Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads up the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, has already taken an active role in challenging infringements on our Second Amendment rights, but the Division looks to be expanding its 2A footprint even further.
According to a report by Reuters, the Civil Rights Division is opening up a new office that's dedicated exclusively to defending our right to keep and bear arms from government intrusion.
The office, called the Second Amendment Rights Section, expects to open on December 4 and will be dedicated to investigating local laws or policies limiting gun rights. The section intends to execute the broad policy directions from a February executive order, opens new tab issued by President Donald Trump directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to comb the entire U.S. government to "assess any ongoing infringements" of gun rights.
I do hope that by "local" laws, Reuters also means state-level gun control efforts. Dhillon has already participated in oral arguments before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in a challenge to the ban on so-called assault weapons and large capacity magazines adopted by Illinois, and the DOJ is also requesting to participate in oral arguments at the Supreme Court in January, when justices will hear a challenge to Hawaii's default ban on lawful concealed carry on all private property.
There are plenty of local abuses for the DOJ to investigate, including the sky-high cost to obtain a carry license in some blue states. But more than 40 states have firearm preemption laws in place that prevent local governments from adopting their own gun control ordinances, so there are a lot of state-level gun laws that deserve the DOJ's attention as well.
The DOJs legal support for the Second Amendment is a new phenomenon not seen in previous administrations, and as you might expect, not everybody is thrilled with the change.
"The Civil Rights Division's new focus on the Second Amendment, which is far outside its longstanding mission, is moving us even further away from our nation's commitment to protecting all Americans' civil rights," said Stacey Young, a former Civil Rights Division attorney.Earlier this year, the agency launched a civil rights investigation into allegations that the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department was slow-walking approvals for concealed-carry permits after gun-rights groups launched a lawsuit over the department's process, fees and wait times.
As Young says, the DOJ's Civil Rights Division exists to protect all Americans' civil rights. That would include the right to keep and bear arms; a fundamental civil right that helped to spirit slaves north along the Underground Railroad, enabled armed citizens to ward off slave catchers who ventured north to capture runaways, and has played an active role in individual and community defense since our Founding.
If Young doesn't see the right to keep and bear arms as a civil right worth protecting, then I'm glad she's a former attorney in the CRD. I suggest she pick up a copy of Nicholas Johnson's "Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms" or Charles Cobb's "This Non-Violent Stuff Will Get You Killed" to get a better understanding of how our Second Amendment rights have helped advance the fight for civil rights in general.
The DOJ's new office isn't going to quell the criticism from many 2A activists over the agency's continued defense of federal gun laws, but it's another important step in the right direction, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the Second Amendment Rights Section decides to first focus its attention when it becomes active in just a few days.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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