It’s an exciting time for advocates of the Second Amendment. The right to keep and bear arms has gained significant support from several recent court decisions, particularly in the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, which has fundamentally changed the legal landscape regarding the Second Amendment.
As a result of the Bruen decision, many anti-gun laws and proposed legislation have been effectively challenged. Now, Harmeet Dhillon, the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, announced a new lawsuit filed by the Justice Department (DOJ) against California’s ban on Glocks and its handgun roster law:
“The Supreme Court made clear: the 2nd Amendment is not a second class right. Some states aren’t getting the message. Every gun-grabber should note: Banning the most popular pistol in America, violates the 2nd Amendment and @CivilRights is taking action!” she wrote on X.
According to a DOJ press release on the matter:
“The Civil Rights Division will defend law-abiding citizens from states that seek to disarm them illegally,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “This lawsuit is yet another example of this Justice Department enforcing the Second Amendment by protecting citizens against unconstitutional state regulation of firearms.”
California’s new law would ban the retail purchase of common handguns manufactured by Glock and guns with similar firing mechanisms. The state’s existing “Handgun Roster” further limits the types of handguns citizens can lawfully purchase in California. The United States Supreme Court recently reaffirmed that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense in Wolford v. Lopez. The Court reiterated that states cannot prevent citizens from using commonly used firearms for self-defense.
Yes, the absolute right to keep and bear arms enshrined in the Constitution’s Second Amendment is most definitely a civil right. Only members of the Domestic Terrorist Party don’t understand or acknowledge that. A reminder, by the way: The Second Amendment doesn’t “grant” the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense, it recognizes that it’s a fundamental right.
California’s attempted Glock ban is particularly egregious. This piece of overt stupidity targets Glock handguns because of the possibility that criminals – who are already legally precluded from possessing any kind of firearm – might install a “Glock switch,” the manufacture and possession of which is already illegal, thus converting the gun to fire fully-automatic. So, California’s gun owners are to be deprived of the nation’s most popular handgun, in direct violation of the Second Amendment, because of what some criminals might do.
This seems tailor-made for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights division to take on. And, in the post-Bruen world, the DOJ may just win this one, even if it requires taking it to the Supreme Court.
Having said all this, again, it’s a great time to be a fan of the Second Amendment. Court rulings and such have certainly been going our way lately. And Dhillon’s lawsuit against Gavin Newsom’s California is another reminder of how good it was that Kamala lost.