Global Action on Gun Violence: And we welcome, Jake Meiseles, our new senior staff attorney
The Call to Global Action July 2024
Dear GAGV,
One of the best things about summer (in addition to vacations, swimming pools, and BBQs) is the new energy from GAGV’s annual class of thoughtful and hard-working summer legal interns.
This summer is particularly special because GAGV is also welcoming its first full-time senior staff attorney, Jake Meiseles. Read below about how Jake, Ashley, Fina, India, and Sofia bring their legal talents to the fight to hold the gun industry accountable for gun violence.
Sincerely, Jon Lowy Founder & President
P.S. Pleasedonate now to keep GAGV’s momentum against the gun industry going!
GAGV Welcomes our First Senior Staff Attorney: Jake Meiseles
Jake Meiseles hit the ground running in June as GAGV’s new senior staff attorney, saying he’s “incredibly excited about the opportunity to litigate cutting edge cases on an issue as important as reducing global gun violence.”
Prior to GAGV, Jake was an Associate at the law firm Skadden, Arps. After graduating from Cornell University and earning his J.D. from Harvard Law School, Jake served as a judicial law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Detroit and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
When asked what has surprised him about gun industry litigation, he said,
Jake Meiseles. Photo credit: GAGV
“During my first few weeks, I have been struck by the unique legal protections afforded by Congress to the gun industry that directly further gun violence and reduce public safety.”
Jake is motivated to take on new cases that “will contribute to a global reduction in gun violence and make the world a safer place.” Welcome Jake!
GAGV has a terrific class of legal interns this summer. Sofia Bottinelli, Ashley Russell, Fina Short, and India Tisdale bring strong skills and backgrounds to their work.
The highlight so far of Sofia Bottinelli’s work this summer has been drafting a report on U.S. gun trafficking to Haiti. She became interested in gun violence prevention as a Colorado native upon learning what happened at Columbine High, the school from which her dad graduated before gun violence defined what it means to be a student in America. Sofia is studying at Harvard Law School and is active in the Harvard Immigration Project. Immigrants face a myriad of challenges but Sofia notes that U.S. guns “are killing us on both sides of the border. I'm grateful to be a part of GAGV's fight.”
Ashley Russell is gaining a “deep understanding of the collaborative and innovative efforts required to address the issue of gun violence from a global perspective.” Ashley studies at the Georgetown University Law Center, which has prepared her to conduct legal research this summer, as well as draft memos and reports documenting the connection between gun violence and illegal gun trafficking in Mexico and the Caribbean.
Ashley said she valued taking part in a congressional briefing with her fellow interns, listening to moving testimony by those affected by gun violence and connecting with other organizations working to combat gun violence.
Three of GAGV's legal interns Ashley Russell, Fina Short, Sofia Bottinelli. Photo Credit: GAGV
This summer, Fina Short has been doing quantitative data analysis related to crime gun tracing and cataloguing trends in gun violence around the world and has researched a variety of legal issues, from questions of proximate causation in tort law to recent gun control legislation in the U.S. She is part of the international law program at Georgetown University Law Center and was motivated to “learn more about how GAGV works with the international community through impact litigation and human rights proceedings.” Like Ashley, the congressional briefing Fina attended on gun violence was a highlight, saying she’s “very grateful to the GAGV team for such an educational 1L internship.”
Prior to attending Georgetown University Law Center, India Tisdale taught at a high school in her rural community. She says, teaching "made me realize that there has to be common ground that conservatives and liberals must work towards together.” This summer, she has been focusing on legal research for the class-action suit against a gun manufacturer that GAGV is assisting with in Canada. Working remotely for GAGV has allowed her to have “insightful conversations about GAGV's work with people in my hometown and away from the DC ‘bubble.’”
Impact: GAGV’s U.S. Supreme Court Briefs
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Second Amendment challenge to the federal law banning persons subject to a domestic violence restraining order from possessing firearms. In its amicus brief, GAGV was the only major gun violence prevention group to argue that the Court should reverse its decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller and NYSRPA v. Bruen, both of which overturned 200 years of precedent recognizing the intended meaning of the Second Amendment to protect state militias.
Following the ruling, Lowy said, "It’s good news that the Supreme Court rejected the notion that domestic abusers have a Constitutional right to firearms. But the fact that such an obvious question was up for debate shows how far the current interpretation of the Second Amendment has strayed from what James Madison intended.”
As Justice Jackson rightly pointed out in her concurrence, lower courts are concluding that “…there is little method to Bruen’s madness.” Agreed.
Returning to the Second Amendment jurisprudence that governed until 2008 would allow common-sense laws to be passed that protect the lives of all Americans.
U.S. Supreme Court. Photo credit: Shutterstock
Earlier this month, GAGV also called on the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the defendants’ petition to consider Mexico v. Smith & Wesson, et al. Our brief in opposition emphasizes that Smith & Wesson’s petition does not in any way satisfy the standard criteria for review. We expect the Court will decide this fall whether to hear the case.
Finally, Global Action on Gun Violence filed an amicus brief in Garland v. Vanderstok to the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving the regulation of “ghost guns” – firearms without serial numbers or background checks that virtually anyone can assemble from parts, often purchased in a kit.
GAGV argued that if the Court rejects regulations on ghost guns that it would “undermine efforts to reduce the global epidemic of gun violence.”
Support Global Action on Gun Violence!
Donate todayto help reform the gun industry and save lives. We can't do it without you!
.jpeg)
.jpg)
