(NewsNation) — The National Rifle Association announced it opposes any “sweeping gun bans” as the Justice Department debates placing new restrictions on some transgender persons regarding guns.
“NRA does not, and will not, support ay policy proposals that implement sweeping gun bans that arbitrarily strip law-abiding citizens of their Second Amendment rights without due process,” the NRA said in a statement.
DOJ is considering enacting a ban on some people who identify as transgender from buying or owning guns, two DOJ officials familiar with the matter confirmed to NewsNation. This would not be a blanket ban.
DOJ officials are debating whether to prohibit people from buying or owning guns if they have gender dysphoria, which the American Psychological Association defines as a psychological distress that results from the difference in a person’s sex assigned at birth and what they consider their gender identity, one of the sources confirmed.
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A second category would limit persons deemed “mentally unfit and unstable” from buying a gun, that source also confirmed.
“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. No specific criminal justice proposals have been advanced at this time,” a Justice Department spokesperson told NewsNation.
In recent days, DOJ officials have met for policy discussions, which are described as in the early or in infancy stages to explore possible safeguards, the sources said.
“Under Attorney General Bondi’s leadership this Department of Justice is actively considering a range of options to prevent mentally unstable individuals from committing acts of violence, especially at schools,” the DOJ said in a separate statement.
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What criteria the government would use to determine whether someone is “mentally unstable” is one of the many outstanding questions surrounding this issue.
One of the sources dismissed the description of the possible measure as a “transgender gun ban,” and stressed no final decisions have been made about whether to proceed with this rule.
This discussion follows last week’s shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic church-school where a person who identifies as transgender shot into a congregation as a mass was ongoing, killing two students and wounding 18 others.
