Mixed Signals on 2A from DOJ Is As Good As It’s Likely to Get

President Donald Trump has been the most pro-Second Amendment president in living memory, if not the most pro-2A since the era of the Founding Fathers. That is solidified already, even if nothing else comes from the White House during the next three years.

It was never a high bar to clear, after all, and he vaulted over it.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues. The Department of Justice has done some very pro-gun things. It’s also holding firm in defending some gun control laws. That’s creating a bit of whiplash for many pro-gun folks like The Truth About Guns’ Mark Chesnut.

We’ve reported lately how the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) seems to have a somewhat schizophrenic attitude when it comes to supporting the Second Amendment. On one hand, the DOJ claims to be doing everything it can to restore Americans’ 2A rights. On the other hand, DOJ attorneys will defiantly argue in support of an obviously unconstitutional infringement.

In late November, the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) lambasted the DOJ for trying to limit a critical Second Amendment court ruling.

After a court ruled that the nationwide ban on concealed carry in post offices is unconstitutional, the DOJ filed a motion to limit the scope of the injunction to only the named individual plaintiffs and to members of SAF and its partner organizations, but only to those who were members when the complaint was originally filed and who have been identified and verified. In other words, the government wants to keep the ban intact for the rest of America’s lawful gun owners.

…

Less than a week later, Reuters published information about a leaked DOJ plan to expand gun-rights protections with a new office in its civil rights division dedicated to enforcing the U.S. constitutional right to bear arms. The office, called the Second Amendment Rights Section, is expected to open on December 4 and will be dedicated to investigating local laws or policies that limit gun rights, something the Trump Administration has promised since its first week in office.

To call it confusing is a bit too mild, to say the least.

They swing back and forth to some degree or another, but here’s the thing: We shouldn’t be shocked by this.

Sure, I don’t get them digging in over concealed carry in post offices, but there are other measures that they’re also digging in on that are blatantly unconstitutional, at least in the minds of pro-gun advocates. Yet the thing we have to keep in mind is that Second Amendment purity was never on the table.

I get that politicians aplenty will say they support the Second Amendment, but very few say that without a silent “but…” in there. There’s always a line in the sand, and for most, that’s maintaining the status quo or, at most, rolling back a few particular laws that annoy them.

Some laws were never considered ripe for removal, such as concealed carry in post offices, because far too many in the Department of Justice think gun-free zones are fine, at least to some extent, and so that’s the line they want to draw. There’s always going to be some measure or another that someone like Attorney General Pam Bondi doesn’t want to touch. 

I mean, this is the woman who defended the post-Parkland gun control laws passed in Florida when she didn’t have to. Can we really be shocked that she’s not passing a Second Amendment purity test?

As it stands, she’s been better on the issue than we had any right to expect. She was never going to be as good on the issue as we wanted.

Unfortunately, I doubt anyone who could get confirmed would be.

Editor’s Note: While it might not be as much as we’d like, President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.

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