Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has suggested that antidepressants and other medical drugs were driving transgender people to embark on mass shootings, adding to MAGA rage over this week’s Minneapolis tragedy.
In bizarre comments on Thursday morning, Kennedy also claimed gun violence in U.S. schools and churches was a new phenomenon—despite data showing mass shootings in these venues have been taking place for decades.
“There was no time in the past when people would walk into a church or a classroom and start shooting people,” Kennedy said on Fox & Friends.
“And it’s not really happening in other countries. It’s happening here and we need to look at all the potential culprits that might be contributing to that.”
The one “potential culprit” that Kennedy did not mention, however, was guns, which research shows are the leading cause of death for children and teens in the U.S
Asked by Brian Kilmeade if he would examine some of the drugs used by transgender people, given the Minneapolis shooter had been identified as transgender, Kennedy replied: “We’re launching studies on the potential contribution to some of the SSRI drugs and some of the other psychiatric drugs that might be contributing to violence.
“Many of them have black box warnings that warn of suicidal ideation and homicidal ideation, so we can’t exclude those as a culprit,” he said.
However, critics of the Health Secretary hit back, accusing him of trying to manipulate a tragedy to advance his political agenda.
“RFK Jr. has a sick and twisted view of the world. Instead of promoting mental health and addressing the chronic crisis of gun violence in this country, he’s doubling down on disinformation,” said 314 Action Executive Director Erik Polyak.
“SSRIs and antidepressants are safe and tested medications. They are prescribed all over the world, but America is the only country with a mass-shooting problem.”
The Health Secretary’s comments came a day after two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed and 17 other victims were injured when a shooter opened fire during a morning Mass in Minneapolis.
The shooter was identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, formerly known as Robert, who committed suicide in the parking lot behind the Annunciation Catholic School where the tragedy took place.
Westman attended Annunciation school and had a mother who worked at the school’s business office until 2021.
In the lead-up to the attack, Westman also posted disturbing videos to YouTube, featuring guns, ammunition, and a manifesto-like notebook with antisemitic, anti-Catholic, and political messages.
Among them were phrases like “Kill Donald Trump”; “for the children”; and “6 million wasn’t enough”—a reference to Jews who died in the Holocaust.
Right-wing influencers were quick to assert that Westman’s motive to kill stemmed from being trans.
The FBI, led by MAGA loyalist Kash Patel, is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime.
On Thursday, Donald Trump Jr. also weighed in, posting a list on his Instagram account of recent shootings involving people identified as trans, adding sarcastically: “But Rednecks with AR-15’s are the Problem.”
“Maybe it’s time we start having the real conversation,” he said. “Like what pumping kids full of hormones in an attempt to defy science and nature actually does to them? It seems to me there is no more violent group in the world per capita that the radicle (sic) trans community and this crap has to stop.”
The anti-trans sentiment comes despite data from The Violence Project, which tracks shootings dating back to 1966, showing that around 98% of shooters are male, and most identify as cisgender.
Wednesday’s shooting was the 268th to take place this year in America, a country that has more guns than people—120.5 firearms for every 100 residents.
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