Justice Department threatens lawsuits over state gun laws after Second Amendment win at Supreme Court
By Tierney Sneed, Paula Reid, CNN
(CNN) — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche threatened lawsuits against four states that have gun restrictions similar to the Hawaii law that the Supreme Court struck down last week.
He also warned states considering laws that “mirror” Hawaii’s that they could face Justice Department lawsuits as well, as the Trump administration has made challenges to firearm regulations a priority, including with two new lawsuits announced Wednesday.
“If we have to sue them, of course, we will, and they should be sued,” Blanche said at a news conference Wednesday. “But … it shouldn’t take this Department of Justice telling a state they’re violating the Constitution when the Supreme Court told them they were.”
The Hawaii law said that guns are presumptively banned on private property open to the public unless the property-owner gives explicit consent for firearm carry. The Supreme Court, divided on 6-3 ideological lines, said the law violated the Second Amendment in an opinion that noted that four other states — New Jersey, Maryland, New York and California — have similar statutes. The Trump administration supported the Hawaii gun-owners who challenged the so-called default ban and presented arguments before the Supreme Court that it was unconstitutional.
The Trump administration is testing the constitutionality of other firearm regulations in its latest blitz of Second Amendment litigation.
On Wednesday, it announced a legal challenge to Virginia’s ban on assault weapons that seeks to overturn US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals precedent upholding that type of firearms prohibition. The case comes as the Supreme Court also plans to hear a case next term on the constitutionality of those kinds of bans as well.
Additionally, the Justice Department unveiled a separate lawsuit against California for its ban on semiautomatic machinegun convertible pistols, which are commonly known as Glocks.
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