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. (RELATED: DUKE: There’s A Common Thread Among School Shooters)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – AUGUST 28: People leave flowers and other mementoes in front of Annunciation Catholic Church, a rapidly growing memorial to the victims of yesterday’s shooting on August 28, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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.
“Gender and weed fucked up my head,” he reportedly wrote. “I wish I never tried experimenting with either. Don’t let your kids smoke weed or change gender until they are like seventeen.”
The Aug. 27 shooting follows a similar 2023 attack in Nashville carried out by Audrey Hale — a female who identified as male — who shot and killed three children and three faculty members at the Covenant School.
“Democrats have called for common sense gun laws for a long time,” a DOJ source told The Daily Wire. “This seems pretty common sense to me.”
A DOJ spokesman confirmed that a “range of options” is on the table but did not provide further specifics.
“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,” the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, some Democrats have condemned discussions of Westman’s transgender identity. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey denounced what he called the “hate being directed at our trans community” following the shooting, claiming that “anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community or any other community out there, has lost their sense of common humanity.”
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has moved to dismantle many Biden-era policies related to transgenderism, including by designating gender dysphoria on its list of medical conditions that disqualify people from military service.
The DOJ did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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