BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today said they will encourage President-elect Donald J. Trump to instruct his attorney general early in 2017 to name a special assistant whose job would be to protect Second Amendment rights.

“In the past,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “the Department of Justice has taken action against various other civil and constitutional rights abuses. It is time for the DOJ to prosecute violations of the Second Amendment and federal laws including the Firearms Owners Protection Act, by state and local governments. State and local governments that adopt laws designed specifically to infringe on the rights of honest firearms owners or discourage people from exercising their right to keep and bear arms for legitimate reasons, including self-defense should be held accountable.”

Gottlieb pointed to laws in New Jersey, Maryland, New York, California and even Washington, D.C. that require “good cause” to obtain concealed carry permits, or make obtaining a permit prohibitively expensive for average wage earners. He also said apparent violations of the Firearm Owners Protection Act, adopted more than 30 years ago, must be investigated

“It would also be the task of this special assistant AG to make sure the DOJ does not take anti-Second Amendment positions on any legal action,” Gottlieb added. “This individual would also serve as a liaison with gun rights organizations, working with them rather than against them to assure that the nation’s laws are used to prosecute criminals rather than persecute law-abiding gun owners.

“Donald Trump has been given an opportunity to right so many of the wrongs that have been committed against millions of citizens whose only crime has been a wish to exercise their constitutionally-delineated civil rights,” he said. “He campaigned on a pledge to make America great again. One part of that effort would be to make the Second Amendment great again.”