Yesterday, Assistant Lawyer Normal Harmeet Dhillon posted a video on X saying a brand new Second Modification part contained in the Civil Rights Division on the Division of Justice. Final month, AmmoLand author John Crump broke this story when the plans for the unit have been first launched. Now, with Dhillon’s on-camera announcement, gun house owners have a greater image of what this new department of the Civil Rights Division is meant to do — and a variety of questions on whether or not it should truly keep pro-gun.
In her video, Dhillon states that the Second Modification is “not a second-class proper” and that, for the primary time, the Civil Rights Division has created a particular part to “defend and advance our residents’ proper to bear arms” as a part of its civil-rights work. She calls the best of law-abiding People to maintain, bear, and use generally identified firearms “elementary,” and guarantees that this Justice Division has “a variety of 2A work deliberate” on high of what it has already finished.
On paper, that sounds large, and it’s one thing that gun house owners ought to have a good time. For many years, the federal civil-rights forms principally pretended the best to maintain and bear arms didn’t exist. Now, the DOJ is saying the Second Modification is as necessary to defend because the First Modification, and that could be a substantial shift.
What Will the 2A Part Do for Gun House owners
Based on Crump’s earlier reporting and out of doors protection, the brand new workplace, referred to as the Second Modification Part, is scheduled to formally open in early December. Its acknowledged mission is to evaluate state and native gun legal guidelines, permits, and insurance policies for conflicts with Supreme Court docket precedent and the Second Modification, and to step in when jurisdictions cross the road.
Dhillon’s video spells out the sorts of abuses this Part says it should goal, and what’s stated is as telling as what’s disregarded. Gun house owners hoping that the Second Modification Part will flip the DOJ’s opinion on NFA objects in the best path are more likely to be let down. Nonetheless, there are some positives we are able to hope to attain earlier than the subsequent election cycle inevitably reverses all the great work finished beneath this administration.
What gun house owners have glimpsed from this DOJ to date is promising and much better than what we obtained up to now. We’ve got already seen this DOJ go after the Los Angeles County Sheriff for his or her outrageous allowing delays. That lawsuit has particularly focused LA Sheriffs for dragging out background checks and interviews for months or years, leaving individuals defenseless whereas their paperwork gathers mud. In case you are a gun proprietor in an anti-gun state, this type of motion from the DOJ is what you could have dreamed of for years. Whereas Los Angeles is an effective begin, there are nonetheless different states, similar to New York and New Jersey, which can be notoriously restrictive on carry permits.
There have additionally been a number of amicus briefs delivered by the DOJ which can be worthy of celebration. In Barnett, Dhillon argued that the AR-15 cannot be banned, and in Wolford, argued towards pointless restrictions on stick with it personal property.
Dhillon additionally leans into the self-defense angle, arguing that the best to bear arms ranges the taking part in area for individuals who would in any other case be straightforward victims. In her phrases, criminals are much less more likely to goal a home protected by an armed citizen, and the Second Modification “equalizes the flexibility” of ladies, individuals with disabilities, and others who is likely to be extra susceptible to guard themselves.
The brand new Part is being bought as an enforcement arm with the identical instruments that the DOJ already makes use of in different civil rights contexts: investigations, lawsuits, amicus briefs, and statements of curiosity filed in key 2A circumstances across the nation.
🚨Nice information — I’m excited to announce the brand new 2A part of @CivilRights!
The precise of law-abiding American 🇺🇸 residents to maintain, bear, & use generally identified firearms is key, and this @JusticeDept has a variety of 2A work deliberate, along with what we’ve already finished! pic.twitter.com/L4Acg72k7A
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) December 8, 2025
These strikes are precisely what many gun house owners stated they wished to see after Bruen: the federal authorities bringing the hammer down on states and counties that attempt to slow-roll or nullify the Supreme Court docket. The brand new Second Modification Part is meant to be the everlasting residence for that work.
Gun House owners Stay Cautiously Optimistic
If this Part achieves what Dhillon guarantees, it may mark a historic shift in how the federal authorities treats the best to maintain and bear arms.
For normal gun house owners, that might imply the flexibility to really receive a carry allow in beforehand restrictive states. If the DOJ begins treating months-long delays and sky-high charges as civil rights violations, counties like L.A. could possibly be compelled to wash up their act or face being dragged into federal courtroom once more. This may additionally embody the flexibility to push again on post-Bruen “resistance” legal guidelines quickly. Assume “delicate place” maps that cowl half a state, private-property bans like Wolford, or prohibitions on widespread rifles and magazines. A devoted 2A Part means there are attorneys throughout the DOJ whose whole job is to pursue these violations.
The Second Modification lastly being handled like different civil rights is one thing many gun house owners, myself included, should wait and see earlier than we consider it. For years, anti-gun politicians, aided by attorneys, have handled gun possession as a privilege they might legislate and regulate out of existence. A Second Modification unit inside Civil Rights is, on the very least, a public acknowledgment that the best to maintain and bear arms is a civil proper that deserves enforcement, not simply lip service.
In the event you’re a gun proprietor caught in a hostile state, the thought of Trump’s DOJ sending federal civil-rights attorneys after your native sheriff, governor, or licensing bureau is fairly interesting.
Right here’s the opposite facet of the coin, and AmmoLand readers know this half nicely. Even because the DOJ talks powerful about defending the Second Modification, the identical division continues to take actions that undermine these guarantees. As this Part is being created, the DOJ is actively defending the Nationwide Firearms Act with anti-gun rhetoric that sounds prefer it was pulled straight from Everytown’s mission assertion. They’ve repeatedly tried to acquire membership lists of gun rights organizations, they usually proceed to defend Biden’s “engaged within the enterprise” rule.
So whereas Dhillon is on X speaking a few Second Modification Part and promising aggressive enforcement, her personal division and her “boss” are nonetheless in courtroom defending the very gun-control legal guidelines that teams like GOA, FPC, SAF, and NRA are combating to overturn.
All-in on 2A, or only a new label?
The large query now could be fairly easy: Will the Second Modification Rights Part persistently go after states, cities, and businesses that violate the Second Modification, get rid of journal and assault weapon bans, and assist set up the best to hold lawfully throughout all 50 states and native jurisdictions?
Or is that this going to be a selective enforcement software, whereas DOJ quietly protects federal gun-control schemes and legacy legal guidelines just like the NFA?
The early indicators are blended. On the plus facet, suing Los Angeles over CCW delays and backing gun house owners in Illinois and Hawaii are actual, concrete steps that anti-gun administrations merely by no means took. On the damaging facet, DOJ hasn’t backed off its protection of the NFA or the “engaged within the enterprise” rule and has proven a worrying urge for food for prying into gun-rights memberships.
For now, the brand new Part appears like a real alternative and a take a look at. If Dhillon and Bondi preserve treating the Second Modification as an actual civil proper, not only a slogan for speeches, this Part may turn out to be one of the crucial necessary instruments gun house owners have ever had on the federal degree.
In the event that they don’t, then “Second Modification Part” will go down as simply one other D.C. model title slapped on a forms that talks a giant sport whereas the federal government retains coming after your weapons. It additionally must be questioned what this Second Modification Part would imply beneath an anti-gun administration.
Keep in mind that the identical DOJ speaking about defending your rights continues to be defending the NFA in courtroom utilizing anti-gun rhetoric.
The Second Modification Rights Part is right here. Whether or not it finally ends up being a battering ram for gun rights or only a new signal on an outdated workplace door will rely upon what circumstances the DOJ truly takes.
About Duncan Johnson:
Duncan Johnson is a lifelong firearms fanatic and unwavering defender of the Second Modification—the place “shall not be infringed” means precisely what it says. A graduate of George Mason College, he enjoys competing in native USPSA and multi-gun competitions every time he’s not masking the most recent in gun rights and firearm coverage. Duncan is an everyday contributor to AmmoLand Information and serves as a part of the editorial crew liable for AmmoLand’s every day gun-rights reporting and trade protection.
