DOJ Considers Transgender Gun Ban After Catholic School Massacre

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering blocking those identifying as transgender from buying firearms after a trans-identifying male opened fire on children at a Catholic school in Minnesota on Aug. 27, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

Robin Westman, a man identifying as a woman, killed two children while they attended Mass at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, wounded 21 others and fatally shot himself. The massacre — along with other recent attacks carried out by trans-identifying individuals — has heightened concerns about the connection between transgenderism, mental illness and violence.

The goal of the potential ban is “to ensure that mentally ill individuals suffering from gender dysphoria are unable to obtain firearms while they are unstable and unwell,” a DOJ official told CNN.

Court records show that the alleged gunman’s mother, who worked at the church, applied to change her son’s name from Robert Paul to Robin M. while he was still a minor, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. Westman blamed his transgenderism, weed and disapproval from his mother for his mental illness, according to his writing translated by the New York Post.