EXCLUSIVE: DOJ’s New Top 2A Enforcer Sits Down For First Interview Since Getting Gig

Department of Justice (DOJ) Second Amendment Section Chief Barry Arrington sat for his first brief interview since being formally appointed to the position with the Daily Caller News Foundation Friday.

Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon announced Arrington’s formal title as Chief of the Second Amendment Section in the Civil Rights Division in a Thursday post on X. Arrington, who initially served as the section’s acting chief after over a decade in Second Amendment litigation, briefly spoke with the DCNF hours before the DOJ filed an amicus brief in a major case pending before the Supreme Court and laid out what the section would address.

“I liken the Second Amendment to nouns. It’s about people, places, and things,” Arrington told the DCNF. “It’s about people, in terms of who can bear arms legally. It’s about places, where can they bear them. It’s about things, what can they bear? And our [remit] is to ensure that governments around the country are enforcing constitutional regulations with respect to every single one of those areas of the Second Amendment influence.”

The Civil Rights Division established the Second Amendment Section following President Donald Trump’s February 2025 executive order regarding the right to keep and bear arms. The order directed then-Attorney General Pam Bondi to “assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens” and develop a plan to address them.

“If there’s a ban on constitutionally protected semi-automatic rifles, such as the one that just [struck down in] New Jersey by the Third Circuit, we’re going to be right there with the citizens bringing similar suits around the country,” Arrington told the DCNF before moving to address concealed carry licensing. “Licensure is certainly constitutional, Bruen held that. You can require citizens to have a license, many states don’t, but some states do. But if you’re going to require citizens to have a license, you’ve got to give it to them promptly, and you can’t put onerous conditions on it.”

Arrington told the DCNF he never expected he would willingly go to Washington, D.C., even though he had been involved in Second Amendment litigation since 2013.

“It took them a few months, but before one year was out, literally ten months after the administration began, they stood up the Second Amendment section,” Arrington told the DCNF. “When I heard about that, I transitioned from chief counsel of the National Association for Gun Rights into the Second Amendment section and soon afterwards took over as acting chief.”

“I was in Texas, and I never thought I would leave Texas, but I jumped in a car and drove up here and said, ‘Hey, I’ll help out on this project,’” Arrington, who described himself as a life-long Dallas Cowboys fan, told the DCNF.

Arrington credited Dhillon, who spoke with the DCNF in June, with creating a new approach in the Civil Rights Division.