RFK Jr. Blames Transgender Transitions and Antidepressants for Shootings, Ignores Guns

RFK Jr.'s Claims on Shootings

• 🎯 Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested that antidepressants (SSRIs) and drugs used in gender transitions could be causes of recent shootings, specifically mentioning a Minnesota incident.
• ⚠️ He proposed these as potential factors to avoid discussing the more obvious issue: guns.
• 📺 RFK Jr. appeared on Fox and Friends, where he questioned if drugs used in gender transitions play a role in violence, citing a transgender shooter in a Tennessee incident.

Scientific Evidence on SSRIs and Violence

• 🔬 Reviews of FBI data have consistently shown no link between psychiatric medication, including SSRIs, and shootings.
• 📊 While some studies show a correlation between SSRI use and violent crime among adolescents, they do not demonstrate causality.
• 📈 A 2015 study found a modest correlation between antidepressant use and violence, but noted that other, less stigmatized medications like opioids had a greater correlation.

Transgender Transitions and Violence

• 🚫 A systematic review of puberty blockers found no association with violent acts.
• ⚠️ Transgender individuals are rarely perpetrators of mass shootings; these are overwhelmingly carried out by cisgender males.
• 🗣️ The discussion of these correlations often arises only when a non-default identity is involved, which the speaker deems dangerous and irresponsible.