Breitbart News walked the floor of SHOT Show with U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday for an exclusive talk about how the DOJ is fighting to roll back restrictions on the Second Amendment.
Blanche began by noting that even as we walked, the DOJ was arguing against Hawaiian gun control before the Supreme Court of the United States.
He noted that Hawaii was one of a number of states that responded to the Bruen (2022) ruling by trying to find a way to enact as many restrictions as possible on concealed carry.
Blanche said, “They passed a law that was so restrictive — if you have a right to bear arms, a right to carry a firearm — in Hawaii, you really can’t do it. So, we appealed and it’s very rare that the DOJ inserts themselves in a case, and we did that there, and it’s being argued while you and I are talking.”
He talked about how much energy the left puts into their efforts to restrict gun rights, saying, “They’re crafty, and they’re creative, and they’re violating the Second Amendment.”
We asked Blanche if the DOJ is focused on rolling back regulations in such a way as to make it easier for law-abiding citizens to sell guns privately to other law-abiding citizens.
He responded, “We are very close to releasing updated regulations and there are a lot of areas we’re covering, and one is that area. How can we make sure guns stay in the hands of people allowed to have them? But also make sure that the people allowed to have them can sell them to each other and can engage in commerce and can actually not worry about ATF coming after them for a minor infraction.”
Blanche noted that the full-orbed approach is to both roll back regulations, as the DOJ is doing, and change the ATF, which is a focus of the Trump administration.
He said that his hope is that the American people “see a whole ton of regulations rolled back or adjusted consistent with Trump’s priorities.”
Blanche said the Second Amendment “has been treated like a step-child, attacked, questioned…[it] is something President Trump will not stand for…I hope the gun owners, I hope the manufacturers, I hope that folks realize that we are doing everything we can to put President Trump’s administration’s policies in place…If you want to own a firearm, if you wany to buy a firearm, if you want to carry a firearm, you have a Second Amendment right to do so, limited only by certain fringe issues, period.”
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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. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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