He was pivoting to that after getting called out with data when he was lying about trans mass shooters. Instead of accepting that he was lying he tried to deflect with racism.

Here is the context. It really was an attempt to paint trans people as violent.

“Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?” an audience member asked.

“Too many,” Kirk responded to applause from the crowd.

The attendee informed him that the total was five and continued: “Do you know how many mass shooters there have been in America over the last 10 years?”

“Counting or not counting gang violence?” Kirk replied before, just seconds later, he was struck by the bullet and fell from his chair, prompting the panicked crowd to disperse in terror.

The reason he brought up that point was to support his proposition that trans people are violent.

I want every trans person to gather together. Every one in the US. Let's really see what these snowflakes are scared of.

Somebody else on the fediverse here right after this happened was saying that he likes to think the shooter was sitting there listening to him wondering if he wants to pull the trigger and then heard that bullshit.