DOJ Sues DC Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Ban On AR-15, Other Firearms

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) is suing the District of Columbia over its ban on the popular AR-15 and “many other firearms protected under the Second Amendment.” 

In announcing the lawsuit, the DOJ called DC’s move an “unconstitutional incursion into the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens seeking to own protected firearms for lawful purposes.” 

The lawsuit cites District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen (2022), which protects the right of law-abiding citizens to possess firearms “in common use today” for lawful purposes, especially self-defense in the home, and claims that DC has established a “pattern and practice” of ignoring Heller.

DC law criminalizes possession of any unregistered firearm and categorically prohibits registration of many semi-automatic rifles (including the AR-15 platform), pistols, and shotguns defined as “assault weapons” based primarily on cosmetic features (e.g., threaded barrels, pistol grips) rather than function or firing mechanism.

“D.C. Defendants have engaged, and continue to engage, in a pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers that deprives people of rights secured and protected by the Constitution,”

Attorney Generl Pam Bondi said in a statement that geography doesn’t determine which constitutional rights are protected. 

“Washington, D.C.’s ban on some of America’s most popular firearms is an unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment—living in our nation’s capital should not preclude law-abiding citizens from exercising their fundamental constitutional right to keep and bear arms,” she stated. 

As the Epoch Times notes further, according to the Metropolitan Police Department website, banned firearms include sawed-off shotguns, machine guns, short-barreled rifles, .50 caliber BMG rifles, “assault weapons” as defined by D.C. Code, and guns deemed unsafe by the Firearms Regulation Act of 2008.

The District also draws on lists of guns allowed in California, Massachusetts, and Maryland to determine which guns are considered safe in the nation’s capital.

DOJ officials say the lawsuit is part of the department refocusing on the Second Amendment as a civil right.

“The newly established Second Amendment Section filed this lawsuit to ensure that the very rights D.C. resident Mr. Heller secured 17 years ago are enforced today—and that all law-abiding citizens seeking to own protected firearms for lawful purposes may do so,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon stated in the online announcement.

Second Amendment activists hailed the lawsuit as another turning point in the public gun debate.

Different Administrations

“This lawsuit shows the night and day difference between this administration and the previous one that attacked the right to keep and Bear arms at every turn,” Alan Gottlieb, executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

An official with the National Rifle Association (NRA) agreed.

“For far too long, progressive politicians have been allowed to flout settled case-law and directives from the Supreme Court. It is high time these unconstitutional laws are challenged, and the rights of lawful citizens are returned,” John Commerford, NRA Institute for Legislative Action executive director, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

Gun control organizations did not respond to requests for comment for this story by publication time. However, they have been highly critical of the Trump administration’s reversal of several of the Biden administration’s policies.

The DOJ sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department last September for allegedly denying residents’ Second Amendment rights through an inordinately long concealed weapons permit application process.

Bondi said the establishment of the Second Amendment Section and the subsequent legal actions are all part of the Trump Administration’s “ironclad commitment to protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans.”

On Feb. 7, 2025, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing Bondi to “examine all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions of executive departments and agencies … to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens.”

Trump also ordered Bondi to address any issues she found.