Brady Denounces Trump DOJ “Gun Rights” Office’s Lawsuit Challenging D.C.’s Assault Weapons Ban

As families prepare for the holidays, new “Gun Rights” office at DOJ filed a lawsuit to put weapons of war onto the streets of our nation’s capital

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 22, 2025 — Today, the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division filed a lawsuit challenging the District of Columbia’s assault weapons ban, which was enacted in 2008 after the federal assault weapons ban expired in 2004. Since the Columbine shooting in 1999, 8 of the 10 deadliest targeted mass murders were perpetrated with assault weapons, and in the decade after the federal ban expired, mass shootings in which six or more deaths occurred increased by 347%. 

Douglas Letter, Chief Legal Officer of Brady, said:

While families across America are focused right now on preparing to celebrate the holidays, the Trump DOJ’s new Second Amendment Section is focused – incredibly – on attacking a 17-year-old local D.C. law and bringing assault weapons back to the streets of our nation’s capital. Multiple federal courts and lawmakers in D.C. and 10 states have recognized that AR-15s, and similar firearms, are weapons of war that have no place in our neighborhoods. Coupled with U.S. Attorney Pirro’s ongoing decision not to prosecute open carry of long guns and high-capacity magazines as felonies, this lawsuit threatens to encourage gun crime and increase the lethality of shootings here. 

“I was working in the Chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. It terrifies me to imagine another January 6 – but this time with insurrectionists openly and legally carrying AR-15s. What an abuse of the storied history of DOJ's Civil Rights Division, which was created to protect communities of color from discrimination – not to increase violence and gun industry profits.

About the Unique Lethality of Assault Weapons:

• 155% more people are shot and 47% more people die in incidents where assault weapons or large-capacity magazines are used.
• When an assault weapon and/or a high-capacity magazine is used in a public mass shooting, nearly 14 times as many people are injured, and twice as many people are killed.
• During the 10-year period the federal assault weapons ban was in effect, mass shooting fatalities were 70% less likely to occur compared to the periods before and after the ban
• Today, there are over 19.8 million AR-15-style rifles in circulation in the US, which is a 132.9% increase in the number of AR-15 rifles in circulation when the Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired in 2004.
• 63% of Americans support a ban on assault weapons.