President Donald Trump‘s Justice Department could take a huge step to address gun violence that goes against decades of precedent set by previous Republican administrations.
In the wake of the latest school shooting in Minneapolis last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi is considering banning transgender people from purchasing firearms, according to conservative outlet the Daily Wire.
‘Individuals within the DOJ are reviewing ways to ensure that mentally ill individuals suffering from gender dysphoria are unable to obtain firearms while they are unstable and unwell,’ a DOJ source claimed.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Justice Department for comment on this report.
But the report comes after Robin M. Westman, a biological man who now identifies as a woman, carried out a mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 27.
Two children were killed – Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10 – before Westman died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Westman was born Robert, but changed his name after legally becoming a woman as a minor. His mother signed off on the change.
Attorney General Pam Bondi’s Justice Department is considering banning transgender people from purchasing firearms, according to a new report
Shooter Robin Westman, who was named Robert at birth, is seen above in surveillance video at a gun store in St. Louis Park just five days before carrying out the deadly Annunciation Catholic School shooting in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 27, 2025
Two years prior on March 27, 2023, another transgender killer targeted a Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee.
Shooter Audrey Elizabeth was a 28-year-old biological woman who identified as male and went by Aiden on some social media profiles. Six people – three children and three adults – were killed in that shooting.
The Colorado Springs nightclub massacre in 2022 – which left five dead and dozens wounded at the LGBTQ+ bar Club Q – was carried out by a suspect who later told lawyers they identify as nonbinary and use they/them pronouns.
There have been other cases involving transgender shooters: a 2019 attack at a Denver-area high school and a 2018 rampage at a Rite Aid warehouse in Aberdeen, Maryland, both of which were linked to suspects who identified as trans.
The shootings have led to the DOJ considering preventing people with the mental illness of gender dysphoria from being able to purchase a gun as a way to crackdown on the rise of school shootings.
Despite widespread community concerns over transgender shooters, any ban would likely trigger a culture war with far-left activists.
Democrat Ilhan Omar previously blasted White House adviser Sebastian Gorka for highlighting the Minneapolis shooter’s transgender identity, saying it was an attempt to deflect from the real horror of the crime.
The Minnesota Democrat, a member of the progressive ‘Squad,’ insisted ‘this is not the moment to point fingers,’ instead urging a ban on assault weapons and more funding for mental health.
A DOJ spokesman said there are a ‘range of options’ on the table to address gun violence.
‘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,’ they added.
Gender dysphoria is the mental illness often associated with transgenderism.
Westman opened fire on mass at a Catholic school in Minneapolis – killing two young students before turning the gun on themselves
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) ‘gender dysphoria is defined as a condition characterized by a marked and persistent incongruence between one’s experienced or expressed gender and their assigned sex, resulting in significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.’
Asked about the differentiation between identifying someone with ‘gender dysphoria’ and someone who is ‘trans-identifying,’ a DOJ source told the Daily Wire they’re ‘not playing semantics with words like dysphoria.’
‘We’re talking about trannies, and we don’t think they should have guns,’ they added.
Law enforcement identified Westman as the shooter – they were born male but identified as female and legally changed their name from Robert to Robin
The move to prohibit someone from buying a gun based on a medical diagnosis goes against many Second Amendment advocates.
There have been pushes from Republicans to protect Americans’ rights to own a firearm and intense scrutiny over any attempts to limit that.
But Bondi’s Justice Department appears to think this action could be a compromise between the political left and right.
‘Democrats have called for common sense gun laws for a long time,’ the DOJ source told the Daily Wire.
‘This seems pretty common sense to me.’
