The Problem

Gun violence has inflicted significant harm on the LGBTQ+ community. From the Pulse shooting in Orlando in 2016 to the tragic Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs in 2022, our community has suffered greatly due to insufficient laws to curb gun violence.

A 2016 study in the American Journal of Medicine revealed that Americans are 25 times more likely to be murdered with a gun than people in other developed countries. Transgender and gender non-conforming individuals have been disproportionately affected by gun violence, with nearly two thirds of fatal violence incidents involving a gun since 2013. Shockingly, the majority of these victims were black women under 30.

CDC data indicates that two thirds of firearm deaths in the U.S. are suicides, with a significantly higher fatality rate among those using guns than other methods. This trend is particularly concerning for transgender individuals and LGBTQ+ youth, with 40% of transgender people and one third of LGBTQ+ youth reporting suicidal ideation.

Intimate partner violence poses another significant threat to the LGBTQ+ community, especially for transgender individuals and youth. According to the FBI, 50 women are shot to death by intimate partners on average each month in the U.S. Additionally, over half of transgender respondents in a 2015 survey had experienced some form of intimate partner violence, and LGBTQ+ youth experience dating violence at double the rate of their non-LGBTQ+ peers.

Commonsense Gun Violence Prevention Measures

There is no single solution to stopping gun violence in the United States. Efforts to curb gun violence by other countries show that a comprehensive approach must be taken to reduce and prevent gun violence effectively.

The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (S. 2938) was signed into law by President Biden on June 25, 2022, making history as one of the most significant steps Congress has taken to curb gun violence. This law was enacted in response to the ongoing crisis of mass shootings in this country, particularly the two mass shootings in Buffalo, NY, and Uvalde, TX, in 2022. This legislation enhances access to mental health services, expands firearm purchasing requirements, and includes appropriations for gun violence prevention programs in the Departments of Justice, Education, and Health and Human Services.

While the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is a significant step in preventing gun violence, Congress needs to take further action. The Human Rights Campaign also supports legislation that would:

• Enhance background checks to close loopholes that allow people at high risk of violence against themselves or others to purchase guns.

  • Bipartisan Background Checks Act (H.R. 715)

  • Disarm Hate Act (H.R. 5435; S. 2776)

• Limit access to assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and “bump stocks,” which are attachments for semi-automatic weapons that increase firing speed, effectively simulating the abilities of a fully automatic weapon or machine gun.

  • Assault Weapons Ban of 2023 (H.R. 698; S. 25)

• Limit the ability of those with a history of domestic abuse to access guns. This Act would allow family members and law enforcement to obtain an extreme risk protection order (ERPO) to temporarily remove access to firearms from someone who poses a risk to themselves or others.

  • Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2023 (H.R. 3018)

  • Appropriate funding for the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health to research gun violence.

For more information, please contact legislation@hrc.org. Read about other Federal Legislation pertinent to the LGBTQ+ community here.

Last Updated: April 7, 2024