MaddowBlog-Trump's Justice Department launches a Second Amendment Rights Section for gun owners

[LetMyPeopleVote]

“My Justice Department will continue to be the most pro-Second Amendment Justice Department in history,” Pam Bondi said. The practical implications matter.

“My Justice Department will continue to be the most pro-Second Amendment Justice Department in history,” Pam Bondi said.

What does that mean in practice? Among other things, the launch of the DOJ’s new Second Amendment Rights Section. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-02T21:32:10.928Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-justice-department-launches-a-second-amendment-rights-section-for-gun-owners

In April, Attorney General Pam Bondi established a Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force within the Department of Justice, which proposed, among things, to make it easier for former prisoners to own firearms.

Nine months later, the Trump DOJ is taking another step in the same direction. The Washington Times reported:

The Department of Justice is opening a new office that will focus exclusively on gun ownership rights, bolstering the Trump administration’s effort to appease disgruntled Second Amendment proponents.

The office, named the Second Amendment Rights Section, will be part of the Civil Rights Division and dedicated to upholding the right to bear arms, according to Harmeet Dhillon, who heads the division.

“As I said soon after taking office, the Second Amendment is not a second-class right,” Bondi said in a statement. “My Justice Department will continue to be the most pro-Second Amendment Justice Department in history.”......

Now a new Justice Department office will focus “exclusively” on the interests of gun owners.

When thinking about the differences between the president’s first term and his second, this issue is high on the list. As I noted in my first book (see Chapter 8), it was in the wake of a mass school shooting in February 2018 when Trump held an hourlong televised discussion with a group of lawmakers from both parties about gun violence. As part of the conversation, then-Vice President Mike Pence raised the prospect of empowering law enforcement to take weapons away from those who have been reported to be potentially dangerous, though he added that he expected to see “due process so no one’s rights are trampled.”

“Take the firearms first and then go to court,” Trump interjected. At the same event, the president endorsed a law enforcement model in which police officers confiscated some Americans’ guns “whether they had the right or not.”.....

Earlier this year, after a deadly on-campus shooting at Florida State University, Trump said: “I have an obligation to protect the Second Amendment.” But in the recent past, he had those same responsibilities, and it didn’t stop him from endorsing measures that might have saved lives.

Now the Republican and his administration not only don’t want to bother, they’re also moving aggressively in the opposite direction.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Too bad the DOJ doesn't care much about the First Amendment.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Trying to bait Democrats into the argument

[Just_Vote_Dem]

3. Of course they did. They love killing n/t

[CousinIT]

4. SOOOO....

We have no reproductive rights, no human rights, no civil rights, no free speech rights, no rights to scientifically-backed vaccines, medicines, and healthcare, but gawdammit we can have all the GUN RIGHTS we want!