Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla
Topics: Donald Trump, LGBTQ, Politics, US News, Transgender
Emily Brown
Topics: Donald Trump, LGBTQ, Politics, US News, Transgender
Donald Trump's Department of Justice has come under fire after reports emerged that it is looking at ways to ban one specific group from being able to buy guns.
The second amendment of the Constitution of the United States might be a controversial one, but that's one of the reasons why it's among the best known.
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed," it reads.
The amendment is considered by many Americans to mean that they have the right to own a gun - but now, reported plans from the Trump administration may infringe on that right.
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The plans have been shared with CNN from two officials familiar with the internal discussions, and come after a deadly mass shooting took place at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on August 27.
Two children lost their lives in the attack and eighteen other people were injured, including 15 students and three parishioners in their 80s.
The shooter was identified as Robin Westman, a 23-year-old transgender woman who died at the scene of the mass shooting from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In the wake of the tragedy, senior Justice Department officials are now allegedly looking at proposals to limit transgender people’s right to possess firearms, CNN reports, despite the fact that the majority of mass attacks in the US have no connection to transgender people.
The talks are said only to be preliminary at the moment, but the news has received backlash from members of the public who have branded the idea as 'discriminatory' and a violation of rights.
Kat Abughazaleh, a former journalist who is now running for Congress as a Democrat, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "This is an overtly discriminatory civil rights violation. Trans people have the same legal rights as other Americans — end of story. There are lots of good reasons to keep certain people from owning guns. Being trans isn't one of them."
Another X user wrote: "Trump’s DOJ targeting trans gun owners is a blatant Second Amendment violation—singling out a group based on identity, not actions, reeks of discrimination and sets a dangerous precedent."
According to one Justice official, leadership is considering whether it could limit transgender people's access to guns by declaring them as mentally ill.
One source said the ban would 'ensure that mentally ill individuals suffering from gender dysphoria are unable to obtain firearms while they are unstable and unwell'.
However, another official noted that any proposal would likely run into legal complications, especially since millions of Americans with mental health issues are not a danger to society.
Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School, argued that a proposal to limit the right to guns could set a dangerous precedent.
“This precedent being used against trans people could be used against veterans with PTSD,” she told CNN. “It’s a slippery slope to make anyone lose their 2nd amendment rights.”
In a statement addressing the reports, the Justice Department said: "[We are] 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 decision to limit transgender people from owning guns would be the latest in a number of actions Trump's administration has taken against the community, having already banned trans people from serving in the military and ordering federal prisons to move transgender inmates to facilities intended for the gender they were assigned at birth.
UNILAD has reached out to the White House for comment.