America's largest gun lobby speaks out as Trump admin mulls possible trans firearms ban

The National Rifle Association NRA has sounded off on reports that the Trump administration is mulling a way of limiting transgender people s ability to purchase firearms The gun lobby group the largest in the U S with million members according to its website circulated a comment Friday reinforcing its commitment that all law-abiding Americans have a right to bear arms It comes as Department of Justice executives have had several internal meetings about placing restrictions on trans people in the wake of Annunciation School shooter Robin Westman who identified as trans killing two people and injuring others late last month Westman s firearms were purchased legally according to the Associated Press FEDERAL APPEALS COURT APPROVES ILLINOIS RESTRICTIONS ON CARRYING GUNS ON COMMUNITY TRANSIT The NRA supports the Second Amendment rights of all law-abiding Americans to purchase and use firearms the comment reads NRA does not and will not assistance any program proposals that implement sweeping gun bans that arbitrarily strip law-abiding citizens of their Second Amendment rights without due process As well as the NRA Gun Owners of America GOA issued a clear uncompromising stance on the issue GOA opposes any and all gun bans Full stop the GOA wrote on X In another post the group quoted senior vice president Erich Pratt as saying Gun Owners of America does not compromise with our sponsorship for the right of all People to keep and bear arms The National Association for Gun Rights NAGR another major gun lobby group has not formally weighed in on the issue but its president Dudley Brown declared he opposes the idea He argued on X that labeling people mentally defective to strip them of gun rights would be a due-process violation The DOJ representatives conversations are in an early stage and no concrete measures have been taken multiple sources notified Fox News One source pointed to a pattern of shootings carried out by transgender people including Westman s attack Audrey Aiden Hale who identified as transgender killed six at The Covenant School in Nashville in Alec McKinney a transgender teen was one of two shooters at STEM School in Colorado where one person was killed and eight others were wounded Another source revealed 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 APPEALS COURT BLOCKS NEW MEXICO'S -DAY WAITING PERIOD FOR GUN PURCHASES SAYING IT VIOLATES ND AMENDMENTThe source indicated that the DOJ leaders are at this time 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 questioned 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 robustness 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 fitness challenges and substance abuse disorders the spokesperson mentioned No specific criminal justice proposals have been advanced at this time One of the sources commented DOJ authorities are reviewing means to ensure that mentally ill individuals suffering from gender dysphoria are unable to obtain firearms while they are unstable and unwell People with mental healthcare conditions are typically not banned from purchasing guns under current laws which the Supreme Court reaffirmed as in recent times as in United States v Rahimi But in selected 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 LGBTQ advocates called the idea of a ban misguided and dangerous arguing that the vast majority of mass shootings in the U S are carried out by men and do not involve transgender people Transgender people are less than percent of the overall population yet four times as likely to be casualties of crime GLAAD explained Everyone deserves to be themselves be safe and be free from violence and discrimination We all deserve leaders who prioritize keeping all of us safe and free Since President Donald Trump returned to office his administration has removed transgender people from military utility scrubbed certain federal websites of mentions of them and is trying to bar changing the sex marker on passports The administration has also been vehemently opposed to allowing biological males to compete in female sports and curtailed access to so-called gender-affirming care The Associated Press contributed to this review