The Trump administration’s proposed gun ownership rules are designed to deter transgender people from buying firearms, according to Second Amendment advocates and policy experts. A new rule from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) would require all gun buyers to list their birth sex on purchase paperwork, even if they have legally or medically changed gender.
Experts say this would make it easier for the ATF to compile lists of transgender gun owners by identifying discrepancies between names and listed sex. It could also create a legal Catch-22, where complying with the form could lead to federal charges for false statements. “Just the announcement is going to have a chilling effect,” said Patrick G. Eddington of the Cato Institute, adding that it amounts to “a de facto registry of people by gender identity.”
The policy aligns with Trump’s January 2025 executive order declaring the federal government will no longer recognise transgender identities. The ATF confirmed it is updating policies accordingly, though officials have softened their language since first confirming the change last June. Reports also indicate the Department of Justice is weighing rules to bar transgender people from owning guns by deeming them mentally unfit.
A series of mass shootings involving transgender suspects have killed at least 20 people in recent years, sparking calls from conservative media to treat transgender people as a domestic terror threat. However, statistics show the overwhelming majority of mass shooters are young white males. The White House has said it is “taking all causes of violence seriously,” while Vice President JD Vance declined to label the “militant transgender movement” a terrorist threat, saying he did not know enough about it.
In February 2025, the Department of Homeland Security scrapped rules against spying based on gender identity. The Justice Department has also subpoenaed hospitals for information about transgender patients. Meanwhile, FBI data shows a rise in anti-LGBT+ hate crimes, coinciding with a surge in transgender people and liberals buying guns. Erin Palette of the LGBT+ gun group Pink Pistols said interest in joining has been “explosive” since Trump’s re-election.
