“This Civil Rights Division will defend American citizens from unconstitutional restrictions of commonly used firearms, in violation of their Second Amendment rights.”
The Department of Justice has sued Washington, DC’s police department over the district’s ban on several firearms, including the AR-15, alleging violations of the Second Amendment.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement, "This Civil Rights Division will defend American citizens from unconstitutional restrictions of commonly used firearms, in violation of their Second Amendment rights. 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."
Under DC law, anyone seeking to own a gun is required to register it with the DC Metropolitan Police Department. The DC Code, however, bans the registration of numerous types of firearms. The lawsuit stated, "the District denies law-abiding citizens the ability to register a wide variety of commonly used semi-automatic firearms, such as the Colt AR-15 series rifles, which is among the most popular of firearms in America, and a variety of other semi-automatic rifles and pistols that are in common use."
"Indeed, D.C’s current semi-automatic firearms prohibition that bans 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 2 weapons for lawful purposes protected by the Second Amendment. Therefore, the District’s restrictions lack legal basis."
The lawsuit later added, "As a result of conduct by all DC Defendants, which District of Columbia’s law mandates, law-abiding citizens who own firearms protected under the Second Amendment are prevented from registering and, therefore, legally possessing within the meaning of local ordinance such firearms within our Nation’s capital."
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, "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. Washington, DC’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."
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