To examine the DOJ's track record, we have the Second Amendment Foundation's Kostas Moros on the show. He has been willing to defend the administration's overall approach to gun policy and to criticize moves he believes are likely to produce significant setbacks. He argued that the DOJ has actually been as pro-gun as any in modern history.

In fact, he said a lot of the disappointment from online gun activists stems from bad expectation setting. He argued the DOJ was never likely to stop defending all federal gun laws, nor would that move guarantee the kind of gun-rights wins some believe it would. He also said the administration's moves to sue localities over alleged violations of the Second Amendment, as well as their efforts to back gun-rights challenges, even up to the Supreme Court, create a positive case for why it has been a good ally to gun-rights activists.

Still, Moros admitted the DOJ has been pretty all over the place in its arguments at times. And he further criticized a new legal filing that stands to undermine a serious breakthrough in the gun-rights movement's fight against magazine bans. He said Jeanine Pirro, who Donald Trump appointed as US Attorney for Washington, DC, and who he is reportedly considering making the Attorney General, intervened to ask a DC court to reconsider its ruling against the city's magazine ban.

Moros argued Pirro didn't need to say anything at all, given that she isn't actively defending the law, and that her filing makes it more likely the case will be reheard. That, he noted, could undermine the all-important circuit split on the question of magazine bans. Ultimately, Moros argued, that could keep the Supreme Court from settling the question and further sour gun activists' view of the administration.

Special Guest: Kostas Moros.

Links:
https://thereload.com/dcs-highest-court-strikes-down-ammo-magazine-ban/
https://thereload.com/virginia-gun-sales-surge-as-democrats-move-dozens-of-new-restrictions/
https://thereload.com/supreme-court-skeptical-of-marijuana-user-gun-ban-in-oral-arguments/
https://thereload.com/analysis-the-path-for-the-government-to-win-scotus-weed-and-guns-case-member-exclusive/
https://thereload.com/analysis-have-gun-rights-advocates-found-a-way-around-the-machinegun-sales-ban-member-exclusive/
https://wvmetronews.com/2026/03/03/machine-gun-legislation-gets-jammed-up-in-west-virginia-senate/
https://www.texastribune.org/2026/03/05/tony-gonzales-drops-out-republican-primary-texas-23rd-district-congress/

Pirro said she would send anyone who carried a gun into the city straight to jail. Her comments came on the heels of President Donald Trump, who appointed her, saying he didn't like that Alex Pretti was carrying a gun before being shot to death by immigration agents. Gun-rights activists, longtime allies of the president, have been outraged by all of this.

We've got Bearing Arms editor Cam Edwards on the show to weigh Pirro's walkbacks and the political cost of all this.

He argued Pirro's follow-up comments don't even really qualify as walkbacks, and he doesn't think gun-rights activists are likely to forgive or forget soon. He also criticized Pirro and other DC officials for a lack of transparency over how frequently they arrest or charge people with standalone gun-carry crimes.

Still, Cam argued that, while many Democrats have made pro-gun statements in the wake of Pretti's killing, he didn't see any good reason to believe they are becoming a viable alternative for gun-rights advocates. He pointed to Virginia and New Mexico Democrats advancing sweeping new gun sales bans, and even a ban on the ammunition magazines Pretti carried as evidence the party hasn't actually changed. Though he noted there may be reason to think that at least some Democratic voters are shifting on the issue.

Cam said the Trump Administration's recent approach to guns leaves activists between a rock and a hard place. He said it could try to win back gun owners by making a splashy announcement reversing course on enforcing DC's gun carry restrictions. However, he isn't sure whether Trump even wants to reverse course, and Republicans may end up paying a price at the polls in November over all this.

Special Guest: Cam Edwards.

Episode links:
https://thereload.com/trump-atf-director-nominee-faces-little-pushback-in-confirmation-hearing/
https://thereload.com/ninth-circuit-upholds-parts-of-california-switchblade-ban/
https://www.ms.now/opinion/jeanine-pirro-trump-gun-rights-second-amendment-comments
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6999636/2026/01/26/packers-rasheed-walker-arrested-gun/?unlocked_article_code=1.JVA.RvRf.j3r9ekb6_g1x&source=athletic_user_shared_gift_article_copylink&smid=url-share-ta

Karl Kasarda from InRangeTV joins the podcast to explain why he thinks there should be more. The prominent GunTuber, who has criticized President Trump more than most other gun-rights activists, argued that sending troops and ATF agents into the streets of DC for general crime control should be a red flag for gun-rights advocates.

He went so far as to say that Trump's aggressive use of masked law enforcement, including at one point the ATF, as well as military troops in American cities risks moving in an authoritarian direction. He pointed to the deportation of certain immigrants to an El Salvadorian prison without due process as an example of what concerns him most. He argued the deployment of federal police and troops in connection with those sorts of tactics is a threat to everyone's liberty.

Kasarda agreed that the Trump Administration has made a number of pro-gun reforms, like rolling back the ATF's zero-tolerance policy toward gun dealers and effectively neutering the pistol brace ban. But he argued those reforms shouldn't outweigh the limit-pushing nature of Trump's military and police deployments, even if what the President has done thus far hasn't exceeded constitutional bounds in most instances.

Special Guest: Karl Kasarda.