Sept. 4 (UPI) — The Trump administration might limit firearms access for those identifying as transgender due to alleged mental illness, several news outlets reported.
Preliminary talks within the Justice Department are considering potential ways to limit transgender access to firearms due to what are being called “mental health” issues, Newsweek, Independent and CNN reported on Thursday.
The DOJ is considering declaring gender dysphoria as a type of mental illness that disqualifies transgender people from legally buying and using firearms.
Critics say such a move would trigger legal opposition based upon Second Amendment rights. And, they say, it could lead to others who legally own firearms losing their right to bear arms despite being law-abiding citizens and because of manageable mental health issues, some DOJ officials argued.
For someone to lose the right to have a gun, a judge first must rule that the person is mentally defective, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
A spokesperson with the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation accused the Trump administration of scapegoating transgender people.
“Instead of actual solutions, the administration is again choosing to scapegoat and target a small and vulnerable population,” the GLAAD spokesperson told CNN. “Everyone deserves to be themselves, be safe and be free from violence and discrimination.”
The Department of Homeland Security in 2023 reported less than 2% of mass shootings from 2016 to 2020 were carried out by transgender people versus 95% by cisgender males.
However, several high-profile mass shootings by transgender individuals since the report was released have triggered new discussions.
Annunciation Catholic Church shooter Robin Westman on the morning of Aug. 27 killed two children and wounded 19 others, mostly children, in Minneapolis, at the pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade Catholic religious school that he once attended and where his mother once worked.
Westman, 23, wrote a manifesto and posted its pages on social media before the FBI removed the content following the mass shooting.
In it, Westman expressed regret over “brainwashing” himself, which led to changing his name from “Robert” to “Robin” at age 17 and transitioning to female.
Also, a person identifying as a transgender male, Audrey Hale, shot and killed three school children and three adults on March 27, 2023, at a Nashville religious school that she once attended.
Both killers indicated they targeted their respective former schools due to their lack of security.
Other transgender-related acts of violence include the Jan. 20 Vermont shooting death of a Customs and Border Protection agent by members of a so-called “Zizian death cult” that is comprised mostly of transgender people.
Many who identify as transgender also are charged with attempted murder and other crimes related to the July 4 ambush of Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel in Alvarado, Texas, which seriously injured one officer.
Many of those suspects also are alleged members of an Antifa cell in northern Texas.
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