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I was first affected by gun violence in 1993, when an armed
gunman entered the conference room of a San Francisco law firm
during a deposition and opened fire. Two people in that conference
room were killed, and I knew both of them. One of the individuals
who died was a partner at the firm I worked for after law school
and the other was a lawyer my age from my home town, and he died
shielding his wife from the gunfire. That event made me really
think about the impact of gun violence and turned me into a
longtime advocate of reasonable gun safety measures.
I attended the Conversation on Gun Safety which Proskauer hosted
last week. We were honored to welcome as featured speakers John
Feinblatt, President of Everytown for Gun Safety; Eric
Tirschwell, Director of Litigation and National Enforcement Policy
for Everytown; and Nathalie Arzu, a survivor of gun violence who is
now an advocate for gun safety.The
event was both educational and moving. Everytown is a nonpartisan
group that came into existence thanks to Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
who has continued his efforts even after stepping down from office.
The organization is involved in legislative and litigation-related
activities focused on gun safety. The statistics around gun
violence in America are staggering. Gun violence kills nearly 700
Americans every week, and injures more than 1,700 per week. The
United States is an outlier with a gun homicide rate more than 25
times the average of other developed countries.
Beyond learning about specific legislative and litigation
efforts, one thing was clear from the event last week. The
nationwide movement for reasonable gun safety measures is taking
hold and appears to reflect a growing national consensus. This is
shown by the thousands who now volunteer with Everytown, and the
millions more who support it financially. Another important
indicator of this growing national consensus is the recent action
taken by several publicly-traded corporations which have
disassociated from guns and gun rights organizations, reflecting
the changing sentiments of their shareholders and customers.
In addition to corporations, law firms are playing a key role.
In the past year, Proskauer lawyers have recorded more than 1,800
hours on pro bono matters for Everytown. In particular, partner
Michael Cardozo co-counseled with Everytown on litigation challenging Florida's firearms
preemption law, which imposes fines on local governments and
their officials who pass gun safety measures.
While the gun violence statistics are staggering, I am
encouraged by the grassroots movement around reasonable gun safety
measures and the conversations taking place in our communities. I
have hope there will be safer days ahead for all Americans.
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