The Trump administration is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate state gun restrictions in five Democratic-led states, arguing that they violate the Second Amendment. In a formal brief, Solicitor General John Sauer called laws in Hawaii, California, New York, Maryland, and New Jersey—laws that prohibit carrying firearms onto private property without explicit owner consent—an effort to “effectively nullify” the right to bear arms established in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022).
“The United States has a significant interest in the preservation of the right to keep and bear arms and in the proper interpretation of the Second Amendment,” Sauer wrote.
The administration’s position reflects President Donald Trump’s reelection pledge to defend gun rights, writes USA Today. At the NRA’s annual meeting in Dallas on May 18, 2024, Trump promised, “No one will lay a finger on your firearms.” He reiterated the message at a Pennsylvania rally, declaring, “Your Second Amendment will always be safe with me as your president.”
The Justice Department has also altered its posture on federal gun control. It declined to appeal a 5th Circuit decision that struck down a federal law setting the minimum age to purchase a handgun at 21. “The history of firearm use, particularly in connection with militia service, contradicts the premise that eighteen-to-twenty-year-olds are not covered by the plain text of the Second Amendment,” Judge Edith Jones said.
In another shift, the Justice Department has offered partial support for a Missouri law—previously opposed by the Biden administration—that penalizes state officials who help enforce federal gun restrictions. It also filed a brief backing a lawsuit challenging Illinois’ ban on so-called “assault weapons,” arguing the measure is “flatly unconstitutional” because it bans arms “commonly used by law-abiding citizens.”
“We hope Solicitor General Sauer will stand with us on this issue at the Supreme Court,” said Brandon Combs, president of the Firearms Policy Coalition, which brought the Illinois challenge.
Hannah Hill of the National Foundation for Gun Rights praised the administration’s stance, telling USA Today that it is unprecedented. “This is the first time we’ve seen a Justice Department really actively fight for the Second Amendment rights of all Americans,” she said, though she urged quicker action, especially on regulations involving untraceable “ghost guns,” which the high court upheld in March.
The legal battlefield has shifted since the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision, which invalidated a New York law requiring “proper cause” to carry a handgun and imposed a historical standard for evaluating gun laws. That ruling has since triggered contradictory decisions in the lower courts.
[Read More: Leftwing Government Raids Trump Ally]
