The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued the District of Columbia on Monday over a ban affecting semi-automatic firearms.
Many commonly used semi-automatic firearms, including popular Colt AR-15 series rifles, cannot be lawfully registered in Washington, D.C., where all owners are required to register their guns with the police.
The lawsuit argues that D.C.’s ban restricts “many commonly used pistols, rifles or shotguns is based on little more than cosmetics, appearance, or the ability to attach accessories, and fails to take into account whether the prohibited weapon is ‘in common use today’ or that law-abiding citizens may use these weapons for lawful purposes protected by the Second Amendment.”
“Today’s action from the Department of Justice’s new Second Amendment Section underscores our ironclad commitment to protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “Washington, D.C.’s ban on some of America’s most popular firearms is an unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment — living in our nation’s capital should not preclude law-abiding citizens from exercising their fundamental constitutional right to keep and bear arms.”
The lawsuit notes that decisions that deny registration for “commonly possessed” semiautomatic firearms “run afoul of binding Supreme Court precedent and therefore trample the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.”
“This Civil Rights Division will defend American citizens from unconstitutional restrictions of commonly used firearms, in violation of their Second Amendment rights,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement. “The newly established Second Amendment Section filed this lawsuit to ensure that the very rights D.C. resident Mr. Heller secured 17 years ago are enforced today — and that all law-abiding citizens seeking to own protected firearms for lawful purposes may do so.”
The DOJ launched its Second Amendment Section in early December. Gun rights groups who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation were hopeful but skeptical, given positions the Trump DOJ has taken in litigation.
One major concern raised by advocates was the DOJ’s decision to oppose a legal challenge to National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) registration requirements. Republican Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, along with 41 other members of Congress, urged the DOJ to reconsider its position in a Dec. 18 letter.
The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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