Fox Host Defends Trans Gun Owners: ‘This Person Was Mentally Ill, It’s Not the Trans Part’

Fox News host Kennedy defended the rights of transgender Americans to own guns during a debate on mental illness and gun ownership following a mass shooting in Minnesota on Wednesday that left two school children dead and 17 others injured.

The FBI later identified the shooter as “Robin Westman, a male born as Robert Westman,” and is investigating the church shooting as a hate crime.

On The Five, Jesse Watters asked Kennedy, “Do you think there could have been something done? If someone changes their name and thinks they’re another gender, would you not have them have access to weapons?”

“No, I think there are trans people who are stalked and they are terrorized, and they worry about their own self-protection, and they deserve to protect themselves,” replied Kennedy, adding:

I worry about someone who has ever gone to the doctor and says, you know, “I feel a little anxious. Can you prescribe me some Xanax for a plane?” And then all of a sudden, their name goes on some federal database.

Yeah, and they can never get a weapon to defend themselves. There are plenty of laws keeping good people from buying guns and ammunition. And you know, we talk to Joe, our local sporting goods guy, and you know, he’s furious that people who deserve to protect themselves and their families, for people who enjoy a sporting life, that they are not capable to go in and buy a weapon without some sort of registry.

Yes, this person was mentally ill. It’s not the trans part; it’s the part that he was absolutely completely evil. And in places like Minnesota, they do have red flag laws, and his parents should have known, and parents should be nosy, absolutely.

But you know, I wish there were someone there to put a bullet between this little A-hole’s eyes before he was able to pull a trigger. The only solace I have is that when he took his own cowardly life, which he should have done in the parking lot before he got out of his car, is that he woke up in hell.

That is the only comfort that I have. And taking guns away from good people who deserve self-protection, I’m sorry, it’s not the answer.

Harold Ford responded, “I’m not saying take it away. I’m saying we ought to have longer checks for things like this. I’m not even saying that people—I agree with you, people who asked for some Xanax to go on a plane or to do something, that’s totally different. I only said we ought to have a longer background period to investigate all these things. If it means we inconvenience someone who wants to… If ten people, a hundred people were able to prevent these kinds of things, that’s all I’m saying. And we can have a conversation off here, but that’s—I’m not saying limit, I’m saying let’s investigate further.”

Watters defended his question, adding, “And there may be a nexus between mental illness and the trans situation. I mean, this person was suicidal, depressed, and we’ve seen a few cases with ANTIFA and some of these mass shooters. They’re transgender, and they’re very, very angry and violent and delusional.”

Watch the clip above via Fox News.