National Defense

Feds Used ‘Domestic Terrorism’ As Basis For Cracking Down On Guns

Governor Tom Wolf/Creative Commons/Flickr

The Trump administration revealed a previously classified document detailing the federal government’s past plans to use the specter of “domestic terrorism” to restrict gun ownership.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced she had declassified a document from former President Joe Biden’s administration titled “Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism” in an X post Wednesday. The 15-page document revealed advancing “executive and legislative action” such as a ban on “assault weapons and high-capacity magazines” became part of Biden’s counterterrorism vision, which often faced accusations of being politicized.

“Shame on the Biden administration for running this classified program to eliminate the Second Amendment in the name of ‘counterterrorism,'” Aidan Johnston, federal affairs director for Gun Owners of America (GOA), told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Federal officials were directed to “rein in the proliferation of ‘ghost guns,'” or unregulated homemade firearms, and “encourage state adoption of extreme risk protection orders” that allow judges to strip gun rights from citizens they deem dangerous, the file shows.

A pro-firearm advocacy group, Gun Owners of America, called Biden’s strategy a “secret plan to eliminate the Second Amendment in the name of ‘counterterrorism'” in a Wednesday X post.

The previous paragraph of the document listed various “intended” goals for the counterterrorism strategy. One was to ensure that “Americans have increasing faith in democracy and government” so they don’t become domestic terrorists. Other goals were to “strengthen civics education that promotes democratic resiliency” and to “increase intervention and care for those who pose a danger to themselves and others.”

“If President Biden really wanted to ‘increas[e] faith in democracy and government,’ perhaps he shouldn’t have proposed tyrannical gun bans and gun confiscations to disarm the People,” said Johnston. “We have seen what happens to a disarmed population, look no further than Communist Cuba and North Korea and how they have no freedoms.”

“We are grateful to Director Gabbard for declassifying this unconstitutional attack on our rights and hope to never see the federal government weaponized against gun owners again,” Johnston told the DCNF.

The document also reflects the Biden administration’s overwhelming focus on “racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist (RMVE)” threats, mentioning no other specific ideology as a concern. Biden’s FBI previously came under fire in Congress for applying the RMVE label to traditional Catholic churchgoers as a basis to investigate them.

Gabbard released the file as part of her stated emphasis on declassifying government materials after forming a task force focused partly on the task.

“President Trump promised the American people maximum transparency and accountability,” she said April 8. “We are committed to executing the President’s vision.”

Gabbard’s office did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include a quote from the Gun Owners of America.