Harmeet Dhillon: Semiautomatic Rifles Like the AR-15 ‘Are Protected by the Constitution’

During a video posted to X on Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon stressed that semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15 “are protected by the Constitution.”

She pointed to the Supreme Court’s Bruen (2022) decision and said, “When you look at the historical analysis — and Justice Thomas lays this out very clearly — it is clear that semiautomatic rifles of the nature of the AR-15 are protected by the Constitution and the Second Amendment.”

Dhillon noted that she sent a letter to Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) warning the DOJ would file a lawsuit if the governor signed the “assault weapons” ban legislation which was passed by the Democrat-controlled Virginia legislature. Dhillon noted that instead of signing the bill by the April 13 deadline, Spanberger “sent it back to the legislature with some minor, technical edits that don’t cure the problems identified in my letter.”

Dhillon went on to note that Spanberger did sign other gun controls, including a “ghost gun” ban, and indicated that law is “going to be analyzed under ATF regulations.”

She said that another bill signed into law by Spanberger “effectively removes immunity from gun manufacturers.” Dhillon described the law as “very concerning” and noted that “it is really designed to put gun manufacturing out of business in our country, and I think it’s inconsistent with federal law because… the right to carry, the right to bear arms, the right to have them in your home and enjoy them for lawful purposes is meaningless if you’re not able to acquire those firearms.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.