‘Second Amendment is not a second-class right’: AAG Harmeet Dhillon announces new DOJ unit to enforce gun rights

The United States Department of Justice has created a new Second Amendment Rights Section within its Civil Rights Division, a major structural shift that elevates gun rights within the department’s enforcement priorities. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the division, said the new Section reflects the department’s responsibility to treat the right to keep and bear arms as equal in importance to any other constitutional protection. According to internal DOJ plans submitted to Congress, the Second Amendment Rights Section is expected to begin operating around December 2025. The Section has been created to scrutinise and, when necessary, challenge state and local gun regulations that the DOJ believes may violate Supreme Court precedent or unduly restrict law-abiding ci