There are questions about whether the proposal to ban transgender individuals from owning guns was just a misguided attempt at provocation. Following a deadly shooting in Minneapolis linked to Robin Westman, reports surfaced that a staffer within the Department of Justice suggested banning trans people from purchasing firearms by labeling them as mentally ill.

This idea is fundamentally flawed legally, as any measure that broadly restricts rights based on group identity is unlikely to withstand court scrutiny. If such a rule were to be upheld, it could open the door for future rights to be restricted under similarly broad definitions of mental illness.

Most observers would agree that even a rural staffer should recognize the legal and ethical issues with such proposals. The joke, it seems, might be to force left-leaning individuals into a hard choice — defending gun control or supporting trans rights — or even to embarrass progressives by aligning them with pro-gun organizations like the NRA.

At this point, there’s hope that this is just gossip among interns rather than serious policy being considered. Nonetheless, if any higher-ups are involved, the Attorney General should promptly dismiss such ideas, similar to how other inappropriate conduct has been swiftly addressed.