Trump considers effort to ban trans people from owning guns, report says

The Trump administration is reportedly considering an effort to ban transgender people from owning guns despite the Second Amendment protection of the right to bear arms.

After the recent Minneapolis Catholic school shooting that was blamed on a trans woman, Department of Justice officials are considering legal options to declare transgender people as mentally ill and therefore unfit to carry firearms, CNN reported on Thursday.

The report, which called the discussions preliminary, said one option would be to use President Donald Trump’s order barring trans people from serving in the military as a template for gun restrictions.

The goal would be “to ensure that mentally ill individuals suffering from gender dysphoria are unable to obtain firearms while they are unstable and unwell,” a Justice Department official told CNN, using a favored right-wing term for trans people.

Even Trump officials admit that any such proposal would face serious legal hurdles, presumably not least from right-wing proponents of the Second Amendments who traditionally fiercely oppose even narrow efforts to restrict gun ownership.

Current law says gun rights can only be revoked from a person who is declared “mentally defective,” a very high legal bar that could not support a blanket ban applied to any large group of Americans.

—New York Daily News

Alligator Alcatraz revival: Appeals court pauses order shuttering detention camp

MIAMI — An appeals court on Thursday set aside a federal judge’s order forcing Florida’s state government to slowly shut down Alligator Alcatraz and blocking the Trump administration from sending new immigrant detainees to the Everglades detention camp.

The split decision by a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals paused District Judge Kathleen Williams’ Aug. 21 order effectively closing down Alligator Alcatraz while a lawsuit challenging the construction of the facility proceeded. The appellate decision was a victory for the DeSantis and Trump administrations, which argued that the immigration detention camp was crucial to detaining immigrants prior to their deportations.

Williams had granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit filed by environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe, which argued that the state and federal governments had not followed federal environmental regulations while setting up the site. Williams’ ruling had barred any new construction from taking place, and asked the government to begin stripping down the detention camp.

Thursday’s appeals court ruling allows the government to continue operations at the facility after it had begun transferring detainees to other detention facilities.

—Miami Herald

Despite fiery opposition, Missouri Republicans advance gerrymandered map

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.— Missouri Republican lawmakers late Thursday voted to advance a new, gerrymandered congressional map despite hours of fiery public testimony against the proposal.

Republicans were also preparing to advance a plan later on Thursday that would weaken the state’s process for direct democracy.

Both measures are poised to head to the floor of the Missouri House early next week as part of Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s special legislative session. The goal is to carve up the Kansas City area to allow a Republican to pick up another U.S. House seat and make it harder for voters to amend the state constitution.

Residents from Kansas City and across Missouri packed into committee rooms in the basement of the state Capitol Thursday afternoon for separate hearings on the two measures. The vast majority of public testimony opposed both.

The two issues, which are aimed at representative and direct democracy, set up what could be the most consequential special session in recent history, potentially altering the trajectory of Missouri for years.

“My city,” said Rep. Mark Sharp, a Kansas City Democrat, “Kansas City, hangs in the balance right here, right now. I can’t tell you how angry I am.”

The first hearing centered on the congressional map, sponsored by Rep. Dirk Deaton, a Noel Republican. The map would slice up the voters of Kansas City into three Republican-leaning districts under pressure from the Trump administration.

Kehoe and Republican lawmakers hope to push out U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Kansas City’s longtime Democratic congressman, and allow a Republican to pick up his 5th Congressional District seat. That effort could give Republicans control of seven of the state’s eight districts.

The mid-decade effort is exceptionally rare. Congressional districts are typically only redrawn once every decade based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

—The Kansas City Star

China’s Xi holds talks with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Beijing

Chinese President Xi Jinping told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Beijing is committed to strengthening ties with Pyongyang, reaffirming the long-standing relationship between the two countries in their first bilateral meeting in six years.

Xi said China is willing to strengthen high-level exchanges and strategic communication with North Korea, while both countries should enhance strategic coordination in international and regional affairs to safeguard their common interests, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

The Chinese leader reiterated that Beijing maintains an objective and fair position on the issue of the Korean Peninsula and is willing to continue coordinating with North Korea to safeguard peace and stability on the peninsula, the report added.

The meeting came after Xi hosted both Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing for a vast military parade this week. Prior to this week, Kim and Xi hadn’t met in person since June 2019, when the Chinese leader visited Pyongyang and called for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Before that, Kim traveled to Beijing four times in 10 months as he sought China’s support in resetting ties with the U.S. and South Korea.

Beijing has been North Korea’s main backer for years, providing a lifeline that kept the latter’s economy afloat as the U.S. and many of its allies maintain sanctions on the reclusive country.

Kim’s visit aims at rebuilding ties with China, helping his country gain economic and diplomatic support from Beijing before a potential restart of U.S. talks, and hedge risks by easing his reliance on Russia as the war in Ukraine nears a possible conclusion, according to Lee Seong-kweun, a member of South Korea’s parliamentary intelligence committee.

—Bloomberg News