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On September 3, JD Vance and wife Usha Vance pay their respects to victims of the Minnesota church shooting.
Such prohibitions would set a dangerous precedent linking identity with criminality.
The Justice Department is considering new regulations that could restrict gun ownership for transgender people, following a deadly mass shooting at a Catholic church school in Minneapolis, in which the perpetrator has been reported to be trans, according to CNN.
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CNN, citing officials familiar with the discussions, reports that the department is exploring whether gender dysphoria could be classified as a mental health condition that disqualifies someone from owning firearms.
Current federal law allows restrictions on gun rights for individuals deemed mentally “defective” by a court, but extending that framework to gender identity would mark a significant and controversial shift in federal policy,
The idea remains in the early stages, and no formal rule has been introduced. But if advanced, it would face legal challenges on constitutional grounds, including violations of the Second Amendment and protections against discrimination.
In the past, LGBTQ+ advocates and legal experts have warned such laws would unfairly single out transgender Americans and could set a dangerous precedent of linking identity with criminality. But it would be just one more of many anti-trans actions by the Trump administration.
Related: CNN anchor embarrasses White House counterterrorism chief over false transgender mass shooter stats
Related: Minneapolis mayor warns against 'villainizing trans community' after shooting leaves 2 children dead
In reality, the majority of mass shooters are cisgender males. “I’m aware of no evidence to support the claim that transgender people are disproportionately responsible for mass violence events in the U.S., including shootings in schools,” Michael Jensen, research director at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, told USA Today shortly after the Minneapolis shooting. “In fact, the data suggests quite the opposite.”
In 1,000 “mass casualty” plots identified by Jensen since 2023, “you can count on less than one hand how many of those were perpetrated by a transgender individual,” he said.
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