Fox News host Lawrence Jones has argued that transgender people should not be allowed to own guns, following a mass shooting at a Rhode Island ice rink. The comments were made on Tuesday's episode of The Five, in response to Monday's incident at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket.
The shooter, 56-year-old Robert Dorgan, who also went by the name 'Roberta', killed his son and ex-wife during a hockey game before taking his own life. Dorgan had undergone gender reassignment surgery and struggled with family issues, according to local reports.
Jones said: 'If you are someone that just wants to wear a dress, no problems. If you are someone that just wants to identify as another sex, but you know deep down that you’re not, but you just want to be called ‘he’ or ‘she’ that’s one thing. But if you, from a psychological standpoint, think that you are another sex, you should not have a gun.'
He added: 'Something that has been diagnosed as gender dysphoria is a problem. If you mentally think you’re someone that you are not, that has to be addressed.' However, according to the Violence Prevention Project, up to 98 per cent of perpetrators in mass shootings are cisgender men.
The Trump administration previously considered banning transgender people from owning guns after a 2023 shooting in Minneapolis. The National Rifle Association opposed the plan, stating that 'the Second Amendment isn’t up for debate'. In Dorgan's case, police are still investigating the circumstances, including family disputes that arose after his surgery in 2020.
