The hosts, Amanda Suffolk and Rob Campbell, open Eye on the Target Radio with lighthearted banter about taking photos for upcoming trade shows, joking about selfies, bad angles, and their hobby of rehabbing old houses. They then shift into gun-rights news, focusing on several major legal developments involving the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Second Amendment.
The Trump-era DOJ has asked the Supreme Court to participate in oral arguments.
The case challenges Hawaii's rule requiring explicit permission to carry firearms in most places ("vampire rule").
DOJ argues the rule has no historical analogue because historically property owners posted no-gun signs, not gun-allowed signs.
Oral arguments are scheduled for January 20.
The DOJ has supported gun-rights positions in major cases like Heller and Bruen.
This creates tension because they are now also defending the National Firearms Act (NFA) in court.
A recent budget bill reduced the $200 NFA tax to $0, but cannot remove the paperwork.
Some gun-rights groups argue that if the NFA tax is $0, it can no longer be justified as a tax law, so the NFA should be invalidated.
DOJ counters that there is still a special occupational tax tied to FFLs that deal with NFA items.
Gun organizations (NRA, GOA, FPC, SAF) have all filed lawsuits challenging the NFA under this new framework.
Rob suggests DOJ may be opposing these lawsuits strategically so that the cases can reach the Supreme Court.
If the DOJ stopped opposing early, some cases might end at lower courts without a national ruling.
Discussion expands into:
Ghost gun regulations
How firearms serialization didn't exist until 1968
Confusion in ATF record-keeping
How varied gun manufacturer naming schemes make compliance messy
Throughout the segment, several sponsors and related organizations are promoted, including:
Realize Firearms Awareness Coalition
Riding Shotgun with Charlie
The Complete Combatant
John Petrolino's Decoding Firearms
Locked-In Grip
Rust Is Bad
DC Project
