NY Lawmakers Want DOJ to Investigate State’s Gun Laws

The Department of Justice is a little bit different now than it was just a handful of months ago. Instead of being an active participant in stomping all over our right to keep and bear arms, they seem poised to do something radical and protect those rights.

Strange, I know.

As it stands, Attorney General Pam Bondi has a Second Amendment task force that’s looking into governmental bodies that fail to respect the Second Amendment. Even before that, though, the Department of Justice announced it was investigating the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for lengthy delays in issuing concealed carry permits.

In truth, a lot of people want to see investigations happen in their state, and a couple of New York lawmakers are putting in a request for their state to get that treatment.

Two New York lawmakers are calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate state-level gun control measures they argue are unconstitutional.

On May 15, 2025, Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24) sent a formal letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. She requested that the DOJ investigate whether New York State’s firearm laws violate constitutional protections. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (NY-21) also signed the letter.

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Specific gun laws under scrutiny

Tenney and Stefanik highlight three specific policies they believe are unconstitutional:

• A ban on commonly owned semi-automatic rifles
• Mandatory licensing and registration of firearms
• A cap on magazine capacity that they describe as arbitrary

“These restrictions amount to a structural repudiation of the Second Amendment,” Tenney wrote. “Law-abiding gunowners must be protected.”

I do not disagree. 

Frankly, New York is one of the “Dirty Dozen” states that the Second Amendment Foundation also called for the DOJ to investigate. Maybe with a little more pressure being exerted, New York will start to feel the heat from the AG’s office.

And they should.

The state has been nothing but ridiculous on guns for quite some time, and rather than understand the ramifications of the Bruen decision, they decided to push as far as they thought they could get, only to face additional smackdown over it.

They’re not getting the hint.

And the truth is that the Supreme Court isn’t stepping up like it should to address these cases, which is extremely troubling. What good does it do to have a supposedly pro-gun majority in the Court if they’re not taking cases and making pro-Second Amendment decisions?

Yet if the DOJ steps in, we might start to see SCOTUS react just a smidge differently. Maybe.

Either way, state and local governments might also decide it’s best not to risk the lengthy legal battle with the federal government and start repealing some problematic measures, especially if this task force starts collecting scalps by winning.

Let’s hope that’s the case, anyway, because I’m sick of what we’re currently seeing. This shouldn’t be an issue, not after Bruen. Even Rahimi doesn’t undo the fact that there’s just no justification for some of these laws, and they shouldn’t stand. If the DOJ starts knocking them down, it’ll go a long way toward undoing the damage created by these blatantly unconstitutional measures.

You know, just to change things up from the ridiculousness we’ve all seen for far too long.