Everytown for Gun Safety filed this amicus brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, urging the federal appeals court to uphold the district court’s decision rejecting a challenge to California’s system for regulating the carrying of firearms in public. Everytown’s brief refutes the primary historical arguments made by gun lobby lawyers, and explains that California’s requirement that an applicant have a “good cause” to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon, as well as its limitations on open carry, are consistent with centuries of Anglo-American tradition—and thus fully constitutional under the Second Amendment. Everytown previously filed an amicus brief in this case last year, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The district court upheld the law, finding that the California was reasonable in believing that the challenged restrictions on public carry would be effective in “promoting and achieving the governmental objective of public safety.”

Everytown for Gun Safety and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence filed an amicus brief in Love v. State, a case before the Florida Supreme Court. At issue in the case is who has the burden of proof under the state's controversial Stand Your Ground Law. Following an earlier decision of the Florida Supreme Court that held that the defendant had the burden of proving that he or she was entitled to Stand Your Ground immunity, the Florida Legislature enacted a law that placed the burden of proof on the state. Everytown and the Brady Center have argued that the Legislature violated the separation of powers when it attempted to abrogate the Florida Supreme Court's earlier decision. Everytown and the Brady Center were represented on a pro bono basis by Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP and the Santini Law Firm. The brief is available here.

Everytown for Gun Safety filed this brief in the New York Court of Appeals in support of the Brady Center lawsuit against gun dealers who were distributing guns to unlawful purchasers, for the purposes of trafficking. The brief focuses on the dangers of straw purchasers and interstate trafficking from weak gun law states.

Litigators at Everytown for Gun Safety, on behalf of numerous concerned families, delivered a letter to the Board of Education of the Madison Local School District in Ohio raising concerns about the passage and implementation of a resolution to allow teachers, staff, and “others” to carry hidden, loaded weapons in district schools. The letter identifies numerous sources of legal risk and potential liability created by the resolution, including potential non-compliance with statutory and constitutional obligations to adequately train armed personnel, the need for clear policies governing access to and use of weapons on school grounds, the Board’s obligation to indemnify and defend armed personnel and the availability of insurance coverage, and disclosure obligations to enable parents to make an informed choice about whether local schools remain a safe place to educate their children. Read the full press release here.