Last week, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division took the unusual step of suing California and Virginia over their gun laws, marking what officials say is an unprecedented effort to enforce Second Amendment rights.The Justice Department is pursuing a coordinated legal strategy to expand Second Amendment protections, with Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon telling Fox News Digital the department has launched more than a dozen challenges to firearm restrictions across the country as it seeks to establish broader constitutional precedent."Since we started the second amendment section last year and even before that we filed over a dozen lawsuits challenging different restrictions in different jurisdictions," Dhillon said, pointing to challenges involving Denver's AR-15 ban, Colorado's large-capacity magazine restrictions, concealed carry permit delays in Los Angeles County, firearm regulations in the U.S.Virgin Islands and gun restrictions in the District of Columbia."This is a really historic amount of activity from the Department of Justice to protect the Second Amendment," Dhillon told Fox News Digital.
"It's never been done before."DOJ TARGETS SPANBERGER, NEWSOM GUN LAWS WITH TWIN LAWSUITS AFTER SCOTUS AFFIRMS SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTSAssistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon arrives for a news conference at the Justice Department on September 29, 2025 in Washington, DC (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)Previous administrations, including the Bush administration, defended individual gun rights through Supreme Court filings such as District of Columbia v.Heller, but did not use the Civil Rights Division to file affirmative lawsuits challenging state or local gun laws on Second Amendment grounds.
The department's current litigation strategy marks a departure from that approach.Dhillon said the litigation is designed to produce lasting legal precedent rather than simply challenge every firearm restriction enact...