"Not because of trans people": Andy Signore shares alleged explanation for US "mass shootings" after Minneapolis school shooting tragedy

Pop culture podcaster Andy Signore has weighed in on the recent Minneapolis mass shooting. On August 27, 2025, 23-year-old Robin Westman opened fire on children at a Catholic school during church service. As per media reports, the attack left two children dead and at least 17 others injured.

Robin Westman, whose birth name was Robert Westman, was a transgender person. Court documents show that Westman's mother applied for a name change in 2020, suggesting that Westman "identifies as female" and "wants her name" to reflect that identity.

The shooter had also posted a series of now-deleted YouTube videos, including a so-called "manifesto," containing controversial and hateful statements.

As details of the incident emerged, many online commentators began targeting the transgender community. In response, pop culture commentator Andy Signore publicly defended the community. In an August 27 post on X, he wrote:

"I'm so sick of folks politicizing school shootings, blaming everything but THE ACTUAL GUNS. Fully automatics are already banned. Other countries banned semi-autos like AR-15s after massacres. America didn’t—that’s why we lead in mass shootings. Not because of trans people."

Andy Signore

@andysignore

I'm so sick of folks politicizing school shootings, blaming everything but THE ACTUAL GUNS. Fully automatics are already banned. Other countries banned semi-autos like AR-15s after massacres. America didn’t—that’s why we lead in mass shootings. Not because of trans people.

In another post, Signore extended his condolences to the families of victims of a mass shooting. He called the incident "completely unacceptable."

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Reactions from other podcasters on the Minneapolis mass shooting

Following the horrific mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School on Wednesday, many people expressed sadness and anger over the incident. Reactions also came from the podcast community.

Conservative podcaster Candace Owens made a series of posts on X, making some serious allegations following the incident. She attempted to draw a pattern for similar mass shootings and blamed a "CIA program" for creating such shooters.

"There is absolutely zero reason to believe the MK Ultra program ever stopped—a CIA program in which our government used pharmaceuticals to create clinically insane, schizophrenic monsters. We see this example everywhere today. These shooters are copy-paste as though they are out of a program," Owens wrote.

Journalist and podcaster Piers Morgan also took to X on August 27, calling the shooter "pathetic." He also shared his grief for the victims.

"Yet another horrendous mass shooting of young children in America by yet another pathetic coward armed like Rambo. So utterly senseless, so utterly sickening. My heart breaks for those poor little kids and their families," Morgan wrote.

Political commentator Ben Shapiro also criticized alleged media coverage of the attack during his August 28 podcast. He argued that there is a "media rule" when it comes to incidents like this. Shapiro alleged a political bias in the media coverage of such incidents.

"If the shooter is a suspected right-winger, then the issue is obviously conservatism, conservative rhetoric, and everything to do with the right-wing. If the shooter is somebody who is of the left, then the issue is guns always and forever. That is the way that the formula works," Shapiro said.

In the August 28 episode of The Megyn Kelly Show, Kelly and political commentator Matt Walsh also discussed the issue. While discussing the shooter's journal and gender identity, Walsh suggested the possibility that the shooter was on "psychiatric medication." He said it is a "common thread" with such perpetrators.

"This is another common thread with these mass shootings. What you find is that whether this is a trans person or not, very, very often they're on psychiatric medication. We don't know if this guy was on psychiatric medication. I think it sounds like a pretty good possibility he was, but there's very often that's the case," Walsh said.

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Shooter Robin Westman was found dead at the scene, reportedly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Westman had graduated from the same school in 2017. Currently, the motive of the shooting is not clear.