DOJ considers abandoning the defense of federal restrictions on gun silencers
CNN
The Justice Department is evaluating whether to defend the federal government’s restrictions on gun silencers that have been in place since the 1930s as part of President Donald Trump’s order to reconsider positions that could limit gun rights.
The Justice Department is evaluating whether to defend the federal government’s restrictions on gun silencers that have been in place since the 1930s as part of President Donald Trump’s order to reconsider positions that could limit gun rights. Silencers, also called suppressors, are tube-shaped devices that, when screwed into the muzzle of a gun, slow the decompression of gases that propel a bullet forward, thus reducing the “pop” sound of gunfire. The devices are legal in 42 states but have been subject to strict federal restrictions since Prohibition-era gang violence. Under the National Firearms Act, buyers are required to submit fingerprints and a photograph, go through a background check and to pay a $200 tax – a steep price in the 1930s. If a person fails to pay the tax or register one of the devices, they could face prosecution. The Justice Department has defended the law for decades, arguing that it doesn’t ban silencers but simply governs how a buyer can acquire one. Still, late last week, prosecutors requested a 30-day pause in the criminal case against a firearms dealer found with an unregistered silencer because “the Department of Justice is re-evaluating its litigation positions regarding silencers.” The review is one of the efforts undertaken by DOJ since Trump ordered the federal government to re-evaluate its gun policies and tasked Attorney General Pam Bondi with re-evaluating all ongoing litigation that could restrict Americans’ gun rights. “Protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens is a high priority for @AGPamBondi,” DOJ chief of staff and Acting Associate Attorney General Chad Mizelle said Monday on X. “To that end, the Department will be re-evaluating some of its recent litigation positions on Second Amendment issues, including silencers.”
President Donald Trump delivered a rare 20-minute primetime speech from the Oval Office on Wednesday night.
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he would be issuing checks to members of the United States military for $1,776 – in honor of the country’s founding – calling the payment the “Warrior Dividend.”
The US military conducted a strike against another alleged drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, killing 4 people, according to US Southern Command.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said Wednesday that his US counterpart Donald Trump had revealed his true motives toward the South American country with his claim that that it had stolen US “oil, land and other assets.”
Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, is making another effort at overturning her conviction for child sex trafficking and other crimes, with new court filings Wednesday claiming evidence has emerged showing that she did not receive a fair trial.
The US government now admits failures by the pilots of an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a controller in Reagan National Airport tower during the January 29 midair collision over the Potomac River that killed 67 people.
Affordable Care Act coverage will get a lot more expensive in 2026 if Congress doesn’t extend the enhanced premium subsides that are set to expire at year’s end.
A retired Tennessee law enforcement officer was held in jail for more than a month this fall after police arrested him because of a Facebook post of a meme related to the September assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
On Sunday morning, as investigators rushed to prepare a search warrant for a hotel room in Coventry, Rhode Island, FBI Director Kash Patel broke the news on social media celebrating that a person of interest had been detained in the Brown University mass shooting.
The White House has installed plaques along President Donald Trump’s “Presidential Walk of Fame,” offering descriptions of his predecessors, often written in the style of his social media posts — including insults, baseless claims and random capitalization.
A defiant Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is testifying before an investigative Georgia Senate Committee on Wednesday. The committee scrutinized her prosecution of President Donald Trump and multiple codefendants, at one point cutting Willis’ microphone briefly when she testified beyond the question she was asked.
Rep. Sarah McBride on Wednesday criticized congressional Republicans as being “obsessed with trans people” ahead of a vote on bills that would restrict youth access to gender identity care and penalize health workers who provide it.
Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado has left Oslo, her coordinator of international relations, Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli, wrote in a post on X.