When news first broke that Attorney General Pam Bondi had announced the creation of a Second Amendment task force within the DOJ via a memo to Justice Department employees, there weren't a lot of specifics to go along with the initial reporting.
But thanks to the Firearms Policy Coalition, which shared a full copy of the memo to its followers on X on Wednesday morning, we now have a better idea of what the task force will look like and where it might direct its attention.
Attorney General Bondi's memo regarding the creation of a Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force: https://t.co/n8cXKKdj50 pic.twitter.com/vsGVBYTJeO
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) April 9, 2025
First, Bondi says that the task force is just one element of the "comprehensive plan of action" that she's proposing to President Donald Trump, which is newsworthy in and of itself. Presumably other portions of that comprehensive plan include things like the repeal of Joe Biden's "zero tolerance" approach to gun dealers and the ongoing review of the ATF rules promulgated under Biden's watch, but gun owners and Second Amendment groups have also been asking for a White House office to promote Second Amendment interests and gun ownership, as well as a 2A "czar" that can coordinate pro-Second Amendment efforts across the federal government.
Bondi says the task force is "primarily charged with developing and executing strategies to use litigation and policy to advance, protect, and promote compliance with Second Amendment", which suggests that the DOJ Civil Rights Division's investigation into the policies and practices of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department on issuing concealed carry permits is just the first of many such investigations to come, as well as using the DOJ as a platform to support ongoing litigation efforts by outside Second Amendment organizations.
The Attorney General will head up the task force rather than delegate that duty to an underling, which is another sign that the Trump administration is taking this seriously. In her memo, Bondi announced that the Associate Attorney General, which is the number three position at DOJ, will serve as co-chair of the task force, which will be comprised of members of Bondi's personal staff, personnel from the Deputy AG's office, the Associate AG's office, the Solicitor General's office, and the Civil, Civil Rights, and Criminal divisions of the Justice Department. Outside of Main Justice, the task force will also have representatives from the ATF, FBI, and "any other components or representatives" that Bondi may designate to assist in the task force's efforts.
This is a government task force, so I'm not particularly bothered by the fact that 2A groups won't have a direct seat at the table. My guess is that one of the first things the task force will do is take a look at the ongoing litigation efforts by those organizations to see where the DOJ might assist or even take the lead in curbing particular abuses. The investigation into the LASD, for instance, was prompted by a lawsuit filed by the California Rifle & Pistol Association and several other 2A advocacy groups, and the task force can identify other major infringements by scoping out the lawsuits brought by Firearms Policy Coalition, Gun Owners of America, Second Amendment Foundation, and the National Rifle Association, among others.
Based on Bondi's memo, this task force doesn't look like just a bone thrown by the administration to gun owners, but a substantive step towards using the power of the DOJ to bring anti-gun jurisdictions to heel and to assist 2A groups in courtrooms across the country; an approach that we've never seen before from a Republican administration, but one that would be very welcome for those of us working towards a robust right to keep and bear arms.
