Justice Department mulls restricting transgender people from buying guns

Department of Justice officials have had several internal meetings about putting limitations on transgender people’s ability to purchase firearms, Fox News Digital has learned.

The DOJ officials’ conversations are in an early stage and no concrete steps have been taken, according to conversations with multiple sources.

But the discussions surrounding two hotly contested issues for Republicans — preserving Second Amendment rights and tightening policies related to transgender people — are happening.

One source pointed to a “pattern” of shootings carried out by transgender people, including the recent tragedy at a Catholic Church in Minnesota. Robin Westman, who was named Robert through 2019, killed two children and injured more than a dozen others before dying by suicide. Westman’s firearms were purchased legally, according to the Associated Press.

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Another source said the DOJ’s discussions about banning transgender people from buying or owning guns have involved the Office of Legal Counsel, which provides legal advice to the executive branch. The source indicated that the DOJ officials are currently thinking through a feasible legal framework. Such discussions would likely rope in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which is part of the DOJ and has authority over federal rules related to firearms.

When asked about the talks, a DOJ spokesperson downplayed the discussions targeting transgender people, telling Fox News the department has been examining numerous options to address the correlation between shootings and mental health but that it has not come up with anything specific.

“The DOJ is actively evaluating options to prevent the pattern of violence we have seen from individuals with specific mental health challenges and substance abuse disorders,” the spokesperson said. “No specific criminal justice proposals have been advanced at this time.”

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One of the sources said DOJ officials “are reviewing ways to ensure that mentally ill individuals suffering from gender dysphoria are unable to obtain firearms while they are unstable and unwell.”

People with mental health conditions are typically not banned from purchasing guns under current laws, which the Supreme Court reaffirmed as recently as 2024 in United States v. Rahimi.

But in some instances, such as a court deeming someone mentally incompetent, that information is supposed to crop up during a background check and block a customer from obtaining a gun license. 

Gun rights advocates were quick to respond to word of the DOJ’s efforts to find ways to restrict transgender people from buying or owning guns.

The Firearms Policy Coalition threatened to sue if the DOJ’s conversations materialized into concrete policy proposals.

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“If the Trump Administration — or any administration — unwisely and immorally chooses to wield the force of government in conflict with the Constitution, federal law, or our values, FPC will take aggressive action to defend the rights of peaceable people, just as we have many times before,” the group said in a statement.

The Firearms Policy Coalition’s stated mission is to “eliminate bans on constitutionally protected arms, carry in public, the personal manufacture of weapons, and non-dangerous legal adults.”

The DOJ’s actions align with Trump’s string of executive actions when he took office that were designed to change policies regarding transgender people. The president said in his orders that only two sexes existed, male and female; that people with gender dysphoria cannot serve in the military; and that students would violate Title IX if they competed in sports exclusive to their opposite sex.

Fox News reached out to the White House for comment on the DOJ floating the idea of banning transgender people from purchasing guns.

Fox News’ David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this story.