The DOJ's Second Amendment Task Force Empowers Domestic Abusers

JWI is profoundly concerned by the recent announcement by Attorney General Pam Bondi of a Department of Justice Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force. Sensible firearms regulations are not only critical to promoting public safety, they are also entirely consistent with the Second Amendment. While the Second Amendment, as interpreted by Heller, McDonald, and Bruen, may have disrupted centuries of prior Second Amendment jurisprudence, they all explicitly recognize that no right, including the Second Amendment, is unlimited, and sensible gun regulations are not precluded by the Constitution.

The creation of this task force, at a time when guns have surpassed all other causes to become the leading cause of death among children and youth in the United States, raises troubling questions about the Department’s priorities. Rather than taking action to keep communities safe from gun violence, the Department is actively seeking to undermine critical and fully lawful protections, empowering domestic abusers and others who seek to use firearms to cause harm.

Says JWI’s CPO, Deborah Rosenbloom, “Almost 14% of American women have been threatened by an intimate partner with a firearm, and 43% of those have pistol-whipped, shot, sexually assaulted, or otherwise physically harmed with a gun. Most women who are murdered in the US are killed by intimate partners, and most of these homicides are committed with firearms. Instead of trying to make it easier for dangerous people to get firearms, the Department of Justice should focus on disarming adjudicated domestic abusers and investing in what we know works to improve public safety - providing critical victim services, funding community violence intervention programs, and investing in communities.”

Notably absent in the memo creating the Task Force is any mention of the millions of Americans who have been victims of gun violence, including gun-enabled domestic violence, or who have lost loved ones to guns. JWI has worked for decades to support victims and survivors of domestic violence and of gun violence, and we urge the Department of Justice to ensure that this task force does not undermine efforts to enforce existing gun safety laws or jeopardize the hard-won protections that save lives. Our government must stand with survivors—not prioritize policies that make them more vulnerable.

We call on the Department of Justice to clarify the scope of this task force, to affirm its commitment to upholding and enforcing laws that protect the safety of all Americans—especially those most at risk of gun violence–and to center the needs and the voices of victims rather than seeking to re-arm perpetrators.

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