The Justice Department is reportedly considering a rule that would bar transgender people from possessing guns, on the theory that they are “mentally ill” and therefore “unstable.” The proposal, which has no obvious statutory basis, is so constitutionally dubious that it has provoked objections from every major gun rights group.

The rationale for disarming transgender Americans nevertheless resembles the logic underlying the absurdly broad categories of “prohibited persons” who are forbidden to own firearms under current law.

As I explain in my new book "Beyond Control," those categories include millions of Americans who pose no plausible threat to public safety.

Since 1968, for example, federal law has prohibited gun possession by illegal drug users, a felony currently punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Judging from survey data, something like 20 million Americans, mostly cannabis consumers, are committing that felony right now, although only a tiny percentage of gun-owning drug users are prosecuted each year.

One of those extremely unlucky defendants is Jared Harrison, who was caught with a loaded revolver and various cannabis products when he was pulled over for running a red light in........

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