DOJ sues DC over restrictive gun laws

"The District's gun laws require anyone seeking to own a gun to register it with D.C. Metro Police," the DOJ said in a statement. "However, the D.C. Code provides a broad registration ban on numerous firearms - an unconstitutional incursion into the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens seeking to own protected firearms for lawful purposes. MPD's current pattern and practice of refusing to register protected firearms is forcing residents to sue to protect their rights and to risk facing wrongful arrest for lawfully possessing protected firearms.

"Today's action from the Department of Justice's new Second Amendment Section underscores our ironclad commitment to protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans," Bondi said in another statement.

"Some of the things we're seeing, and that is going to be the focus of our work around the country, includes multi-thousand-dollar costs for citizens to apply for concealed carry permits," she said.

"Other jurisdictions are having unreasonably long delays. Other jurisdictions are outlawing guns that should be protected by the Second Amendment under the recent Supreme Court precedent."

She also emphasized that gun rights "equalizes the ability of those of us, women, people with disabilities, and others who might otherwise be more vulnerable, to be able to protect ourselves."

Fox News' Andrea Margolis contributed to this report.