Seattle Area Trans Women Are Being Attacked by Groups of Men - In the Last Year, the County Prosecutor's Office Has Filed Charges in Four Such Cases

One of the hard truths that members of majority groups struggle to internalize is that for many minority groups, the 2nd Amendment really doesn't exist.

See the case of CeCe McDonald. She was being attacked and assaulted by a group of bigots. Her life was in danger. She defended herself and killed her attacker. The prosecutor didn't accept her right to self defense and threw the book at her. Facing the prospect of murder charges, she pled down to second degree manslaughter. She was then forced to spend 3.5 years in a male prison. One of her surviving attackers was charged with second-degree assault and got out on time served.

Or consider the case of Jaia Cruz under very similar circumstances. The DA through the book at her and she was vilified in the media.

If you are a trans woman and you use lethal force to defend yourself, you can be sure of a few things:

1. The local prosecutor will take a very dim view of the member of such a maligned minority group daring to defend themselves. Prosecutors and most law enforcement are not friends to trans people. They view trans people as innately lower on the social totem pole, and that they need to know their place. A trans person using lethal force to defend themselves? That's like a black man in the Jim Crow South using lethal force to defend themselves against white violence. To most prosecutors, trans people are only good for prostitution, porn, and mockery. One using lethal force is an affront to everything they believe in.
2. Your self defense claim will not be accepted. The book will be thrown at you. You will be charged with murder.
3. The press will demonize you, especially once the right wing tabloids learn of the story. Seriously. Look with your own eyes at how trans women who dare to defend themselves are treated by the media. Your act of desperate self-preservation will be portrayed as you stabbing someone because they didn't respect your pronouns.
4. If you go to trial, the jury will not be sympathetic to you. Trans people are unpopular, and there's nothing more unpopular than a villainized minority group member daring to leave their place and kill one of their "betters," even in self-defense.
5. You will likely have to plea out. If you're trans, you probably don't have the money for a good lawyer. And even if you do, you will face an uphill battle. The prosecution will portray you as a radical transgender nihilist who murdered someone because they didn't respect your pronouns, when you were actually just trying to save your own life.
6. Before and during trial, you will be held in pre-trial detention. You will likely be denied bail. You will be housed in a prison with men. There you likely be v-coded. The jail staff will place you in a cell as a reward to another prisoner. Someone who helps the guards out in one way or another will be rewarded by having a woman placed in their cell, you. You will be repeatedly raped by this person. If you resist, the prison guards will punish you for it. You will be beaten by the guards and then placed in solitary confinement. If you kill your rapist, you will be charged with a second count of murder. You will be regularly raped your entire stay in prison. These conditions will continue if you are convicted and must serve a long sentence.
7. No Second Amendment groups will come to your aid and help fund your defense or raise awareness for your act of self defense. They only do that sort of thing for straight white men.

In practice, if you are a trans woman, the 2nd Amendment doesn't actually exist as a tool of self defense. Gun rights folks love to say "better judged by twelve than carried by six." But what they forget is that there are fates in this world that are worse than death.

It's a bummer how the response to these sorts of stories always turns into "victims should be doing this or that," because why the hell does someone need to learn how to be effectively violent in order to just goddamn exist in this world, but I have to admit this isn't bad advice.

One other thing I would suggest trans women do is organize and travel with groups whenever possible. Because a) one armed person is still really vulnerable to being ambushed and subdued before they can do anything, if you have at least two people you can watch each other's backs, b) finding the good people who live in your neighborhood and helping each other out is a lifehack for so so so many things (childcare, learning new recipes, home improvement, saving money by getting donated clothes and kids toys and stuff, etc.).