DOJ Sues DC Over AR-15 Ban

The Division of Justice (DOJ) thinks Washington, DC’s “assault weapons” ban is unconstitutional.

On Monday, the Second Modification Part of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division introduced a brand new lawsuit towards the town. It claimed DC is violating the Second Modification rights of its residents by barring them from proudly owning fashionable semi-automatic rifles, such because the AR-15. It argued that, in accordance with a metropolis ordinance, the Metropolitan Police Division (MPD) has refused to register the affected weapons, thereby making them not possible to legally personal and infringing on residents’ gun rights.

“Unconstitutional legislation and official coverage obligates all DC Defendants to disclaim registration of Second Modification-protected firearms that law-abiding residents possess for lawful use inside D.C. and to arrest such people for conduct the Second Modification protects,” DOJ wrote in US v. DC. “Accordingly, DC Defendants have engaged, and proceed to have interaction, in a sample or observe of conduct by legislation enforcement officers that deprives individuals of rights secured and guarded by the Structure, in violation of 34 U.S.C. § 12601(a). Until this Court docket enjoins DC Defendants and grants the declaratory reduction the US is searching for, all DC Defendants will proceed to have interaction within the sample or observe of the conduct described above, which deprives law-abiding people of their Second Modification rights to own firearms protected beneath the Second Modification for lawful functions, corresponding to self-defense within the house.”

The lawsuit is the most recent transfer from the newly fashioned DOJ part and represents a brand new entrance within the Trump Administration’s efforts to disassemble some state-level gun restrictions. It comes days after the part launched a lawsuit towards the US Virgin Islands over claims its gun allow processing procedures are unconstitutional, which got here shortly after it filed swimsuit towards the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division over related claims. Whereas the DOJ has filed briefs supporting third-party challenges to AR-15 bans in Illinois and New Jersey, that is the primary time it has filed one itself. It’s seemingly to attract reward from gun-rights activists, a few of whom have been sad concerning the DOJ’s determination to defend federal gun restrictions in court docket.

Washington, DC, has been house to a few of the nation’s strictest gun legal guidelines for generations. Its ban on civilian possession of handguns prompted the lawsuit, 2008’s DC v. Heller, by which the Supreme Court docket held for the primary time the Second Modification protects a person proper to maintain and bear arms. Its restrictions on gun carry and possession have impressed dozens of different fits since that point, a number of of which have resulted in federal judges putting down the town’s legal guidelines as unconstitutional.

Town’s so-called assault weapons ban, which typically applies to semi-automatic rifles able to accepting a removable journal and that includes a mix of beauty or ergonomic elements–like a telescoping inventory or handguard, has already survived one problem post-Heller in one other swimsuit filed by Dick Heller. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court docket launched a brand new take a look at for Second Modification challenges in 2022’s New York State Rifle and Pistol Affiliation v. Bruen which may change the end result of the DOJ’s swimsuit. The DOJ’s transient makes clear that it believes Bruen modified the authorized panorama.

“The USA Court docket of Appeals for the District of Columbia in Heller v. D.C. upheld the registration prohibitions at challenge within the current litigation, however that court docket utilized ‘intermediate scrutiny,’” DOJ wrote. “Subsequently, the U.S. Supreme Court docket in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen expressly repudiated utility of intermediate scrutiny to its present two-prong take a look at requiring plaintiffs to indicate the conduct is protected by the Second Modification, then shifting the burden to the defendants to indicate the regulation or enforcement motion is throughout the Nation’s historic custom. Accordingly, the Circuit court docket’s evaluation doesn’t bar the present declare and isn’t binding precedent. Furthermore, then-Choose Kavanaugh reached the other conclusion using the textual content, historical past, and custom take a look at finally adopted by Bruen.”

Assistant Lawyer Common Harmeet Dhillon framed the swimsuit as an extension of Heller’s efforts to broaden gun rights protections within the district.

“The newly established Second Modification Part filed this lawsuit to make sure that the very rights D.C. resident Mr. Heller secured 17 years in the past are enforced right now — and that every one law-abiding residents searching for to personal protected firearms for lawful functions could achieve this,” Dhillon stated in an announcement.

DOJ is asking for a “declaration that the sample and observe by DC Defendants of prohibiting registration of all different firearms with out an automated firing mechanism and in any other case protected beneath the Second Modification that law-abiding residents possess violates the Second Modification.” It desires the decide assigned to the case to challenge a everlasting injunction stopping DC officers from imposing the AR-15 ban.

Along with saying the swimsuit, the DOJ inspired any “present or potential gun proprietor” who believes they “are being prevented from registering or proudly owning a lawful firearm” to submit a criticism to the Second Modification Part.