Lock and Load
Here we bring you all things Second Amendment because without the Second Amendment nothing else will matter.
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2A Group Urges DOJ to Go After ‘Permit-to-Purchase’ Laws
Cam Edwards – Bearing Arms
There are high expectations for the DOJ’s new Second Amendment Section among Second Amendment advocates, and no shortage of targets for the DOJ’s attorneys seeking to curb abuses of our right to keep and bear arms.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has mentioned sky-high application fees for concealed carry licenses, jurisdictions that are needlessly delaying approving those applications, states and localities that ban commonly-owned firearms like the AR-15, and even “gun-free zones” like the D.C. Metro and some government buildings as potential issues for the Second Amendment Section to pursue. The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has another suggestion for Dhillon: permit-to-purchase laws
In a press release, CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb suggested that the new office should turn its attention to those states that require a permit (which often also includes taking a mandatory class and live-fire test) before purchasing a firearm. Gottlieb argues that citizens should not be forced to…Read more here.
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Are We Closer to Getting a True Accounting of New Jersey Carry Permits?
John Petrolino / BEARING ARMS
New Jersey has a Permit to Carry Dashboard that publishes statistics on permits. Those numbers exclude retired police officers, though, which makes it hard to get a complete picture.
The New Jersey Attorney General’s Office maintains the dashboard, which purport to show the number of approved, denied, and withdrawn permit to carry applications are listed on that dashboard. Those numbers, however, don’t represent a true account of all the permits to carry in the Garden State. Excluded from those numbers are permits that have been issued to retired police officers under N.J. 2C:39-6 — a strange exemption to their accounting practices.
As previously reported, the numbers on the dashboard can be misleading. Casual viewers will see the number of “approved applications” listed, however that’s not the number of current valid permits to carry. What the dashboard does not do is subtract out the number of permits that have expired in the days since the data was being tracked. A quick glance might make it seem like New Jersey has 80k+ permits in…Read more here.
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What Gun Rights Are Really About
Tom Knighton – Bearing Arms
Both sides of the gun debate tend to talk past one another on a regular basis. In fairness, I only care about what the other side has to say so I can debunk it. They don’t care about what I have to say because their mind is made up.
But we need to understand–we need them to understand, too–what gun control really accomplishes in the grand scheme of things.
We need to understand, though, what gun ownership and the Second Amendment is really about.
Our own Ranjit Singh touched on that in a recent piece he penned for a site called Ordinary Times:
In my world, Saturday afternoons mean the sounds of bullets hitting steel gongs. As I stand behind new shooters taking their first shots, I watch their fear loosen and confidence take hold. These moments motivate me as an instructor and firearms evangelist. Read more here.
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Does DOJ’s New Second Amendment Section Come With a Catch?
Cam Edwards / BEARING ARMS
More than a week after news first broke about the Department of Justice creating a new section of the Civil Rights Division focusing on Second Amendment issues, Attorney General Pam Bondi has made it official.
The section will be overseen by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads up the Civil Rights Division and has already taken an active role in challenging the lengthy wait times for concealed carry permits in Los Angeles as well as bans on “assault weapons” and large-capacity magazines in Illinois and New Jersey.
In a video shared on X, Dhillon discussed the scope of the new section. As Fox News notes, it appears that the Second Amendment Section will focus exclusively on fighting state and municipal gun control laws.
According to Dhillon, the department will fight a variety of state and local courts on gun issues, particularly difficulties around concealed carry permits.
“Some of the things we’re seeing, and that is going to be the focus of our work…Read more and see X here.
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