Justice Department leadership is prepared to use its rule-making authority to declare transgender people as mentally ill and deprive them of their Second Amendment right to possess firearms, according to two Justice officials who shared internal discussions with CNN.
Deliberations at the highest levels of the DOJ follow the recent mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, an attack police say was carried out by a 23-year-old former student at the church’s 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.
This is probably just another distraction. I don’t think the executive brach has the power to declare someone mentally ill for the purposes of existing gun legislation. They would need a new law through congress, and they won’t get enough votes for that.
Legislation? That’s so old school. The really important stuff, like repealing Constitutional Amendments, is all done by Executive Orders these days.