By Sabrina Gray

I was recently reading RF’s Mass Killings, New Orleans, and the Mind of a Gun Grabber article. That reminded me of the UpStairs Lounge arson attack that killed 32 people in the Crescent City back in the 70s. And an incident here in Seattle last August as well as something that happened to me personally got me thinking about why I own firearms (I’m going to start carrying as soon as I can find a decent job that allows me to purchase my Springfield XD compact, but that’s a whole different ball of wax). But first some backstory on me . . .

I am a pre-op transsexual. I also have posted on here a couple of times and am a devoted reader, so let’s please keep the burning torches and pitchforks in the barn. Once upon a time I was a Democrat because that’s what I thought I should be given my situation. But I was also a strong 2A-supporting Democrat (so I have that going for me). After last year’s attempt at universal background checks I am now an independent because I realize that I agree with some tenants of the conservative side of politics as well as the liberal side of the spectrum.

I have asked many of my gay friends who don’t carry why they don’t carry to protect themselves, especially after someone was beaten up because they were gay. The answer is generally “I don’t know” or “guns cause more problems than they solve”. I generally look at them and ask them if they would rather take the beating or have some way to possibly defend themselves. And then it dissolves into the guns-are-icky part.

But back to the original part of the story about the incident that occurred in my past. I was at Walmart running an errand and I was waiting in line when all of a sudden this guy starts in on me. Normally I am passable, which means that people can’t generally tell because of my voice, stature or whatnot, but for some reason he picked up on me.

He shouted that I was a disgrace and a freak etc. In fact it got to the point where I was looking around for store personnel to help me because I was getting scared and worried that this might escalate to a point where I might have to defend myself. But no one stood up for me or came to my defense.

As the individual was leaving he showed me his Aryan Brotherhood membership card, and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I was visibly shaken and the employees at Walmart were excellent and banned him from the store. As I was leaving, I was scanning the parking lot with my keys in my hand in such a way if I could use them as a weapon in case I needed to defend myself.

Before that I hadn’t really thought about carrying (at that point I owned a few guns, as much as the budget would allow). I mean, it was a passing thought, but it got me to thinking and researching. One of the items that I found out is that transgender individuals are more likely to be assaulted than the general population. There have been several incidents where this has been videotaped and very few people stepped up to the plate to stop it (as in my case). So I started asking myself, why not carry to defend myself if the situation arose? I also started thinking about how to carry as well and what type of firearm I wanted.

The moral of the story here is, I may be “different” but I understand the need to carry, and the reason the 2A exists. As I had said previously, I knew that the 2A was about our ability to defend ourselves, but I never really understood the reason for the ability to defend ourselves. As a side note, I still find it interesting that many in the community don’t understand why I carry or why I am not against guns.