The National Rifle Association (NRA) says it does not support a GOP push to ban transgender people from owning guns by classifying them as mentally ill. The NRA supports the Second Amendment rights of all law-abiding Americans to purchase, possess, and use firearms, reads a statement on the groups social media. NRA 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. Related Yes I want to take away your guns. When will enough be enough? A spokesperson confirmed to CNN that the statement was a response to reports that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering a blanket ban on trans people owning guns following the recentmass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, an attack police say was carried out by a 23-year-old former student at the churchs school who may have been a transgender person or a de-transitioned individual. Two children were killed in the attack, and 21 others were injured.Republicans have exploited the tragedy as so-called proof that trans people are dangerous, despite the fact that people who commit mass shootings are almost always cisgender men. Insights for the LGBTQ+ community Subscribe to our briefing for insights into how politics impacts the LGBTQ+ community and more. Subscribe to our Newsletter today The Second Amendment isnt up for debate. pic.twitter.com/AQwouV4VDd NRA (@NRA) September 5, 2025According to the nonprofitGun Violence Archive, among mass shootings over the last decade where four or more people were shot or killed, only about 0.11% of known suspects were transgender individuals. A U.S. Secret Service analysis of mass public attacks from 2016 to 2020 found that attackers were overwhelmingly men (96%), followed by women (3%), with transgender people accounting for 2%.Nevertheless, the shooting has reinforced transphobic talking points about trans people being mentally ill and a danger to kids and public safety. Anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) wrote on X, Todays evil church school shooter was a trans who was likely groomed and transitioned as a teenager. Congress MUST PASS my bill Protecting Childrens Innocence Act to make it a FELONY to perform sex change surgeries and all forms of medications on minors!!! Right-wing commentator Benny Johnsonwrote, One thing is VERY clear: the trans movement is radicalizing the mentally ill into becoming violent terrorists who target children for murder. Radical gender ideology is driving violence and targeting innocent people. Enough excuses. Enough denial. The threat is real, and its escalating. Time for a national intervention.The LGB Courage Coalition, an anti-trans group, wrote ina statement, Gender ideology may not cause violence directly, but it preys on the vulnerable. When fragile individuals are denied evidence-based mental health care and instead encouraged to affirm delusions, instability follows.The goal of the potential trans firearms ban, according to one DOJ official who spoke with CNN, is to ensure that mentally ill individuals suffering from gender dysphoria are unable to obtain firearms while they are unstable and unwell. But the DOJs effort to take guns from trans Americans could run up against right-wing Second Amendment purists. The U.S. Supreme Court has previously overturned a gun bump stock ban and state laws restricting gun ownership, arguing that they unconstitutionally restrict peoples Second Amendment rights.Other gun rights groups have also released statements opposing taking away Second Amendment rights from trans people. As history proves, any new rules the government invents today will be abused against ill-favored communities, including conservatives and law-abiding gun owners, tomorrow, said the National Rifle Associations President, Dudley Brown. Our advice to the decision-makers over at the ATF, DOJ, and FBI is to stop chasing headlines on the back of the Second Amendment and focus on preserving and protecting gun rights so that law-abiding Americans can defend their loved ones from violent nutcases, criminals, and gang members.Adding any new category of persons to the unconstitutionally broad mental defective category will not only block Americans from purchasing firearms but could result in door-to-door gun confiscation from that new category of individuals, said Gun Owners of America Senior Vice President Erich Pratt. The mental defective gun ban statute is ripe for abuse, and weve already seen it weaponized to disarm more than a quarter of a million veterans. We need the Justice Department to scrap this new gun control and re-focus on restoring our rights which were infringed by the Biden Administration.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.