The Department of Justice has launched an unprecedented campaign to dismantle state and local gun restrictions across the country, deploying the federal government’s civil rights apparatus in defense of Second Amendment rights.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, has publicly declared her intention to challenge every state regulation inconsistent with pro-Second Amendment Supreme Court precedent, aiming to have them struck down, settled, or withdrawn before she leaves office.
The latest battleground is Virginia, where Gov. Abigail Spanberger faces a direct federal challenge over a sweeping package of more than 25 gun reform bills passed by the Democrat-controlled General Assembly during its 2026 legislative session.
Dhillon tweeted a pointed warning to the new governor. “@SpanbergerForVA is on notice: 2A rights SHALL NOT BE infringed. We are closely watching—in the event any unlawful legislation is enacted, we will sue. @CivilRights will protect the 2A rights of law-abiding citizens in Virginia. 2A Section Lawyers are standing by…”
@SpanbergerForVA is on notice: 2A rights SHALL NOT BE infringed.
We are closely watching—in the event any unlawful legislation is enacted, we will sue. @CivilRights will protect the 2A rights of law-abiding citizens in Virginia.
2A Section Lawyers are standing by… pic.twitter.com/h2DfXwgaKC
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) April 10, 2026
On April 10, 2026, Dhillon sent a formal letter to Governor Spanberger putting her and the Commonwealth “on notice.” The letter stated plainly that “This letter provides formal notice that the Civil Rights Division will commence litigation in the event the Commonwealth of Virginia enacts certain bills that unconstitutionally limit law-abiding Americans’ individual right to bear arms.” Dhillon specifically cited President Trump’s Executive Order 14206, which directed the administration to actively protect Second Amendment rights.
The centerpiece of Virginia’s gun package is SB 749 and its companion HB 217, which would criminalize the purchase, sale, manufacture, import, or transfer of AR-15-style rifles in Virginia starting July 1, 2026. Other bills targeted ghost guns, expanded red flag laws, restricted firearms in public spaces and hospitals, and tightened rules around domestic abusers. Many of these same bills had been vetoed by the previous Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin.
Despite the DOJ warning, Spanberger proceeded to sign a batch of gun bills, including ghost gun regulations, domestic violence firearm protections, and gun industry liability legislation. On the night of April 13, facing her legislative deadline, Spanberger declined to sign or veto the assault weapons bill and instead sent it back to the General Assembly with amendments — a move that keeps the bill’s central framework intact while making some adjustments to its definition of “assault firearm.”
Dhillon’s confrontation with Virginia is part of a broader strategy that has reshaped the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. In December 2025, she created an entirely new Second Amendment Section within the division — a first in DOJ history. The concept treats the Second Amendment as a civil right equivalent to speech or religion, deploying the DOJ’s litigation power to challenge state-level gun restrictions.
The DOJ has already filed lawsuits against Washington, D.C., the U.S. Virgin Islands, Los Angeles County over their gun restrictions. The division is also monitoring Colorado, New Jersey, and New York for potential legal action.
Dhillon has been hiring aggressively, building what she calls a “cadre of lawyers trained in enforcing these laws all over the country.” Recent additions include Barry Arrington, the former Texas Gun Rights Board Chairman and Chief Legal Counsel for the National Association for Gun Rights.
Dhillon’s campaign rests on a series of Supreme Court decisions that have dramatically expanded Second Amendment protections over the past two decades. The 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller ruling established that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess firearms for self-defense in the home, overturning D.C.’s handgun ban.
The 2022 New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen decision went further, striking down New York’s “proper cause” requirement for concealed carry permits and mandating that all gun regulations must be rooted in the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation going back to 1791. This standard has rendered many existing state laws, rooted in twentieth-century public safety logic, legally vulnerable.
Dhillon’s letter to Spanberger also cited the Court’s June 2025 ruling in Smith and Wesson v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos — a PLCAA liability case that incidentally described AR-15s as “widely legal and bought by many ordinary consumers” — and Justice Kavanaugh’s statement on the Court’s denial of certiorari in Snope v. Brown, in which he wrote that “tens of millions of Americans own AR–15s” and called the Fourth Circuit’s upholding of Maryland’s AR-15 ban “questionable.”
The Supreme Court has not yet issued a definitive national ruling on “assault weapons” bans, but Dhillon and pro-gun advocates believe the Court’s existing language strongly suggests such bans are unconstitutional. The Illinois case Barnett v. Raoul at the 7th Circuit, where Dhillon personally argued in September 2025, could accelerate clarity on this question.
Dhillon’s office is targeting several specific types of state obstruction. In Los Angeles, the DOJ’s investigation revealed that the Sheriff’s Department had approved only 2 out of more than 8,000 concealed carry applications, with interview wait times stretching up to two years after receipt of a completed application.
The U.S. Virgin Islands required home inspections and “proper cause” showings nearly identical to what the Supreme Court already struck down in Bruen. Massachusetts bans the commercial sale of many common handguns, including popular Glock models, through its “Approved Firearms Roster” scheme, which the DOJ argues is flatly unconstitutional.
Washington D.C.’s categorical ban on AR-15s and similar semi-automatic rifles prompted a direct DOJ lawsuit, with Dhillon arguing these are the most commonly owned rifles in America and thus constitutionally protected.
For gun rights advocates, the DOJ’s intervention represents a historic shift. Pro-gun activists have spent years litigating against state governments largely as private plaintiffs. Having the full weight of the U.S. Department of Justice argue alongside them, and even initiate suits on their behalf, is unprecedented.
The confrontation with Virginia encapsulates this new reality. The federal government, acting through its civil rights enforcement apparatus, is now actively threatening to sue states that enact gun restrictions the administration considers unconstitutional. Governor Spanberger and other Democratic governors face a choice between their policy preferences and the prospect of expensive federal litigation.
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About José Niño
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Charlotte, North Carolina. You can contact him via Facebook and X/Twitter. Subscribe to his Substack newsletter by visiting “Jose Nino Unfiltered” on Substack.com.
