, 2025

Hentenza said:
And yet the aws are used in only 29% of ms.

A large percentage of handguns used in mass shootings would have high-capacity magazines. Since we know that assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines lead to more casualties when used in mass shootings compared to other types of guns, wouldn't banning these types of weapons and magazines make sense? Isn't saving some lives better than saving none?

Hentenza said:
So gun ownership has actually decreased substantially since 1973 but ms incidents have increased exponentially.

Yet there are millions more guns in circulation than in the past; especially in the assault-style category, and these guns are too easy to acquire.

Hentenza said:
Your analysts above is missing the human component. Why do ms actually occur? I’ll think you will fund that the answer is quite complex so just an analysts about guns misses the mark.

Which is why I said, "While it may not be the only reason, there appears to be a direct correlation between the number of guns available and mass shootings."

Hentenza · Aug 27, 2025

JosephZ said:
A large percentage of handguns used in mass shootings would have high-capacity magazines.

Evidence?

RileyG · Aug 27, 2025

Desk trauma said:
Yes, only let them make more minor less life changing choices before 25. Like enlisting in the military.

My only point the brain isn’t fully mature then. Nothing more, nothing less.

And trans people are far more likely to be victims of violence, not perpetrators.

FaithT · Aug 27, 2025

FreeinChrist said:
This is awful!

Thoughts and prayers are not enough.

I agree. And somebody needs to do something. As to what they need to do, I don’t know. I HATE guns but in another post, Wolsley (sp) does have a point.

JosephZ · Aug 27, 2025

Hentenza said:
Evidence?

“A Killing Machine”: Half of All Mass Shooters Used High-Capacity Magazines

Magazines holding more than 10 rounds were used in 31 of the 62 mass shootings we investigated.

Outlawing high-capacity magazines won’t prevent gun crimes from happening, Chipman notes, but might well reduce the carnage: “Maybe 3 kids get killed instead of 20.”

High-capacity magazines also play a role in the daily gun deaths plaguing US cities from LA to Chicago to Baltimore. “A lot of these folks who are driving in their cars and shooting out the window, they’re shooting whatever is in their magazine,” Chipman says. “So if it’s only 10 rounds instead of 20, maybe the kid halfway down the block doesn’t get hit with round 18.”

How often are LCMs used in high-fatality mass shootings? At minimum, 64% of high-fatality mass shootings perpetrated between 1990 and 2017 involved LCMs.

Are more people killed when LCMs are used? Yes, and the difference in our data set is substantial and statistically significant (11.8 vs 7.3). We should add that our results likely underestimate the difference because we have a truncated sample (we only examined incidents with at least 6 victim fatalities), compounded by the fact that the number of homicide incidents fell as the number of victims increased.

https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305311

Some high profile mass shootings where only handguns with high-capacity magazines were used:

RileyG · Aug 27, 2025

FaithT said:
I agree. And somebody needs to do something. As to what they need to do, I don’t know. I HATE guns but in another post, Wolsley (sp) does have a point.

Same here. I would never own one, but I don’t have a problem with RESPONSIBLE gun owners who use them for hunting or protection.

Mass Shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church/School in Minneapolis

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