By David Hood-Nuño and Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Justice Department plans to expand gun-rights protections with a new office in its civil rights division dedicated to enforcing the U.S. constitutional right to bear arms, according to plans shared with Congress and reviewed by Reuters.
The office, called the Second Amendment Rights Section, expects to open on December 4 and will be dedicated to investigating local laws or policies limiting gun rights.
The section intends to execute the
broad policy directions from a February executive order issued by President Donald Trump directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to comb the entire U.S. government to "assess any ongoing infringements" of gun rights.
The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution enshrines the right to keep and bear arms, a deeply divisive issue in a nation where many conservatives avidly support gun rights while many liberals push for restrictions in the face of a high rate of gun-related deaths.
There have been 378 mass shootings this year as of November 25, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a comprehensive database of gun-related incidents in the U.S., which defines mass shootings as events where four or more people are killed or wounded, excluding the shooter.
The reorganization is another step in a series of actions by the Trump administration to redefine civil rights with policies championed by conservatives, a departure from traditional civil rights issues including racial discrimination and policing.
The DOJ did not immediately comment.
"The Civil Rights Division's new focus on the Second Amendment, which is far outside its longstanding mission, is moving us even further away from our nation's commitment to protecting all Americans' civil rights," said Stacey Young, a former Civil Rights Division attorney.
Earlier this year, the agency launched a civil rights investigation into allegations that the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department was slow-walking approvals for concealed-carry permits after gun-rights groups launched a lawsuit over the department's process, fees and wait times.
The division was created by the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1957, and Congress granted the division new authority to investigate systemic violations of constitutional and statutory rights by police departments in 1994 following the severe 1991 Los Angeles police beating of Rodney King captured on video.
The agency has also withdrawn or seeks to withdraw at least a dozen consent decrees from cities and states around the country under investigation over their police practices.
By law, a reorganization of the Justice Department doesn't need congressional approval, but the department is required to notify Congress. According to the document, the DOJ said the reorganization can be done using existing funds and personnel, and that the Office of Management and Budget did not object to the communication to Congress about the reorganization.
(Reporting by David Hood-Nuño and Sarah N. Lynch; editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)
