In what is becoming a troubling pattern from Trump officials, yet another White House deputy took to cable news to issue a full-throated attack on the God-given right to self-defense. This time, the offender was U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro.
“I don’t care if you have a license in another district, and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else,” Pirro told Fox News. “You bring a gun into this district, count on going to jail, and hope you get the gun back.”
Unsurprisingly, this wildly unconstitutional stance drew immediate pushback from gun rights groups and elected Republicans.
“I bring a gun into the district every week,” Rep. Greg Steube (R–FL) posted on X. “I have a license in Florida and DC to carry. And I will continue to carry to protect myself and others. Come and Take it!”
The National Rifle Association, appearing to support Pirro, posted, “Now is the time for Congress to pass HR 38, the National Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act. Your right to self-defense should not end simply because you crossed a state line or into Washington, D.C.”
National Association for Gun Rights issued a far sharper condemnation of Pirro’s comments on X, writing, “Unacceptable and intolerable comments by a sitting US attorney. This is why we need Real Constitutional Carry nationwide. Bureaucrats act like the 2A does not exist and brag about jailing people for exercising their rights.”
Realizing that she stepped on a rake, Pirro attempted to walk back her comments, assuring gun owners that she is a Second Amendment supporter and is herself a gun owner. Pirro agreed with the NRA’s assessment that Congress should get involved and pass the National Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act (HR 38). Of course, Pirro could choose to defend Second Amendment rights without an act of Congress. In fact, she did just that in August 2025, when she instructed federal prosecutors to stop bringing felony charges against citizens carrying rifles and shotguns in Washington.
Anti-gun activists and elected Democrats have long claimed that the NRA or the general so-called “gun lobby” pays off politicians with vast amounts of cash to flood the streets with guns. Of course, this is ridiculous. The NRA, NAGR, Gun Owners of America, et al., are funded by millions of supporters of the Second Amendment and are, in fact, routinely outspent dramatically by anti-Second Amendment groups. For example, the NRA spent only $25,000 total on last year’s elections in Virginia, including only $5,000 given to the Republican Winsome Earl-Sears gubernatorial campaign, while Everytown for Gun Safety, a rabid anti-self-defense group, spent over $1.5 million, with nearly $1 million going to the aggressively anti-gun Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA). Spanberger, who was a longtime CIA operative before being elected to Congress in 2018, and her fellow Democrats immediately signaled that Everytown made a sound investment. Virginia Democrats are now pushing a bill that will likely become law barring a political miracle, making the state one of the most hostile in the country toward the Second Amendment by banning so-called “assault weapons” and most modern pistol magazines.
SPANBERGER’S COSTLY AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL ASSAULT ON THE SECOND AMENDMENT
Republicans have made significant progress on gun rights in recent decades, and the landmark decision in 2022’s New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen opened the door to more judicial victories in the future. However, after the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by immigration officials last month, the sitting president, the FBI director, the homeland security secretary, and now multiple U.S. attorneys have made wildly irresponsible and unconstitutional claims regarding the right to carry.
When leftists attack the so-called “gun lobby,” they mean us, the 100 million or more legal American gun owners. If anything, Republicans, specifically members of the current administration, don’t fear or respect the gun lobby nearly enough.
Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a musician, political strategist, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.
