Overview

• Justice Department officials say they are evaluating options and have advanced no specific proposal to bar transgender people from owning guns.
• The NRA and Gun Owners of America publicly rejected any transgender-only restriction and allied groups warned of a dangerous precedent for stripping rights without due process.
• Internal discussions reportedly include treating gender dysphoria as a disqualifying mental illness, though federal law typically requires a judicial finding before removing firearm rights.
• Constitutional analysts argue a categorical ban would likely collapse under the Supreme Court’s Bruen standard, which demands historical analogues for modern gun limits.
• The talks follow a Minneapolis mass shooting linked in reports to a transgender suspect, even as research shows transgender people are not more prone to violence and are disproportionately victims.