The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is reportedly beginning a new phase of oversight, focusing its attention on state and local gun regulations that may conflict with the Second Amendment.
According to a recent report by the Washington Times, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon is leading the effort to scrutinize restrictive firearms statutes, a move that has drawn quick praise from gun rights advocacy groups.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) has characterized the development as a significant step forward for gun owners living in heavily regulated regions.
CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb described the move as a fulfillment of promises made by the current administration to apply stricter constitutional scrutiny to local laws.
“We’re calling this a progress report on what the Trump administration announced last year regarding Second Amendment scrutiny on local gun regulations,” Gottlieb said. He noted that the intervention is particularly relevant for those in jurisdictions like California, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia.
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This federal focus follows a previous initiative by the CCRKBA, which last year released a “Dirty Dozen” list of states where they believe gun control laws require immediate legal challenges.
That list currently includes California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington. Gottlieb suggested that Virginia may soon be added to that roster of states facing federal review.
The shift in the Civil Rights Division’s priorities represents a departure from previous years, where the agency rarely intervened in state-level gun legislation. Gottlieb praised Dhillon’s approach, calling her a “breath of fresh air” at the agency.
“Her goal of seeing unconstitutional gun laws struck down before her time on the job comes to an end is ambitious, but we’re hoping she can follow through and finish the task,” Gottlieb stated. “So much needs to be done to restore the Second Amendment to its full potential.”
The DOJ’s efforts come amid a long-standing national debate over the balance between public safety regulations and individual constitutional rights. Advocacy groups have often argued that the billionaire-backed gun prohibition lobby has had too much influence over state legislatures, leading to a slow erosion of rights.
“The right to keep and bear arms is as fundamental as free speech, freedom of the press, religion, the right to legal counsel and all the other rights protected by the Bill of Rights,” Gottlieb said. He concluded that while some lawmakers may have forgotten the weight of those protections, the Civil Rights Division appears determined to remind them.
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