On Wednesday, Cam wrote about a YouTube channel publishing AI slop, claiming that carry permits were struck down nationwide. That's one of those "big if true" moments that we all know isn't true. They could have done that with the Bruen decision, if so inclined, and this is the same court that ruled there. It's just not remotely likely that would be true, and that bothers me because it's not like there isn't enough good news to go around, like the latest comments from the DOJ.
See, while Rhode Island is trying to take people's AR-15s and similar modern sporting rifles, the Department of Justice is confident just what will happen with such laws down the road.
It's the same thing we all want to see happen.
The Supreme Court ultimately will legalize the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle throughout the U.S., according to Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.
Dhillon made the prediction after the Justice Department filed a lawsuit this week against the city of Denver over its longstanding "assault weapons" restrictions, arguing the ordinance violates the constitutional rights of law-abiding Americans.
"We intend to make sure they do that," Dhillon said during an interview with Just the News, referring to a potential Supreme Court ruling protecting AR-15 ownership nationwide.
"The court has really signaled in several opinions where it is going with this. I think there is going to be a ruling eventually from the Supreme Court that AR-15s are legal for all law-abiding citizens to own and operate."
The lawsuit targets Denver's ban on certain semiautomatic rifles, including AR-15-style firearms, which the DOJ argues are among the most commonly owned rifles in the country.
The complaint also criticizes the term "assault weapon" as politically charged language promoted by anti-gun activists.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche framed the legal battle as part of the Trump administration's broader effort to bolster Second Amendment protections.
"The Constitution is not a suggestion, and the Second Amendment is not a second-class right," Blanche said Tuesday.
In practice, though, it is, and even the Department of Justice has worked to maintain that to a certain degree. The comments on Tuesday may well be a signal that the DOJ isn't as interested in pursuing a vigorous defense of gun control laws as they were under Attorney General Pam Bondi. Or it could be more of the schizophrenia we've seen on gun issues at the federal level.
I honestly don't feel like guessing.
On this, though, Blanche and Dhillon are singing our tune, and it's not without precedent. When you look at decisions like Heller and Bruen, in particular, but even back to US. v Miller, bans on so-called assault weapons have always been constitutionally suspect, at best. Miller held that a sawed-off shotgun wasn't useful for militia purposes, which implies that the AR-15's similarity to military arms actually works in its favor. Heller laid the groundwork for "in common use," and the truth is that the most popular model of rifle in the counter counts as being in pretty common use by any reasonable metric.
So yeah, there's ample reason to think that these two aren't just talking big, but have the legal arguments on their side.
Frankly, I'm just glad to hear someone in the federal government saying something like this while also trying to deliver a much-needed victory on the subject. These assault weapon bans keep getting more and more onerous and, as we see in Rhode Island, it'll never be enough for the anti-gunners unless we're all disarmed. That's just not going to happen, and it shouldn't.
The Second Amendment exists for a reason, and it was to stop stuff like this.
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