EXCLUSIVE: Abdul El-Sayed blamed Nashville Christian massacre on anti-trans laws

In a now deleted podcast episode, Michigan Democrat senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed downplayed the school shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tenn., which was carried out by Audrey Hale, a woman who identified as transgender. He blamed laws protecting women and children's rights and the 2nd Amendment instead. The comments were made during a podcast called "The Right to Have Healthcare!" The video for that has since been taken down. He made additional comments on America Dissected.

"After this shooting in Tennessee," El-Sayed said during an opening monologue in a now deleted April 2023 broadcast, "right-wing media wanted to talk about the identity of the shooter who happened to identify as trans. Monday's victims were murdered because they were Christians. It's that simple. Transgenders hate Christians above all not because Christians are a physical threat because Christians refuse to join every other liar in our society and proclaim that transgenders are gods.

"School shootings are not a trans problem, school shootings are a gun problem and they're trying to dissuade us from talking about the real issue here, which is too often it's the case that almost anyone can get any gun anytime and take it anywhere, like a school," he went on.

In an America Dissected podcast in April 2023, El-Sayed made similar comments, saying "Another elementary school got shot up this week. This time it was a Christian private school in Tennessee where a shooter killed three adults and three children, all under nine years old. Rather than the perpetual problem of unfettered access to guns, right-wing media have chosen to concentrate on the shooter, a former student at the school who identified as trans, arguing that the attack was some kind of broader attack in an escalating battle between trans people and Christians.

"Look, y’all I’m Muslim. I know what happens when people essentialize everyone with a particular identity based on the actions of one individual who happens to identify that way. And that’s a dangerous brew. Because the other thing that happened this week is that the Republicans in the legislature of the state of Kentucky forced through a draconian set of anti-trans laws overriding the veto of their Democratic governor. And all that’s going to do is rob thousands of people of basic civil rights. The epidemic of gun violence in this country has nothing to do with trans people. It has everything to do with the unfettered access to guns."

El-Sayed reportedly hid up to 100 videos which included commentary about abolishing the 2nd Amendment and a complaint about fireworks. He said further that the Second Amendment should instead be about the right to health care rather than the right to bear arms.