The DOJ gun lawsuits against California and Virginia landed like a thunderclap. For years, individual gun owners and advocacy groups have footed the bill for every one of these legal battles while the federal government watched from the bleachers. Now the Department of Justice itself is suing anti-gun states. That’s a massive shift in who’s defending our rights, and the video above covers the details.
What the DOJ gun lawsuits actually target
Two fronts. In California, the DOJ is going after the restrictive handgun roster and the state’s new ban on specific Glock models. In Virginia, the challenge is aimed at the state’s semi-automatic rifle legislation. The argument underneath both: Second Amendment rights are not second-class rights, and they don’t change when you cross a state line.
It feels a little surreal, honestly. We’re used to the government ignoring or undermining the Second Amendment. Now high-ranking officials are standing in open court saying a Glock, a handgun chosen by millions of Americans, shouldn’t be illegal because a politician in Sacramento says so. If a gun is common and lawful in forty-some states, the logic doesn’t magically change at the border. Somebody in Washington finally said it out loud.
Why I’m not popping champagne
Here’s the part that keeps me up at night. This momentum depends entirely on who sits in the Attorney General’s chair. Right now we have a friendly administration pushing back on these bans. Great. But politics is a pendulum, and if the administration changes, these lawsuits could be dropped by lunchtime. Anyone who’s been in this fight longer than one election cycle knows better than to bet the farm on current leadership. We’re winning battles. The war is a different question.
Precedent is the prize
A friendly DOJ is a nice gift while it lasts. A Supreme Court precedent is a stone wall. What we actually need out of this era is rulings that stand no matter who runs the country, which is why the cases working toward the high court matter more than any single lawsuit. The California fight is already getting ugly; I broke down the state’s response in my writeup on the California Glock ban case, and it tells you exactly how hard these states will dig in.
So enjoy the moment. Watching the federal government fight on our side is a change of pace most of us never expected to see. But stay sharp, watch the courts, and don’t confuse a good news cycle with a permanent win. As of this writing, both suits are in early stages, and I’ll keep covering them here. Meanwhile, if you’re exercising the rights in question, the shop is open and I’m behind the counter most days.
Lance Rankin is the owner and Chief Gunsmith of Western Sport, a family-run Type 07 FFL and Class 3/SOT dealer in Roanoke, Texas, serving shooters since 2007. Born and raised in Texas with over 50 years of experience handling firearms, Lance purchased Western Sport in 2017 and turned his lifelong passion into his profession. He specializes in AR-15 and AR-10 platform rifles, manufactures Western Sport’s own AR-15 line under the Rankin Industries brand, and runs the shop’s in-house Cerakote coating operation. When he’s not behind the counter or the workbench, you’ll find him on his ranch deep into the night, hunting coyotes with an AR-15 and thermal optics. Lance holds an MBA and personally shoots and tests the products Western Sport sells.
