The revamped Department of Justice (DOJ) signaled Thursday that it intends to aggressively fight for Second Amendment rights in the District of Columbia.
Of course, saying it and doing it are not the same things, but the DOJ filed an encouraging amended complaint in its legal battle with the Washington D.C. gun control establishment. The agency accused the district’s leadership of enforcing unconstitutional bans on popular semi-automatic rifles and suppressors.
This is good news for gun rights enthusiasts, as it puts some muscle behind what at times has been infuriating rhetoric that sounds pleasing but goes nowhere.
Amended complaint seeks to protect 2A rights in the district further
The initial DOJ action came last December and targeted the district’s prohibition of AR-15s and similar weapons.
The government noted that the bans are “based on little more than cosmetics, appearance, or ability to attach accessories.”
According to the amended DOJ complaint, the district’s ban on attachments that protect hearing and muffle noise is unconstitutional when balanced against the nation’s history and tradition. It noted that “suppressors are also in common use by law-abiding Americans and categorically banning them violates the Second Amendment.”
Lawsuit’s expansion is welcome sign that business is not usual at DOJ
As the sporting community well knows, the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) regulates privately held suppressors. That wasn’t enough, however, as the DOJ accused the district of going well past any federal government restriction by enacting an outright ban.
The amended complaint then rightly observed that the required Bruen test to show that gun control laws are aligned with the nation’s history and tradition has clearly failed in this case.
The Supreme Court in 2022 extended that protection to arms “that were not in existence at the time of the Founding.” Otherwise, we’d have muskets and muzzle-loading flintlock pistols and little else.
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