The debate over domestic extremism in the United States took a dramatic new turn this week, as the Heritage Foundation and its spin-off, the Oversight Project, urged the FBI to designate "Transgender Ideology-Inspired Violent Extremism" (TIVE) as a domestic terror threat. Their petition, launched on September 18, 2025, called for the federal agency to "detect, disrupt, and dismantle TIVE cells," citing the recent assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk as the latest in what they described as a pattern of violence linked to transgender ideology.
This move comes amid a broader political struggle over the narrative surrounding domestic extremism. According to The Hill, just a day after the petition's launch, it was reported that the U.S. Justice Department had quietly removed a 2024 study from its website. That study, which reviewed data from the National Institute of Justice, found that far-right extremists had committed 227 ideologically motivated attacks resulting in over 520 deaths since 1990, compared to 42 attacks and 78 deaths attributed to far-left extremists during the same period. The removal was first noticed by Daniel Malmer, a Ph.D. student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who studies extremism. The Justice Department stated the removal was part of a website review prompted by recent Executive Orders, though it did not specify which orders required such action.
The Heritage Foundation's petition, developed in collaboration with the Oversight Project, is notable for its sweeping definition of "TIVE." The groups argue that TIVE is rooted in "the belief that violence is justified against people who oppose transgender ideology... or who are silent or indifferent." Their public explanation of TIVE encompasses not only those who commit violence but also activists and writers who use terms such as "cisgender," "deadnaming," "misgendering," and "Gillick Competence"—the latter being a legal concept from British law regarding minors' consent to medical treatment. The Oversight Project's president, Mike Howell, declared, "To understand transgender ideology is to understand that at its core, it's wrapped in violence — at its very essence." Howell also announced plans to submit a formal mock designation for the FBI to consider, promising to publish it once ready.
Despite these assertions, available evidence paints a different picture. The Gun Violence Archive, as cited by multiple outlets, indicates that only about 0.1 percent of mass shootings in the past decade were perpetrated by transgender individuals. Research from The Violence Prevention Project at Hamline University supports this, and PolitiFact has reported that transgender people are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators, compared to their cisgender peers. The Heritage Foundation and Oversight Project have insisted that not all transgender people or their supporters should be labeled terrorists, emphasizing that "individuals are free to identify as transgender, or support... transgenderism in a non-violent way." Yet their definition of TIVE is so broad that it could include a wide range of rhetoric and activism common among those advocating for transgender rights.
The timing of the petition is no coincidence. It follows years of effort by some within the MAGA movement to associate America's estimated 2.8 million transgender people with violence and instability. After Kirk's assassination, The Wall Street Journal published a report (later proven inaccurate) alleging that shell casings at the scene were etched with messages of "transgender ideology." The Human Rights Campaign condemned this reporting as "reckless and irresponsible," saying it "led to a wave of threats against the trans community from right-wing influencers — and a resulting wave of terror for a community that is already living in fear." California state senator Scott Wiener added, "The obsession with tying trans people to shootings is vile and dangerous." He continued, "First they try to say the shooter might be trans, and WSJ amplifies that lie. Once that fell apart, they pivot to ‘he lived with a trans person.’ Even if true, who cares? It’s McCarthyism and truly disgusting."
At the heart of the current controversy is the killing of Charlie Kirk. Early reports and court documents suggest that Tyler Robinson, Kirk's alleged assassin, had recently shifted his political beliefs leftward, telling his romantic partner that he'd "had enough of [Kirk's] hatred." The partner, who is reportedly transgender, has cooperated with police, providing messages from Robinson. However, Robinson has not made any explicit statement to investigators about his beliefs or motives related to transgender ideology. FBI deputy director Dan Bongino has stated that the agency is probing whether Robinson was "aided and abetted" by an "extended network," but the investigation remains in its early stages.
Complicating the picture, independent journalist Ken Klippenstein reported that the FBI was already planning to focus more on transgender suspects, treating them as a form of "nihilistic violent extremist," according to unnamed sources. However, The Independent has not been able to verify this claim and is awaiting comment from the Department of Justice.
Meanwhile, the political rhetoric around domestic extremism has intensified. Since Kirk's death, former President Trump has repeatedly blamed "the left" for political violence. As quoted by The Hill, Trump told reporters, "If you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right. Some people like to say the right — the problem we have is on the left." He added, "And when you look at the agitator, you look at the scum that speaks so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place, that’s the left. That’s not the right." These claims stand in stark contrast to the findings of the now-removed Justice Department study, as well as a recent study by the Cato Institute, which found that since 2020, right-wing extremists were responsible for more than half of all politically motivated deaths, while left-wing extremists accounted for just 22 percent.
The U.S. government does not have the legal authority to designate domestic organizations as terrorist groups, but the FBI does maintain classifications for types of domestic terrorism, such as "Racially/Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremism" and "Abortion-Related Violent Extremism." The Heritage Foundation's petition is part of a broader push to expand these categories to include ideological opponents, despite a lack of supporting evidence for widespread violence linked to transgender activism.
As the debate rages on, the facts remain: the overwhelming majority of ideologically motivated mass violence in the U.S. continues to come from right-wing extremists, according to multiple independent studies. Efforts to shift the narrative—whether by removing inconvenient government data or by proposing new categories of extremism—are unlikely to resolve the underlying issues or allay the fears of communities already at risk.
For now, the struggle over how to define and respond to domestic extremism shows no sign of abating, with political actors on all sides seeking to shape public perception and federal policy to suit their aims.
