DOJ’s 2nd Amendment Section

On April 8th, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the creation of a Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force. This task force was created to continue the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) ongoing work to implement Trump’s Executive Order 14206 (Protecting Second Amendment Rights) and protect the fundamental right secured by the Second Amendment. The Task Force was principally charged with developing and executing strategies to use litigation and policy to advance, protect, and promote compliance with the Second Amendment.

Bondi serves as the Chair of the Task Force and the Associate Attorney General serves as the Vice Chair and the Task Force was composed of representatives from multiple areas of the DOJ.

This task force sounds more like a committee to study the issue.  But unlike most committees, something came from this one.

On December 8th, Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ’s Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division said that her division had started a 2nd Amendment Section: a gun rights-focused section.  She promised "a lot more action" on gun rights enforcement.

This is important.  The 2nd Amendment has moved beyond a task force studying the issue to a full blown operational section focusing on the 2nd Amendment and with enforcement powers.

One of the focuses mentioned in Dhillon’s announcement was fighting a variety of state and local courts on gun issues, particularly difficulties around concealed carry permits.  “Some of the things we're seeing, and that is going to be the focus of our work around the country, includes multi-thousand-dollar costs for citizens to apply for concealed carry permits…Other jurisdictions are having unreasonably long delays. Other jurisdictions are outlawing guns that should be protected by the Second Amendment under the recent Supreme Court precedent."

This could be huge as many deep blue Democrat districts practice the above in order to deprive us of our gun rights.  This is something that SCOPE and other 2A defenders have complained about for years but Democrat districts have ignored the complaints, even when the Supreme Court of the U.S. has told them to stop.

Dhillon also stressed something gun rights defenders have emphasized: gun rights "equalizes the ability of those of us, women, people with disabilities, and others who might otherwise be more vulnerable to be able to protect ourselves."  That is true “equity.”

She finished by saying, “So stay tuned. You're going to see a lot more action from this Department of Justice to protect your Second Amendment rights."

We’ll definitely stay tuned.  The DOJ has a history of attacking gun rights so this 180 degree switch in direction will have some bumps, as the DOJ’s portion of the “Deep State” won’t go quietly.  But so far in President Trump’s term, there have been successes and this seems poised to produce even more.