State Attorneys General Ask Courts to Preserve Biden-era Gun Control Measures

On Thursday, more than a dozen state attorneys general, all from the Democratic Party, requested to join federal legal efforts aimed at preserving two Biden-era gun control measures, signaling the onset of partisan legal battles as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to power.https://svtoday.org/

The two policies in question differ. One involves a rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives that would require background checks for buyers at gun shows, a regulation likely to clash with Mr. Trump’s stance. He had promised during a campaign speech to the National Rifle Association to “reverse every Biden attack on the Second Amendment.” The second policy, which bans a type of trigger that enables a semiautomatic firearm to function like a machine gun, aligns with a policy Mr. Trump implemented during his first term when he banned bump stocks, which serve a similar function.

However, this intervention marks the first indication that partisan legal disputes will likely begin immediately once Trump assumes office, contrary to the wishes of some Democrats who had hoped for a more collaborative approach after four years of constant conflict during Trump’s first term.

“We recognize that it is very likely, based on the president-elect’s statements, that his Department of Justice will not defend these regulations,” said New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin in an interview, referring to Trump. “States like New Jersey will suffer as a result.”

Following Trump’s November election victory, some Democrats advocated for compromise when possible. Yet, the move by the attorneys general demonstrates that many are prepared to take legal action to block Trump’s aggressive agenda, just as they did throughout his first term.

Platkin’s office was also involved in filing a motion in the U.S. District Court for North Dakota, seeking to intervene in a case that challenges a policy allowing some undocumented immigrants, already authorized to stay in the U.S., to access subsidized health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. This policy primarily benefits immigrants brought to the country as children and granted conditional legal status under the DACA program. Thirteen states, including New Jersey, have filed to intervene as defendants to protect the policy in court, should Trump’s Justice Department choose not to defend it.

In the same vein, the Democratic attorneys general are seeking to preserve the two gun control regulations.

Meanwhile, Republican-led states have frequently filed lawsuits to reverse Biden’s policies, with Texas taking the lead in challenging federal immigration rules and pandemic-related measures. Last year, 26 Republican attorneys general sued over Biden’s new rule requiring background checks for gun show buyers, which White House officials linked to a gun law passed after the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers. Republicans argue that Biden has overstepped the law, and lawsuits regarding the background check regulation are currently being heard in four district courts.

The second gun control policy at stake is the ban on “forced-reset triggers,” which make semiautomatic weapons fire more rapidly. These triggers are similar to bump stocks, which Trump banned in 2018. “We will BAN all devices that turn legal weapons into illegal machine guns,” Trump stated on social media at the time.

However, the Supreme Court overturned Trump’s ban on bump stocks in 2024. The ban on forced-reset triggers introduced by Biden was struck down in the same year by Judge Reed O’Connor of the Northern District of Texas, and the case is now under review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

A spokesperson for Trump did not respond when asked whether the incoming administration would uphold the forced-reset trigger ban. Platkin, however, expressed concerns based