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Corporate Lawyers Join Activists to Restrict Gun Rights

Friday, December 9, 2016

Corporate Lawyers Join Activists to Restrict Gun Rights

This week, the New York Times announced that some of the nation’s largest law firms are forming a coalition with gun control advocates to provide tens of millions of dollars of free legal services to battle the Second Amendment.

The firms are a Who’s Who of the corporate legal world: Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Covington & Burling; Arnold & Porter; O’Melveny & Myers; Dentons; Munger, Tolles & Olson; Hogan Lovells. What is less known is whether their high-paying clients are aware their legal fees are subsidizing attacks against the gun rights of law-abiding Americans.

Their allies are similarly well-known: the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence; and the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety is conspicuously absent from the roster.

The newly formed Firearms Accountability Counsel Task Force intends to use courts and regulatory agencies to push their agenda. The strategy is unsurprising, given the victories the National Rifle Association and its members have achieved through grassroots political activism and the legislative process. Regulators in anti-gun states and liberal activist judges in state and federal courts are the gun control lobby’s last available means to achieve their objective.

The group’s talking points are a rehash of the arguments gun control advocates have used for decades. They claim Second Amendment is “an important part of our Constitution, and we don’t take issue with responsible gun owners,” but gun owners in California, Connecticut, and New York can tell you exactly how well gun rights are respected in those states. They further argue they want to address the “epidemic of gun violence” despite overwhelming evidence of falling crime rates.

Fortunately for Second Amendment advocates, these firms have been defeated in the past. Covington & Burling, representing the District of Columbia, lost the landmark Supreme Court case, District of Columbia v. Heller, which held that the right to keep and bear arms was an individual right guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Their legal strategies have a similar track record of failure. Anti-gun groups using the Environmental Protection Agency to ban lead ammunition were defeated in federal court in 2014. In October, attorneys pushing a tortured interpretation of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) were handed a defeat by a Connecticut Superior Court.

As to what motivates these firms, it isn’t high-minded altruism. They stand to profit enormously if they can win lawsuits. Attorneys collected more than $8.2 billion in legal fees when the four largest U.S. tobacco companies settled lawsuits brought by the attorneys general of 46 states. These firms are counting on the sheer financial burden of defending lawsuits to bring gun manufacturers to the settlement table and score a financial windfall.

This latest scheme proves the need for constant vigilance in defense of gun rights. The strength of the National Rifle Association is its millions of members. Your time, effort, and contributions sustain our mission of defending the Second Amendment against its well-financed opponents and tens of millions in free legal guidance. Your support is needed now more than ever.

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Colorado: General Assembly Continues to Follow California's Lead; Semi-Auto Ban Scheduled For Hearing

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Colorado: General Assembly Continues to Follow California's Lead; Semi-Auto Ban Scheduled For Hearing

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Wisconsin: Legislation Updating the Definition of Muzzloader Signed by Governor Evers

Friday, March 15, 2024

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Maine: NRA Fires Back Against Gun Grabbers

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Delaware: Senate Passes Maryland-Style Permit to Purchase Scheme

Friday, March 15, 2024

Delaware: Senate Passes Maryland-Style Permit to Purchase Scheme

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Virginia: More than a Dozen Anti-Gun Bills Sent to the Governor!

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Virginia: More than a Dozen Anti-Gun Bills Sent to the Governor!

The newly elected Virginia General Assembly has prioritized restricting law-abiding citizens' Second Amendment rights and has made good on that priority this session. This year, dozens of anti-gun bills have been considered in both chambers ...

Colorado: Semi-Auto Ban Introduced in General Assembly

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Colorado: Semi-Auto Ban Introduced in General Assembly

Anti-Gun extremist State Reps. Tim Hernandez (D-04) and Elisabeth Epps (D-06) introduced House Bill 24-1292, a bill banning the manufacturing, importing, purchasing, selling, offering to sell, or transferring ownership of so called “assault weapons”. 

Washington Post’s Somewhat Pro-Gun Column Inadvertently Exposes Problem with Mandatory Storage Laws

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Monday, March 11, 2024

Washington Post’s Somewhat Pro-Gun Column Inadvertently Exposes Problem with Mandatory Storage Laws

We generally don’t expect to see the Washington Post say anything positive about firearms or law-abiding gun owners, although there are occasional Op-Eds from pro-Second Amendment lawmakers, unbiased researchers and Constitutional scholars, and the like.

Appropriations Bill Passes with Language Protecting Veterans’ Second Amendment Rights

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Monday, March 11, 2024

Appropriations Bill Passes with Language Protecting Veterans’ Second Amendment Rights

Last week, Congress approved a package of legislation to fund various government agencies that corrects a longstanding and shameful practice that had been depriving American veterans of their Second Amendment rights since 1998.

Colorado: Mandatory Storage Bill Passes Committee and Hearings Postponed Due to Weather

Thursday, March 14, 2024

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Utah: Governor Cox Signs Legislation Protecting Financial Privacy of Gun Owners!

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Utah: Governor Cox Signs Legislation Protecting Financial Privacy of Gun Owners!

Today, Governor Spencer Cox signed HB 406, legislation that provides important financial privacy protections for gun owners when purchasing firearms, firearm parts, and ammunition. The NRA would like to thank Governor Cox for signing this ...

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Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.