Formation | July 1993 (as Legal Community Against Violence) |
---|---|
Founded at | San Francisco, California, United States |
Type | 501(c)(3) |
Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
Key people | Gabby Giffords |
Website | Giffords.org |
Formerly called | Legal Community Against Violence, Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence |
The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, previously known as the Legal Community Against Violence and the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, is a national public interest law center and nonprofit organization that promotes gun control legislation in the United States and conducted litigation against the gun industry. [1] [2] The Giffords Law Center publishes information about gun laws and gun control. The organization offers legal assistance to public officials, and publishes research on gun laws and gun violence. The organization is currently led by former US Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.
The organization has been active in promoting gun control ordinances in California and elsewhere, as well as has conducted litigation to defend gun control laws against challenges. [3]
The Legal Community Against Violence was established in the wake of the July 1, 1993 101 California Street shooting, during which a gunman entered the offices of law firm Petit & Martin and shot fourteen people, killing eight. [4] Former Petit & Martin partners John Heisse and Chuck Erlich formed the nonprofit organization shortly after the shooting to help local communities pass their own gun control ordinances. [4] [5]
Initially focusing on the local regulation of firearms in California, LCAV supported the passage of the Brady Bill and the national assault weapons ban in 1993. [5] The organization's volunteer lawyers provided legal consultation to the city of West Hollywood when it was sued by the National Rifle Association in January 1996 for banning Saturday night special handguns. The lawsuit was dismissed in November 1996. [5] [6]
In 2016, Legal Community Against Violence merged with Americans for Responsible Solutions, led by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and Navy combat veteran and retired NASA astronaut Captain Mark Kelly. The organization changed its name to Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence in 2017. [7]
In 2019, Giffords Law Center sued the Federal Election Commission, alleging the regulatory agency failed to take action against the National Rifle Association for alleged campaign finance violations. [8] The lawsuit, filed by Giffords and the Campaign Legal Center, states the FEC did not respond to multiple complaints accusing the NRA of using shell organizations to donate more than the legal amount to the campaigns of President Trump and six Republican Senate candidates. [8] [9] In response, the NRA stated “[t]his latest effort by Giffords and the Campaign Legal Center is a frivolous lawsuit based on a frivolous complaint.” [8]
Following the FEC's lack of response, the Giffords Law Center filed a federal lawsuit directly against the National Rifle Association in November 2021. [1]
Giffords Law Center provides comparisons of state gun laws online, [10] and annually releases the Gun Law Scorecard, a report that ranks and measures individual states’ gun death rates in correlation to their gun laws. [11] [12] According to the organization, its research shows there are fewer gun deaths in states with strict gun laws. [13]
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while continuing to teach firearm safety and competency. The organization also publishes several magazines and sponsors competitive marksmanship events. According to the NRA, it had nearly 5 million members as of December 2018, though that figure has not been independently confirmed.
In the United States, assault weapon is a controversial term applied to different kinds of firearms. There is no clear, consistent definition. It can include semi-automatic firearms with a detachable magazine, a pistol grip, and sometimes other features, such as a vertical forward grip, flash suppressor, or barrel shroud. Certain firearms are specified by name in some laws that restrict assault weapons. When the now-defunct Federal Assault Weapons Ban was passed in 1994, the U.S. Department of Justice said, "In general, assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms with a large magazine of ammunition that were designed and configured for rapid fire and combat use." The commonly used definitions of assault weapons are under frequent debate, and have changed over time.
The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, often referred to as the Brady Act, the Brady Bill, or the Brady Handgun Bill is an Act of the United States Congress that mandated federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States. It also imposed a five-day waiting period on purchases until the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was implemented in 1998. Introduced by U.S. representative Chuck Schumer of New York, the Brady Act was a landmark legislative enactment during the Clinton administration. The act was appended to the end of Section 922 of title 18, United States Code. The intention of the act was to prevent persons with previous serious convictions from purchasing firearms.
Gun politics is defined in the United States by two primary opposing ideologies concerning the private ownership of firearms. Those who advocate for gun control support increasingly restrictive regulation of gun ownership; those who advocate for gun rights oppose increased restriction, or support the liberalization of gun ownership. These groups typically disagree on the interpretation of the text, history and tradition of the laws and judicial opinions concerning gun ownership in the United States and the meaning of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. American gun politics involves these groups' further disagreement concerning the role of firearms in public safety, the studied effects of ownership of firearms on public health and safety, and the role of guns in national and state crime.
Brady: United Against Gun Violence is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control and against gun violence. It is named after former White House Press Secretary James "Jim" Brady, who was permanently disabled and later died in 2014 as a result of the Ronald Reagan assassination attempt of 1981, and his wife Sarah Brady, who was a chairwoman of the organization from 1989 until her death in 2015.
Wayne Robert LaPierre Jr. is an American gun rights lobbyist who was the CEO and executive vice president of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), a position he held between 1991 and 2024.
Gun laws in the United States regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition. State laws vary considerably, and are independent of existing federal firearms laws, although they are sometimes broader or more limited in scope than the federal laws.
The Violence Policy Center (VPC) is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control.
The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) is a U.S law, passed in 2005, that protects firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable when crimes have been committed with their products. Both arms manufacturers and dealers can still be held liable for damages resulting from defective products, breach of contract, criminal misconduct, and other actions for which they are directly responsible. However, they may be held liable for negligent entrustment if it is found that they had reason to believe a firearm was intended for use in a crime.
District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. It ruled that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms—unconnected with service in a militia—for traditionally lawful purposes such as self-defense within the home, and that the District of Columbia's handgun ban and requirement that lawfully owned rifles and shotguns be kept "unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock" violated this guarantee. It also stated that the right to bear arms is not unlimited and that certain restrictions on guns and gun ownership were permissible. It was the first Supreme Court case to decide whether the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense or whether the right was only intended for state militias.
Everytown for Gun Safety is an American nonprofit organization which advocates for gun control and against gun violence. Everytown was formed in 2013 due to a merger between Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
Gun laws in California regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition in the state of California in the United States.
GeorgiaCarry.org (GCO) is a state-level gun rights organization that is dedicated to preserving and protecting the rights of its members to keep and bear arms as protected by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and Paragraph VIII of the Constitution of the State of Georgia. On its website, the organization describes itself as "Georgia's no-compromise voice for gun owners." The organization is also referred to as Georgia Carry in conversation and press coverage. It is a non-profit corporation organized under the laws of the State of Georgia. It has been described as Georgia's "powerful firearms lobbyist" that "makes the National Rifle Association look like a popgun group".
McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that found that the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms", as protected under the Second Amendment, is incorporated by the Fourteenth Amendment and is thereby enforceable against the states. The decision cleared up the uncertainty left in the wake of District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) as to the scope of gun rights in regard to the states.
Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit gun rights advocacy group in Colorado, United States.
Giffords is an American advocacy and research organization focused on promoting gun control. The organization draws its name from one of its co-founders, Gabby Giffords, a former Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Giffords was shot along with 18 others at a constituent meeting in Tucson in 2011. The organization has three parts: a 501(c)(4) lobbying arm, a 501(c)(3) research arm, and a super PAC. It was previously known in a different configuration as Americans for Responsible Solutions.
Gun laws in Iowa regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition in the state of Iowa in the United States.
Gun laws in Pennsylvania regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States.
Gun laws in Washington regulate the sale, possession, and use of firearms and ammunition in the state of Washington in the United States.
Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS) was a United States non-profit organization and super PAC that supports gun control. The group's stated goal was "to encourage elected officials to stand up for solutions to prevent gun violence and protect responsible gun ownership." It typically supported Democratic politicians in elections. In 2016, the organization merged with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence to become Giffords.