STATEMENT OF BARBARA COMSTOCK, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Barbara Comstock, Director of the Justice Department's Public Affairs office, issued the following statement regarding the briefs filed in the Emerson and Haney cases:

"The briefs filed yesterday reflect the Attorney General's stated position in his November 9, 2001 memorandum to all U.S. Attorneys that: ‘The Department can and will continue to defend vigorously the constitutionality, under the Second Amendment, of all existing federal firearms laws. The Department has a solemn obligation both to enforce federal laws and to respect the constitutional rights guaranteed to law-abiding Americans.' In these two cases, the Department has fulfilled its commitment to defend vigorously the constitutionality of federal laws which restrict ownership of machine guns and bar individuals subject to domestic violence restraining orders from possessing firearms."

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