The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has taken the unusual step of suing California and Virginia over their gun laws, marking an unprecedented effort to enforce Second Amendment rights. The lawsuits, filed last week, challenge newly enacted gun restrictions in both states.

Expanding Second Amendment Protections

The Justice Department is pursuing a coordinated legal strategy to expand Second Amendment protections, with Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon telling Fox News Digital that the department has launched more than a dozen challenges to firearm restrictions across the country. The goal is to establish broader constitutional precedent, rather than simply challenging every firearm restriction enacted by states.

The latest phase of this effort came last week, when the Justice Department filed lawsuits against California and Virginia. The Virginia lawsuit challenges Senate Bill 749, which prohibits the manufacture, sale, transfer, and purchase of certain semi-automatic firearms classified under state law as semi-automatic rifles. The California lawsuit targets two separate firearm regulations: a new restriction affecting the sale of Glock-style semi-automatic pistols and the state’s longstanding handgun roster system.

Dhillon said the Justice Department’s actions reflect a broader commitment within the administration to treat the Second Amendment as a core civil right. ‘This is a pioneering effort by this Department of Justice,’ she said. ‘We view the Second Amendment as a very important, indeed fundamental civil right.’ The Justice Department’s litigation strategy marks a departure from previous administrations, which defended individual gun rights through Supreme Court filings but did not use the Civil Rights Division to file affirmative lawsuits challenging state or local gun laws on Second Amendment grounds.

Original reporting: Fox News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.