Many people expected Attorney General Pam Bondi’s appearance before the House Judiciary Committee to become quite contentious. After all, Democrats were bound to attack her over the Epstein files, even though Joe Biden was president for four years and they didn’t seem to care much about the materials.
And indeed, that did happen, as the hearing devolved into name-calling and finger-pointing between Bondi and Democrats on the committee.
Epstein file theatrics aside, one question posed to Bondi during the hearing should be of interest to gun owners and Second Amendment advocates. That question came from Rep. Ben Cline, R-Virginia.
In fact, Rep. Cline asked the question in such a way that AG Bondi could have answered it easily and taken some heat off the Trump Administration and its on-again, off-again support for the right to keep and bear arms..
“The Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans, last year President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill into law, which included the Hearing Protection Act—part of it—which was sponsored by myself and Congressman Clyde,” Clyde said to Bondi. “It reduced the national firearms tax, $200 tax on suppressors and short-barreled firearms, to zero, and while the tax has been eliminated, the NFA’s registration and paperwork requirements remain in effect.
“And your DOJ has said that would, even though the tax has been reduced to zero, that the registration requirement is still somehow necessary even though with regard to Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, when that tax penalty was reduced to zero, you decided that the mandate was no longer necessary.
“How are you justifying the existence of this registry?”
Unfortunately, Bondi chose to take the easy way out, replying: “Congressman, that’s pending litigation right now.”
Rep. Cline responded: “It is, and I would hope that you would reconsider that.”
Part of me wishes Rep. Cline had pushed the matter harder. However, it’s nonsensical to get publicly combative with the president’s choice for attorney general when she’s already
To be sure, Bondi’s DOJ has been no friend to gun-rights groups and even federal legislators who are trying to do away with the rest of the National Firearms Act (NFA) now that the tax aspect of the law has been removed. In two different lawsuits challenging the NFA—Brown v. ATF and Jensen v. ATF—the DOJ is fighting hard to defend the law.
That has prompted many gun-rights groups, including the Firearms Policy Coalition, to question the administration’s dedication to the Second Amendment.
“President Trump promised to end unconstitutional gun control like the NFA, but his DOJ is in court fighting to keep every bit of it,” FPC President Brandon Combs said in a recent news release. “If the Trump Administration is at all serious about restoring the right to keep and bear arms, it should immediately stop spending taxpayer resources to defend unconstitutional laws that treat peaceable gun owners like criminals.”
At some point, Bondi and the DOJ need to reverse course on the whole NFA and let it be resigned to the dustbin of history, rather than continue to alienate citizens they should be trying to help. In the meantime, lawful Americans will still have to jump through all sorts of regulatory hoops while enjoying their $200 off suppressors and other NFA items.