AFT making it more complicated for non-binary people buy gun
https://www.thetrace.org/2025/09/gun-background-check-nonbinary-trump-atf/
Despite opposition from gun rights groups
> Matthew Larosiere, a gun rights attorney who in 2019 wrote critically about the ATF’s use of sex on the form, said applicants should be required to provide “the least amount of information possible for conclusive identification.” Larosiere doubts that including sex on the form is necessary but says if the question is going to be asked, then the nonbinary option should remain, both for Second Amendment reasons and to avoid compliance headaches for gun dealers. “I don’t see any advantage in going back to pure binary on the form,” he said.
> In 2018 and 2019, Larry Keane, chief lobbyist and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, raised the issue several times with ATF officials, according to emails that The Trace obtained through an ongoing public records lawsuit filed by Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The emails show Keane coordinating ATF involvement in the NSSF’s annual Las Vegas trade show, making inquiries about specific agency enforcement actions, sharing gun-related news stories with top brass, and generally enjoying a degree of access that would make many lobbyists envious. And, as expected given his role, Keane is eager to address difficulties that gun dealers face with sales and compliance.
>In July 2019, after New Hampshire became the 13th state to allow driver’s license holders to identify as nonbinary, Keane notified ATF leaders and encouraged the agency to consider changing the form “to allow a third option.” Initially, the agency said it was permissible for dealers to accept licenses for nonbinary people as a means of identification, but that applicants still had to choose male or female on the background check form. Then in May 2020, the agency revised the form, allowing applicants to select nonbinary, male, or female as their sex.
Despite opposition from gun rights groups
> Matthew Larosiere, a gun rights attorney who in 2019 wrote critically about the ATF’s use of sex on the form, said applicants should be required to provide “the least amount of information possible for conclusive identification.” Larosiere doubts that including sex on the form is necessary but says if the question is going to be asked, then the nonbinary option should remain, both for Second Amendment reasons and to avoid compliance headaches for gun dealers. “I don’t see any advantage in going back to pure binary on the form,” he said.
> In 2018 and 2019, Larry Keane, chief lobbyist and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, raised the issue several times with ATF officials, according to emails that The Trace obtained through an ongoing public records lawsuit filed by Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The emails show Keane coordinating ATF involvement in the NSSF’s annual Las Vegas trade show, making inquiries about specific agency enforcement actions, sharing gun-related news stories with top brass, and generally enjoying a degree of access that would make many lobbyists envious. And, as expected given his role, Keane is eager to address difficulties that gun dealers face with sales and compliance.
>In July 2019, after New Hampshire became the 13th state to allow driver’s license holders to identify as nonbinary, Keane notified ATF leaders and encouraged the agency to consider changing the form “to allow a third option.” Initially, the agency said it was permissible for dealers to accept licenses for nonbinary people as a means of identification, but that applicants still had to choose male or female on the background check form. Then in May 2020, the agency revised the form, allowing applicants to select nonbinary, male, or female as their sex.
