The Justice Department has sued Washington, DC, over its law banning residents from registering ownership of semi-automatic guns.
Under DC law, all gun owners must register their weapons with local police. The nation’s capital, though, bars the registration of AR-15 and other fast-loading guns, which effectively blocks people from legally owning them.
The “ban on some of America’s most popular firearms is an unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment,” US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement, referring to the right to bear arms.
The lawsuit filed on Monday is the latest tangle between the Democrat-majority city and Republicans in the federal government over gun ownership.
Washington’s laws and budgets must be approved by Congress, and some of its efforts to enact gun control measures in the past were undone by Republican lawmakers.
At the same time, the Trump administration has sought to loosen federal restrictions on the weapons in the district, with the US Attorney for DC, former television commentator Jeanine Pirro, announcing this summer her office would no longer seek felony charges against people caught carrying rifles or shotguns.
Traditionally, Republicans oppose putting limits on the right to bear arms.
The lawsuit was brought by attorneys in the justice department’s new gun rights section.
“D.C. Code currently prohibits the registration of the AR-15 and other semi-automatic rifles, which makes it illegal for law-abiding citizens to possess these firearms in the home for lawful purposes,” the attorneys said in a complaint in federal court.
The Metropolitan Police Department said it does not comment on pending litigation. The DC attorney general’s office declined to comment when contacted by the BBC.
Washington DC only allows residents who do not have criminal convictions to register ownership of a small number of firearms. Anyone seeking a registration must complete safety training.
Additionally, the city requires owners to have registrations for carrying their weapons outside of their homes and it restricts where guns can be carried in public.
Since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, there have been two high-profile shootings in the district.
In May, a gunman killed Israeli embassy staff members outside the city’s Jewish museum and last month, another gunman shot two West Virginia National Guard officers, killing one.
Trump declared a crime emergency in Washington DC and deployed National Guard troops, as well as extra federal officers, to the city in August. He has ordered the Guard troops – who traditionally act as reserves and often have full-time jobs – to stay in Washington through February, at least.
Recently, a court said the National Guard could remain in the city while a lawsuit challenging their deployment makes its way through the legal system.
For the year through Monday, violent crime incidents in the district were estimated to be 28% lower than in the same period in 2024. Homicides took the biggest drop, falling by nearly a third, according to local police.
