NY Times: Gun Control Advocates Find a Deep-Pocketed Ally in Big Law

The New York Times reported yesterday that several big law firms have joined together to provide "pro-bono" services to gun control groups wishing to push their agenda through frivolous law suits:

After the Orlando nightclub massacre and a string of other mass shootings, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison; Covington & Burling; Arnold & Porter; and four other prominent law firms formed a coalition with gun control groups that until now have worked largely on their own. Together, the firms are committing tens of millions of dollars in free legal services from top corporate lawyers who typically bill clients $1,000 an hour or more.

This effort is highly unusual in its scale. Although law firms often donate time to individual causes, and some firms have worked on gun control on a piecemeal basis, the number and the prominence of the firms involved in the new coalition are unheard-of for modern-day big law. Other firms are expected to join in the coming months.

The Times reports that the coalition will seek to try new strategies to help push the gun ban lobby agenda:

Rather than fighting the political headwinds, the coalition is focusing on courts and state regulatory agencies, among the few places where they might still gain some traction. The coalition is drafting lawsuits and preparing regulatory complaints that could be announced as soon as next month, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, one of the nonprofit advocacy groups that helped form the coalition, along with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brennan Center for Justice, a legal think tank at New York University School of Law.

On one front, the coalition will seek to overturn state laws that have gone largely unchallenged, including new policies that force businesses to allow guns to be carried on their property. The group also plans to mount the first formal challenges to congressional restrictions on publishing government data on gun violence. Taking a page from the fight against big tobacco two decades ago, it will seek the help of regulators to challenge what it views as the gun industry’s attempts to stifle competition.

VSSA Life Member and Second Amendment attorney Steve Halbrook talked about this new coalition on NRANewsTV's Cam and Company.

Now is not the time for complacency.  While we will have a pro-rights President and Congress, the gun ban lobby is not going to just close their doors and walk away.  Bloomberg has been taking his agenda to the states for the past several years.  Now we have deep pocket law firms following that strategy.  Now more than ever, gun owners need to join their state associations to help fight the coming battles.