The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) just opened an investigation to “determine whether Philadelphia Police use a vague ‘good cause’ standard to cancel permits to carry legal firearms.”
“I have directed the Civil Rights Division, through our Second Amendment Section, to defend law-abiding citizens from local authorities who infringe the right to safely carry legal firearms,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Law-abiding Americans, regardless of where they live, should not have to worry that their city will revoke their means of self-defense.”
In this case, the DOJ says its investigation is focusing on Philadelphia Police’s handgun permitting system. “The U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment protects the civil right [to] keep and bear legal firearms—including the right to legally carry firearms where allowed,” says the DOJ Civil Rights Division, before noting that it is a “violation of the Second Amendment for government officials to use vague, personal discretion when determining whether to issue or revoke permits to carry firearms.”
Indeed, in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding citizens to possess firearms that are in common use for lawful purposes. Also, in 2022, the high court held in New York State Rifle & Pistol Assoc. v. Bruen that permitting officials may not base gun licensing decisions merely on their own personal feelings, opinions, or politics.
“Here,” says the DOJ, “it is alleged that Philadelphia Police use just such a discretionary standard to improperly limit Second Amendment rights.”
Dhillon has worked to institute and enforce President Donald Trump’s (R) executive order “Protecting Second Amendment Rights.” The assistant AG often talks about the DOJ Civil Rights Division inclusion of the Second Amendment in its civil-rights protections; for example, she recently posted on X: “Several jurisdictions have banned magazines and guns to crush the 2A rights of millions of Americans. @TheJusticeDept and this @CivilRights Division will keep fighting these jurisdictions to defend citizens’ constitutional rights.”
Dhillon often notes that the Second Amendment is fundamental civil right on par with other constitutionally protected. (She often states that the Second Amendment is “not a second-class right.”)
Assistant AG Dhillon has helped to oversee the creation of a dedicated Second Amendment Section in the Civil Rights Division (announced December 2025). This is the first such unit focused specifically on protecting this fundamental right. This division investigates and litigates against state/local infringements and has increasingly challenged unconstitutional restrictions nationwide.
The Civil Rights Division has sued Denver over its “assault weapons” ban and Colorado for its so-called “large-capacity” magazine ban. It has sued the District of Columbia over assault weapons and suppressor bans. And it has sent warning letters to various other jurisdictions of Second Amendment infringements.
At the end of this and other press releases is the simple but profound statement: “The Civil Rights Division’s Second Amendment Section enforces the Second Amendment. If you believe your right to keep and bear arms is being infringed, please submit a complaint through www.justice.gov/crt/second-amendment-section.”
