Reports that the Justice Department has held internal discussions about whether to restrict gun ownership by transgender people have reignited debate over President Donald Trump’s record on the Second Amendment and drawn immediate pushback from gun-rights advocates.
Department officials told Fox News Digital that the conversations have not been advanced through official channels, and a White House spokeswoman described them as "very preliminary, low-level discussions." A source familiar with the matter said the Office of Legal Counsel has been involved in weighing potential legal frameworks and that any move would likely implicate the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which sits under DOJ oversight.
The National Rifle Association criticized the reported talks, telling Fox News Digital that it "supports the Second Amendment rights of all law-abiding Americans to purchase and use firearms" and that it "does not, and will not, support any policy proposals that implement sweeping gun bans that arbitrarily strip law-abiding citizens of their Second Amendment rights without due process." The NRA’s response underscored how the issue has pulled the president’s stance on guns back into the spotlight.
Trump’s public record on gun policy has shifted over more than two decades. In his 2000 book, "The America We Deserve," he endorsed a ban on so-called assault weapons and supported a waiting period for gun purchases. By 2015, as he prepared a presidential run, he cast his earlier support for waiting periods as ineffective and described himself as a "very big Second Amendment person," a posture that helped secure the NRA’s endorsement in 2016 and again in 2020 and 2024.
During his first term, Trump’s record on guns was mixed. After the 2018 Parkland school shooting, he publicly said he would consider raising the minimum age to buy rifles to 21 and at one point suggested "taking the guns first, [and going] through due process second," comments he later walked back. He also signaled support for stronger background checks after other mass shootings but declined to pursue new federal legislation amid pressure from the NRA and other conservative groups.
On the 2024 campaign trail and after, Trump cast himself as the "most pro-gun president ever," promising to roll back what he described as Biden administration encroachments on gun rights. At the NRA’s 2024 annual meeting in Texas, he urged gun owners to vote and vowed to reverse Biden-era policies.
Any proposal targeting gun ownership by transgender people would meet legal and political hurdles. DOJ officials emphasized to the Fox report that no policy had been formally advanced; White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated that the matter remains at an early stage. The involvement of the Office of Legal Counsel suggests the administration is exploring whether such a restriction could be justified under existing statutory and constitutional frameworks, and the ATF would be the agency responsible for administering any new federal rule.
The reports broke amid broader efforts by the Trump administration to steer DOJ policy. Attorney General Pam Bondi has vowed to restore what she calls the department's "core function" following prior internal disputes, and changes at the department have included personnel shifts tied to the ATF, according to administration statements and reporting.
How far the administration will move and what legal arguments it would employ remain unclear. Civil-rights groups, LGBTQ advocates and gun-rights organizations have not yet coalesced around a single public response beyond the NRA statement, but the prospect of a policy singling out a demographic group for firearms restrictions is likely to prompt litigation and renewed political debate over both gun rights and equal-protection principles.
The initial reporting on the discussions was published by Fox News Digital. Ashley Oliver contributed to the reporting. Breanne Deppisch covers national politics and the Justice Department for Fox News Digital.