The head of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is something of real concern to pro-Second Amendment folks like you and me because the DOJ, in essence, runs Federal law enforcement. If you have someone seeking to run the DOJ in compliance with the Constitution, then you’ll see more gun friendly actions taken by the Federal government. If you have someone on the opposite side of the spectrum (Eric Holder, anyone?), then you’re going to see the Federal government trying to take away gun rights.
So, the question is: will Trump’s pick for heading up the DOJ be someone in favor of gun rights. According to David Codrea, unfortunately not. Codrea quotes an unnamed writer to give us an idea of whether Bill Barr, Trump’s pick to head the DOJ, will do the right thing for gun rights. Codrea writes,
“Barr has said little about firearms or gun control during his career, but he is widely considered to be the author of PL 101-647, The Crime Control Act of 1990,” an unsourced assertion by an unnamed author at at The Truth About Guns offers. “The ban on domestic assembly of semiautomatic rifles prohibited from importation is Barr’s big aggravation in The Crime Control Act of 1990. This was a follow on to Bush 41’s 1989 prohibition of ‘unsporting’ long arms importation.”
But, to be fair, that article doesn’t cite their references, so Codrea gives us a quote Bill Bar from testimony shown on C-SPAN which should disturb all of us:
On the assault weapon front, the proposal before us is the DeConcini amendment. And I think — I don’t know if this is a new statement or not, but I would support both the Brady Bill waiting period and the DeConcini amendment, provided they were parts of a broader and more comprehensive crime bill that included tough enforcement provisions, including very tough provisions on the use of firearms in crimes and illegal purchase and trading in firearms, which are part of the package that passed the Senate.
If you’re not familiar with them, the Brady Bill was a proposal for a waiting period when purchasing firearms, and the DeConcini amendment sought to to impact availability of “assault weapons.”
In other words, while Barr may not be another Eric Holder, he certainly isn’t going to be friendly to gun rights. Remain vigilant and put pressure on your representatives in Congress to do the right thing.