A group of career and politically appointed lawyers throughout the halls of the Department of Justice wanted to challenge a federal court ruling regarding one of the nation's oldest gun laws, and President Donald Trump reportedly used his rank to eighty-six their intentions.
As CBS News reported Thursday evening, a recent federal ruling that significantly eased some of the restrictions on short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and suppressors was in the crosshairs of several DOJ lawyers who claimed that federal firearms prosecutions are suffering as a result of the ruling by Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, who operates out of the Northern District of Texas.
Judge Hendrix argued in his ruling that most of the restrictions set in place by the National Firearms Act of 1934 on the affected firearms were unconstitutional, marking a major win for gun rights groups and law-abiding gun owners across the country.
His opinion also stemmed from a provision included in Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" that nixed a $200 tax on guns covered under the National Firearms Act. The judge explained that once Congress eliminated the government's taxing authority over those particular guns, it meant that the government could no longer enforce the regulatory requirements that went along with them.
"Because today's NFA does not generate any revenue from untaxed firearms, its regulatory provisions cannot be upheld under the taxing power," Judge Hendrix wrote. "And there is no sign in the NFA's text, structure, or statutory history that Congress invoked any other power in crafting the NFA provisions at issue. Thus, the regulatory provisions must be enjoined as unconstitutional because they exceed Congress's enumerated powers."
The ruling came in the wake of a consolidated lawsuit brought against the government by 15 Republican-led states and several gun rights groups.
Even as multiple Justice Department lawyers wanted to challenge the ruling, reports surfaced Thursday that President Trump had assured several Republican members of Congress he would not allow the DOJ to appeal Judge Hendrix's ruling.
The White House clarified its position, with a spokesperson saying: "Anyone who would have been prohibited from buying a firearm under the old structure is still prohibited from buying a firearm under the structure that now exists after the federal district court's decision. All federal criminal statutes imposing additional charges or penalties for the unlawful possession of a firearm remain in place and will continue to be enforced by federal law enforcement."
Some reportedly believe that the DOJ lawyers aiming to challenge the federal judge's ruling are merely worried about their win-loss record from a prosecutorial standpoint.
That's definitely not a stretch to imagine.
Interestingly, the Texas judge decided that the ruling applies to current or future members of the gun rights groups involved in the lawsuit, including Gun Owners of America and the Gun Owners Foundation. The former charges $25 annually for membership. For those involved in that side of the industry, it's probably not a bad time to join up.
Not surprisingly, gun control groups are losing their minds over the ruling, and presumably especially now that the president used his influence to direct the DOJ to leave the ruling alone.
For the gun rights groups and red states involved, had Trump not stepped in, this could have gone in a much different direction. Sometimes, being the top dog has its perks.