Well, they can demand all they want, but I think they’ll get nothing<\/p>\n
Dems demand details from AG Bondi on Trump\u2019s directive to review gun regulations<\/a> WASHINGTON (CN) \u2014 House Democrats on Sunday demanded that the Justice Department explain how it plans to implement President Donald Trump\u2019s recent executive order for a whole-of-government review of federal firearms regulations.<\/p>\n And, writing in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, the lawmakers sought to reaffirm Congress\u2019 role in writing \u2014 and changing \u2014 the country\u2019s gun control laws.<\/p>\n The Trump administration last month\u00a0directed the Justice Department to undertake a sweeping review of existing regulations<\/a>, which it said was designed to determine whether there were any \u201congoing infringements\u201d of Second Amendment rights. The president instructed the agency in the executive order to sift through federal rules, guidance and international agreements, as well as other actions taken by the White House and executive agencies.<\/p>\n But in their letter to Bondi,\u00a0obtained<\/a>\u00a0by Courthouse News, Democrats told the attorney general they were \u201cconfident\u201d that the Justice Department\u2019s survey would confirm that existing firearms regulations are constitutionally sound, so long as the review was conducted \u201cobjectively and in good faith.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is plainly no need for any new plan of action to, in the words of the executive order, \u2018protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans,\u2019\u201d read the letter, penned by Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, and Georgia Representative Lucy McBath, who serves as the No. 1 Democrat on the panel\u2019s crime and government surveillance subcommittee.<\/p>\n In the order, the Trump administration specifically directed the Justice Department to examine firearms regulations promulgated by the president and federal agencies between January 2021 and January 2025, a provision which put the Biden administration\u2019s gun control efforts squarely in the crosshairs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Former President Joe Biden\u00a0took several steps during his term aimed at reducing gun violence<\/a>, including a raft of executive orders clamping down on emerging firearms technology and raising background check requirements for gun purchases. Biden also signed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022, a bill which again hiked standards for purchasing firearms and funded state-level gun control programs.<\/p>\n Though Trump\u2019s executive order does not specifically request a review of gun control legislation, House Democrats on Sunday thumped the Safer Communities Act as an example of what they said was Congress\u2019\u00a0power to legislate firearms regulations<\/a>. They positioned the bill as part of a century of gun control measures that have given the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives the authority to make rules that have \u201cprevented violent crime and saved lives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur courts have repeatedly agreed that Congress has the authority to regulate the sale and use of firearms and that these regulations do not violate the Second Amendment,\u201d the lawmakers told Bondi. \u201cAnd while every administration has enforced our nation\u2019s firearms laws to help keep us safe, any changes to those laws must come from Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n The House Democrats also took particular issue with the executive order\u2019s stipulation that the Justice Department examine the ATF\u2019s 2023 enhanced regulatory enforcement policy, which allows the firearms regulator to revoke licenses for gun dealers who violate federal law. They pointed out that, in the handful of years the policy has been in effect, less than 1% of gun dealers nationwide have had their licenses revoked.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ATF\u2019s enhanced regulatory policy has not prevented a single American who may lawfully possess a firearm from exercising his or her Second Amendment rights,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.<\/p>\n The Democrats demanded that the Justice Department provide lawmakers with information about how it plans to determine whether federal regulations or international agreements violate the Second Amendment, and asked how the agency will ensure that any plan for altering or rolling back those restrictions will not increase the risk of gun deaths. They also requested that Bondi inform them whether the Justice Department plans to consult with stakeholders outside of the federal government as it reviews regulations and develops a plan of action.<\/p>\n And they pressured the agency to remain transparent during the process, asking Bondi if she would provide the department\u2019s plan of action to Congress within 30 days of transmitting it to the White House. The lawmakers also demanded to know whether the Justice Department would make such a plan \u2014 as well as its constitutional analysis of gun regulations \u2014 publicly available.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ability to be safe from gun violence is essential to the enjoyment of our foundational rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,\u201d the Democrats told the attorney general. \u201cWe cannot exercise any of our other most precious rights \u2014 the right to vote, the right to free speech, the right to worship freely, the right to peacefully assemble and indeed the right to keep and bear arms \u2014 unless we are alive and safe in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n The Justice Department did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n The Trump administration\u2019s February executive order was\u00a0hailed by gun rights advocates<\/a>, said at the time that the directive was emblematic of the president\u2019s campaign promises to shield Second Amendment rights. John Commerford, director of the National Rifle Association\u2019s legislative advocacy section, said the regulations review would dismantle the work of the \u201canti-gun radical\u201d Biden administration.<\/p>\n But gun control groups, such as Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action, argued that Biden\u2019s actions were consistent with the Constitution.<\/p>\n Under the White House order, the Justice Department has until Friday to complete its review.<\/p>\n Renewed focus on federal gun regulations comes as the Supreme Court prepares this week\u00a0to begin reviewing Mexico\u2019s 2023 lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0against a group of U.S. gun manufacturers who it has said knowingly facilitated the sale of firearms to drug cartels via third-party vendors.<\/p>\n The gunmakers, led by Smith & Wesson, have asked the high court to toss the case, citing a federal law that\u00a0shields firearms manufacturers from liability<\/a>\u00a0for crimes committed using their products. Arguments are scheduled for Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, they can demand all they want, but I think they’ll get nothing Dems demand details from AG Bondi on Trump\u2019s directive to review gun regulations The White House last month ordered the Justice Department to conduct a broad review of federal firearms regulations, a move which appeared aimed at walking back Biden-era gun control … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-enemies-foreign-domestic","category-goobermint"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108025"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108026,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108025\/revisions\/108026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe White House last month ordered the Justice Department to conduct a broad review of federal firearms regulations, a move which appeared aimed at walking back Biden-era gun control measures.<\/p>\n