The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is, according to information obtained by Reuters, creating a Second Amendment office in its Civil Rights Division.
The new office, Reuters reports, will be called the “Second Amendment Rights Section,” and is expected to open December 4.
The news about the creation of a Second Amendment office in its Civil Rights Division came out because, while a reorganization of the Justice Department doesn’t require approval from Congress, the DOJ is required to notify Congress. “According to the document” sent to Congress, as reported by Reuters, “the DOJ said the reorganization can be done using existing funds and personnel, and that the Office of Management and Budget did not object to the communication to Congress about the reorganization.”
Some have apparently been shocked by the Trump administration’s focus on the Second Amendment, which protects a right many previous administrations openly opposed.
Reuters, for example, quoted Stacey Young, a former Civil Rights Division attorney, as saying, “The Civil Rights Division’s new focus on the Second Amendment, which is far outside its longstanding mission, is moving us even further away from our nation’s commitment to protecting all Americans’ civil rights.” [Emphasis is ours.]
Isn’t it clearly the opposite, as the Second Amendment is, by definition, a civil right written to protect the rights of all citizens?
Certainly, citizens’ Second Amendment-protected rights have long been ignored by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. They previously disregarded the Second Amendment even as various levels of government infringed on this right; in fact, from “black codes” enacted by southern states in the Reconstruction Era to gun-control laws in some inner-cities today, clear arguments can be made that gun-control laws have long been used to particularly infringe on the rights of citizens in ethnically diverse and marginalized communities.
A February executive order (Protecting Second Amendment Rights) from President Donald Trump (R) pushed his administration to also protect citizens’ Second Amendment rights. This order directed Bondi to “assess any ongoing infringements” of citizens’ Second Amendment-protected rights. This executive order also led to the creation of what has become known as the “Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force.”
“The prior administration placed an undue burden on gun owners and vendors by targeting law-abiding citizens exercising their 2nd Amendment rights. The Department of Justice’s new 2ndAmendment Task Force will combine department-wide policy and litigation resources to advance President Trump’s pro-gun agenda and protect gun owners from overreach,” according to an April DOJ press release.
Nevertheless, Reuters spun this latest development this way: “The reorganization is another step in a series of actions by the Trump administration to redefine civil rights with policies championed by conservatives, a departure from traditional civil rights issues including racial discrimination and policing.” [Again, emphasis is ours.]
This is hardly a redefinition of the term, as the Second Amendment is a textbook example of a civil right—and it is clearly “traditional” to the American experience.
This effort actually began earlier this year when the DOJ launched a civil-rights investigation into slow-walking of concealed-carry permits from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD). Last March, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division initiated what it described as a “pattern or practice” investigation into the LASD—based on “numerous complaints of unreasonable delays in CCW permit decisions.” On September 30, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against the LASD seeking relief for affected applicants. In its public statement, the DOJ said this is the “first Department of Justice affirmative lawsuit in support of gun owners.”
It should not be the last. We’ll keep you posted on future developments.
