Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) today issued the following statement condemning the Trump Administration’s ongoing defense of federal gun control laws and calling on President Trump to take immediate action to restore the integrity of his pledge to protect Second Amendment rights:
Since President Donald J. Trump signed the “Protecting Second Amendment Rights” executive order in February, his Department of Justice has done exactly the opposite—relentlessly defending the federal government’s unconstitutional gun control regime. Instead of using the Justice Department’s vast power to secure Americans’ right to keep and bear arms, the Trump DOJ has used it to fight against the People—even taking extreme positions in court to resist injunctions that block the government’s enforcement of gun laws that federal judges have already found unconstitutional.
Last month, the Administration’s Solicitor General, D. John Sauer—the government’s top appellate lawyer, often called the “10th Justice” for his influence with the Supreme Court—urged the Court to deny review in a case challenging the National Firearms Act’s (NFA) registration and taxation scheme for short-barreled rifles. The Administration argued that the NFA’s intrusive requirements are “consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation,” effectively endorsing the very federal overreach the Second Amendment was written to prevent.
In an effort to convince the Court to dodge the question of unconstitutional federal restrictions, the Trump DOJ suggested that the Court should focus on “laws banning AR-15 rifles.” Yet, when the opportunity arose for the Administration to support exactly such a case—a challenge to an AR-15 rifle ban out of Illinois—the Trump DOJ was silent.
Rather than support good Supreme Court vehicles, the Trump DOJ has chosen to game the system and throw its weight behind bad cases likely to strengthen the government’s power and weaken individual liberty, such as United States v. Hemani, which the Supreme Court recently agreed to hear.
The Trump DOJ’s continuing adversarial posture to the Second Amendment doesn’t end there. In United States v. George Peterson—an FPC-supported Fifth Circuit criminal appeal that challenges the NFA’s unconstitutional registration and taxation of firearm suppressors—the Trump DOJ opposed a petition for rehearing en banc, doubling down on its defense of oppressive federal gun laws.
The Trump DOJ’s sustained pattern of anti-Second Amendment litigation cannot be dismissed as bureaucratic inertia—it reflects deliberate choices.
FPC calls on President Trump to immediately direct his Department of Justice to end its defense of federal gun control laws and to begin using the full power of the executive branch to actively protect and advance the Second Amendment rights of the American people.
About Firearms Policy Coalition
Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) — a 501(c)(4) nonprofit membership organization — exists to create a world of maximal individual liberty, defend constitutional rights, and restore the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. FPC pursues these goals through strategic litigation, legal scholarship, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory advocacy, grassroots activism, education, and outreach. FPC’s legal arm, FPC Law, is the nation’s leading initiative dedicated to restoring the right to keep and bear arms across the United States. To learn more about FPC’s lawsuits and pro–Second Amendment efforts, sign up for FPC news alerts at firearmspolicy.org and follow FPC on X, Instagram, and Facebook.
nfa is unconstitutional lie like odummer care call it a tax to make the attack on rights less direct
The right people to occupy the offices that are supposed to guarantee delivery of judicial judgements to protect our rights are not there. They have no basic, deep, interest in that. Plus, they are afraid of machine guns.
HLB
She, Pam Bondi, was never a firm supporter of the second amendment when she was the attorney general of Florida. I never wanted her as Trump’s attorney general.
He is blinded by her supposed loyalism to him, but we can se by her actions that she does not support his same views on the 2nd.
He needs to replace her as soon as possible before she does more damage than good.
His “support” got him elected twice. If he could and would run for a third term, his “support” would continue. Campaign Promises should appear on the Hallmark Channel with other Feel-Good stories.
I didn’t vote FOR Trump – I voted AGAINST Harris and the DSA agenda. I didn’t expect much from Trump, but the DSA (and the DNC) truly want the USA to fail.
Good on FPC! It is refreshing that there is still someone out there with the intelligence to recognize when a person or group of persons is urinating down your back and trying to tell you that it is raining.
https://youtu.be/kfdpcrOgUp4?si=AobPhrr3e9VSvXjX
There is a potential bright side to the DOJ’s defense of federal gun laws. If they fail in their attempts to defend these laws in court, we will be in a much stronger legal position than if they simply acquiesced to our demands. Any SCOTUS precedence in our favor will make it very difficult for future anti-gun AGs to overcome.
“ThE tRuMp AdMiNiStRaTiOn iS tHe MoSt PrO-2a iN HiStOrY!!”
The FPC has the right timing. We have more juice when an election is on the horizon.
Thought I remember hearing that DOJ filed an amicus brief on Illinois AR case. Maybe that was a different AR case though.
Trump diehards complaining about the DoJ not ending 2A abuse sound a lot like Louis expressing shock over gambling at Rick’s.