By most accounts it is definitely common enough that you should REALLY check everything, because adrenaline can be a hell of a drug. Like: people noticing a fairly small entrance-wound but being completely unaware of a gigantic exit-wound is apparently so common that I’ve heard that it is the very first thing you should check for in case of a shooting.

That too.

If US police is this incompetent, the only real solution is to take their guns away. It works in the UK.

And yes, there are more guns in general in the US, but that means that the police needs to be BETTER at deescalation than in the UK, not worse.

(Also: Obviously there are exceptions for specialized units in the UK, and the same would have to happen in the US, but your standard run-of-the-mill cop really doesn’t need more than pepper-spray and a stick.)

most people who are transgender know that they are transgender before they know the meaning of the word “transgender”

Sorry, but I do take issue with that assessment. Societal pressure is one hell of a drug at creating denial and it can take a very long time before you are able to admit to yourself what you are (There is a reason why the term “egg” is thrown around so much these days). As a trans-woman who has only recently had a partial outing (though now with the goal to go through with it all the way) and still struggles with how much my gender-dysphoria fluctuates between unbearable and non-existent you are essentially telling me, that I’m an imposter because it took me 10+ years since I met the first trans-women to finally come to terms with myself.

Also, when I’m already at it, not to you but as a big fuck-you to any transphobes who may read this: I guess I owe you pieces of human garbage some thanks, because all your hate-speech gave rise to so much awareness and support from people who I considered respectable in the first place that I felt a lot more comfortable to come out as who I am, for most people around me had made pro-trans comments at one point or another.