After Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division, was a guest on Gun Talk Media with Tom Gresham, NRA-ILA reported that Dhillon is “embracing a new style of litigation on behalf of the Second Amendment.”
Indeed. Dhillon even oversaw the inclusion of a Second Amendment Section in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.
“I had to send a proposal to Congress. Congress had to not act on it, not veto it,” said Dhillon. “And then, literally on the day that permission was going to expire, Democrats said, ‘We need you to come explain why do we need a Second Smendment section?’ Well, that was easy. Because our laws don’t defend themselves and no one is standing up for the Second Amendment in the federal government. We need to do that. And frankly, we need to develop a cadre of government lawyers who respect the Second Amendment and who stand up for [it].”
“So, you need more lawyers?” asked Grisham.
“We need more lawyers,” said Dhillon.
When Grisham asked, “I’m sure one of the questions you get is, okay, why is there a second amendment section within civil rights?”
“Well, it’s a civil right,” said Dhillon, and they both laughed at the obvious. Anti-gun legislators might not like it, but the Second Amendment, by definition, protects a civil right.
The Second Amendment, explained Dhillon, is a “fundamental right and you know I’m a firearms owner myself and so we have a large group of lawyers in the Department of Justice working in different sections, including the ATF, as well as in the deputy attorney general’s office” who are pro-Second Amendment.
But, “unfortunately, that’s not shared by many of our states and local governments,” said Dhillon. “And so, if we don’t as a federal government go out there and enforce these rights, then who’s going to do it? So, we’re really proud to step up and help.”
Dhillon noted that the Trump administration began defending the Second Amendment by suing the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for slow-walking concealed-carry permits.
Dhillon later noted that she attended the U.S. Supreme Court hearing for Wolford v. Lopez, a challenge to Hawaii’s presumptive ban on concealed carry on private property, and she said, “I co-authored the brief for the United States in that case.” In this case, the DOJ argued against Hawaii’s gun-control law.
She also mentioned Second Amendment-related lawsuits the DOJ has in the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. She further noted, “I think there are a lot of onerous laws in Colorado, in New York, even in some red states … .” More challenges in the courts to gun-control laws seem to be on the way.
In fact, in response to a story on Virginia’s government moving to ban magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds,Dhillon posted on X: “This is a blatant violation of Supreme Court precedent and it will not stand.”
As the DOJ moves to challenge other gun-control laws, we’ll let you know.
