Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence

The US Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen (Bruen) is the most important Second Amendment case the Court has decided in more than a decade. Upending decades of Second Amendment jurisprudence, the Court announced a radical new framework for evaluating challenges to the Second Amendment and declared the ability to carry a loaded gun in public to be a constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Beginning immediately after the Bruen decision was issued, an unprecedented number of lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of even the most common-sense, longstanding firearm regulations implemented by federal, state, and local governments across the United States.

Particularly concerning was the swift campaign by pro-gun organizations, such as the National Association for Gun Rights, to file a barrage of lawsuits seeking to strike down nearly every state and local restriction on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines. In the wake of these increasing challenges, the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence was in search of a partner law firm to develop a subject matter expertise on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, and provide support as these issues made their way through the federal courts. One of the nation’s leading gun control policy organizations – which bears the name of former US Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, who survived a gun-related assassination attempt in 2011 – Giffords is a non-profit that serves lawmakers, advocates, legal professionals, gun violence survivors, and others who seek to reduce gun violence and improve the safety of their communities.

Partnering with Giffords

Eager to counteract the havoc wreaked by Bruen, Freshfields Partner Jennifer Loeb and Senior Counsel Aaron Marcu quickly formed a team to partner with Giffords in supporting US state and local governments forced to defend their bans on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines in court.

Led by Jenn and Aaron, the Freshfields team (which includes associates Brandt Henslee, Dan Hodgkinson and Taylor Jachman) draft and file amicus briefs to supplement the states and municipalities’ defense of their laws with extensive technical, historical, and social-policy arguments for why the States’ existing bans on assault weapons are necessary and constitutional. For example, in a recent brief filed in support of the State of Connecticut in the case NAGR v Lamont, Freshfields explained in a 41-page amicus brief that the weapons restricted under Connecticut’s statute ‘are weapons of war, designed to kill large numbers of people quickly… [and] are significantly more lethal than any firearms of the 1700s or 1800s.’

Following the success of Freshfields’ partnership with Giffords, Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and March for Our Lives, two highly respected gun safety organizations, joined the coalition. Since February 2023, Freshfields now partners with and files amicus briefs on behalf of all three organizations, representing some of the largest and most influential gun violence prevention advocates in the country. 

A ‘hugely significant issue’

‘Gun control is a hugely significant issue in the US, and this has been a really important and rewarding piece of my practice over the past few years,’ says Jenn Loeb. ‘I think it’s really also a wonderful opportunity for our younger lawyers to get substantive writing and advocacy experience on issues that they care about.’

As of September 2024, Freshfields has filed more than a dozen amicus briefs in cases across five federal district courts and seven federal appellate courts, including the US Supreme Court. We have collaborated with and received praise from Attorneys General across the country and our briefs have been cited by judges upholding the laws’ constitutionality.

Freshfields also filed an amicus brief in United States v Rahimi, a US Supreme Court case that will be decided in June 2024 and is likely to have a major effect on both gun control and social policy. The brief was filed on behalf of several domestic violence advocates, educators, and organisations in support of existing federal law prohibiting the possession of firearms by persons subject to domestic violence restraining orders.

Associate Dan Hodgkinson has been working with Giffords since 2022. ‘It’s a chance to step back from your day-to-day work and dive into a project that continues to make a meaningful impact,’ he says. ‘Our team really puts their heart and soul into this work.’

In recognition of these efforts, Giffords has chosen to honour Freshfields as its pro bono law firm of the year at Giffords’ annual gala in San Francisco in June 2024.

The pro bono section of our website has more on our other work, including high-profile court wins.