Former Justice Department attorneys and national gun violence prevention organizations say a Trump administration lawsuit targeting D.C.’s ban on AR-15s and certain other weapons relies on an atypical and “dangerous” use of a federal civil rights statute.
D.C.’s code, since 2009, has banned most semiautomatic rifles and certain firearms, including AK-47s and AR-15s, from being registered with the police department, ultimately making possession of those weapons illegal.
The Justice Department, in a lawsuit filedin December, claims D.C.’s police department is “preventing possession of firearms protected under the Second Amendment” — which the agency says violates a section of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 that bans any unconstitutional pattern or practice of conduct by law enforcement officers.
D.C. recently filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. On Friday, Brady United and Giffords Law Center filed an amicus brief in support of that request, along with more than a dozen former Justice Department civil rights division officials. Among those signing on are former associate attorney general Vanita Gupta and former assistant attorney general Kristen Clarke, who served in the Biden administration. Gupta also served in the Obama administration.
In the new brief, former attorneys who have enforced the pattern-or-practice statute say the Justice Department is misinterpreting the three-decade-old measure, which they believe could undermine public safety. They say the statute, passed in the wake of the 1991 police beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles, was meant to address police misconduct such as excessive force and discriminatory practices, as well as restore trust among communities harmed by systemic law enforcement failures.
Brady United chief legal officer Douglas Letter said the Trump administration is using the provision to challenge D.C. police for “merely enforcing a law passed by the representatives of the people,” and not a case of discriminatory or unconstitutional conduct.
“This lawsuit by the Trump Justice Department is just an extremely bizarre use of this statute,” Letter said in an interview. “Which was designed not to be used to attack statutes and laws, but instead to get at patterns and practices of misconduct by police officers and police departments.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment early Monday.
In its lawsuit, the agency argues the Supreme Court ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller found that the Second Amendment protects firearms “in common use today” and that are used for lawful purposes, including self-defense.
“Indeed, D.C’s current semiautomatic firearms prohibition that bans many commonly used pistols, rifles or shotguns is based on little more than cosmetics, appearance, or the ability to attach accessories,” the lawsuit claims.
The District called the suit an unprecedented “facial challenge” to a local law.
In the amicus brief, the attorneys detailed the history of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act provision cited in the lawsuit and its focus on institutional failures, the Justice Department’s past enforcement of the statute and what they say is the unique “departure” of the lawsuit against the District.
The former attorneys also say the Trump administration’s lawsuit comes at a time when the Justice Department “has proudly announced” it is dismissing pattern-or-practice investigations into police departments, including in Louisville and Minneapolis, related to Biden-era findings of unconstitutional discriminatory policing and excessive force.
The AR-15 has become a staple of American culture, The Washington Post has previously reported, and a weapon of choice for mass shooters.
“By redirecting federal resources to dismantle D.C.’s common-sense laws, the Trump administration is once again showing how it prioritizes gun industry profits over public safety,” Billy Clark, Giffords Law Center senior litigation attorney, said in a statement.
Others argue that the weapons, used by those following the law and for self defense, should not be denied by the city.
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