Washington DC - President Donald Trump's Department of Justice (DOJ) is looking into how it could ban transgender Americans from owning guns after last week's Minneapolis school shooting, reports suggest.

Officials familiar with internal discussions within the DOJ told CNN that the Trump administration is are considering proposals to impose limits on trans people's second amendment rights.

Such a move would intensify the US government's assault on transgender Americans, which has already seen bathroom rights attacked and trans athletes insulted and demonized for competing in sports.

It would also go against arguments that Trump supporters and the wider Republican party have made for decades that gun rights should not be restricted, despite the epidemic of mass shootings that continues to plague the US.

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The Trump administration has taken advantage of the fact that the Minneapolis shooter was a transgender woman by repeatedly attacking the trans community in the wake of the tragedy.

According to the officials, the DOJ is considering a proposal that would see them declare transgender people mentally ill – a declaration that would strip them of their right to possess firearms.

Discussions are in very early stages and by no means definitive, as such a decision would likely face huge legal hurdles if it were to go ahead.

"Instead of actual solutions, the administration is again choosing to scapegoat and target a small and vulnerable population," a spokesperson from advocacy group GLAAD told CNN.

A DOJ spokesperson confirmed to reporters that it is "actively evaluating options to prevent the pattern of violence we have seen from individuals with specific mental health challenges and substance abuse disorders."

"No specific criminal justice proposals have been advanced at this time," the DOJ said.