Stephen King, the famed horror novelist who has long dabbled in political commentary, has now inserted himself into the debate over the tragic Minneapolis Catholic school shooting — and his comments are igniting outrage.
Responding on X to Elon Musk, King dismissed the shooter’s transgender identity as irrelevant. “Whether he was transgender is beside the point. The point is he had a gun,” King declared.
But for many, that argument falls flat. The suspect, 23-year-old Robin Westman, who identified as transgender, stormed into Annunciation Church during morning Mass, killing two children and wounding 17 others before turning the gun on himself. Investigators say he left behind disturbing journals expressing self-hatred over his trans identity, antisemitic rants, and threats to assassinate Donald Trump. He even scrawled messages like “For the Children,” “Where is your God?” and “Kill Donald Trump” on his rifle magazines.
That context is impossible to ignore — unless, apparently, you’re Stephen King.
Elon Musk pointed to what he called “a clear pattern,” noting the growing list of school shooters in recent years who identified as transgender, including the Nashville Covenant School shooter in 2023. King’s refusal to acknowledge ideology, and instead shift blame entirely to firearms, sparked immediate backlash from followers who called him out for deflecting responsibility.
Whether he was transgender is beside the point. The point is he had a gun. https://t.co/erCYw4JNCz
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) August 27, 2025
“Stephen, the gun didn’t walk into a Christian school on its own. A trans-identified man did,” one reply said, echoing the frustration of many. Another wrote bluntly: “Stop blaming inanimate objects for the wicked choices of people you refuse to hold accountable.”
The comments highlight the divide in America’s cultural conversation about mass violence. One side insists the debate is about access to guns. The other argues ideology, identity struggles, and mental instability are central factors — ones increasingly ignored by high-profile figures like King who prefer to vilify the weapon rather than confront uncomfortable truths.
And the truth here is disturbing. In his writings, Westman admitted he had “brainwashed” himself into believing he was transgender and expressed a chilling joy at the thought of killing “children of innocent civilians.”