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Marjorie Taylor Greene kicks up fierce debate over Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale's trans identity

Marjorie Taylor Greene almost immediately pointed to the shooter’s supposed gender identity in a series of tweets

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: Marjorie Taylor Greene sparked a heated discussion online about trans identity and gun laws when it was revealed that the suspect in the Nashville school shooting, Audrey Hale, is transgender. The 28-year-old had shot six people, including three children and three adults, at Covenant School.

The victims of the horrific shooting were identified as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, all age 9, as well as custodian Mike Hill and substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, both 61, and school head Katherine Koonce, 60.  

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Was Audrey Hale transgender?

The 28-year-old former art student who once attended The Covenant School, a Christian school, was remembered as a "quiet" student. An insider has revealed that Hale was autistic but high-functioning. The source also claimed, “And relatively recently announced she was transgender, identifying as he/him,” reports Yahoo!. Meanwhile, Nashville Police Chief John Drake also confirmed at a press conference Monday afternoon that Hale was transgender. Drake explained, "Hale was armed with an AR-style rifle, an AR-style pistol, and a handgun—and used the guns to shoot through a locked side entrance to the school. Two of the guns were obtained legally, locally here." Sandy Durham, one of the neighbors of Haley claimed, “I do know Audrey, I’ve known her since she was a baby. I had just gotten out of the shower when all of this started happening. I didn’t really know anything more than that. Something was going on next door. It’s just tragic for everybody. The sweet children that were hurt, killed, the adults. All of it." 

What did Marjorie Taylor Greene say? 

Greene tweeted in reponse to the tragic shooting at Nashville's The Covenant School, "How much hormones like testosterone and medications for mental illness was the transgender Nashville school shooter taking? Everyone can stop blaming guns now." 

'Gender dysphoria as a mental illness'

Some Internet users backed MTG's comments, "Most of the recent mass shootings have been over 18. They are targeting schools. The Nashville shooter was a mentally unstable 28 year old transgender - NOT a teenager. We have a serious mental illness problem being permitted to grow here. It’s not the firearms. A user stated, "The DSM-5 lists gender dysphoria as a mental illness. So how did the Nashville shooter “legally” obtain firearms?." Here, DSM-5 is "The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) which is a handbook used by health care professionals as the authoritative guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders, where Gender dysphoria is a concept described as clinically significant distress or impairment related to gender incongruence, which may include desire to change primary and/or secondary sex characteristics. Not all transgender or gender diverse people experience gender dysphoria," as per Psychiatry.org. 

A user then claimed, "I don’t name mass shooters, but the 28 year old school shooter was a transgender domestic terrorist. She showed up at a Nashville religious elementary school and murdered six innocent people in cold blood this morning. Without a heroic police response, she would have killed far more." Another claimed, "The Nashville Christian school shooter has been identified as a transgender individual named Audrey Hale. Despite all their talk about the violence transgender people face, it was a transgender person who attacked a Christian school and murdered Christian children. Food for thought." 

'Are you blaming testosterone now?'

Meanwhile, some users slammed Greene for her statement. A comment read, "Raise your hand if you think that Marjorie Taylor Greene should be expelled from office immediately." A tweet stated, "Are you blaming testosterone now? Y'all heard it here first. MTG says no more guns for those with testosterone." "They are attacking the Transgender community as they can't admit what the real cause even though it's right in front of them.," said another. "Between 2018-2021, there were 2,064 mass shootings. Of those, 2 were transgender. In 2022, there were 647 mass shootings, 1 was committed by a transgender. @RepMTG. When it comes to mass shootings since 2018, transgender people make up only 0.08% of shooters. For comparison, cisgender men commit over 90% of all mass shootings. But sure, let's blame the hormone testosterone medication @mtgreenee," added a user.

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.