Justice Department considers possible ban on transgender people owning guns

The Justice Department is facing backlash from both gun rights advocates and LGBTQ groups after reports surfaced that it was exploring the idea of restricting transgender people from owning firearms — a move that would almost certainly trigger immediate constitutional challenges.

According to a person familiar with the discussions, the talks began after a shooting last month at a Catholic school in Minneapolis that authorities said was carried out by a transgender shooter. The individual stressed that the deliberations remain preliminary and no formal proposal has been drafted.

Even so, the fact that senior officials in the Trump administration were weighing such a policy sparked swift outrage across the political spectrum. LGBTQ advocates condemned the idea as misguided and discriminatory, noting that transgender people are far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators. “Transgender people are less than 2% of the population, yet four times as likely to be victims of crime,” GLAAD said in a statement. “Everyone deserves safety, dignity, and freedom from discrimination.”

The floated idea comes amid a broader pattern of targeting transgender Americans since Trump’s return to office, including banning their military service, limiting their ability to change gender markers on passports, pursuing medical information from clinics providing gender-affirming care, and pushing to exclude transgender athletes from certain sports.

In response to questions about the firearm deliberations, the Justice Department issued a statement saying it is “actively evaluating options to prevent the pattern of violence we have seen from individuals with specific mental health challenges and substance abuse disorders.” But the agency added that “no specific criminal justice proposals have been advanced at this time.”