Everytown for Gun Safety Applauds Federal Appeals Court for Rejecting Extremist Challenge to Massachusetts Gun Law

NEW YORK – Everytown for Gun Safety, the country’s largest gun violence prevention organization, applauded today’s opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Gould v. Morgan, a case challenging the public carry licensing requirements of the cities of Boston and Brookline, which require a showing of need prior to the issuance of an unrestricted public carry license.

Everytown previously filed an amicus brief in the case, available here, which refutes the primary historical arguments made by attorneys representing the gun lobby, and makes clear that laws regulating the public carrying of firearms are consistent with a centuries-long historical tradition.

Everytown’s brief was written by Mark C. Fleming, Tasha J. Bahal, and E. Ross. Cohen at Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr LLP.

STATEMENT FROM ERIC TIRSCHWELL, LITIGATION DIRECTOR FOR EVERYTOWN FOR GUN SAFETY:

“Today’s unanimous ruling is a win for public safety in Boston and Brookline, and it is the latest evidence that the gun lobby’s extremist agenda doesn’t hold up in the courtroom. As courts across the country have recognized, the Second Amendment does not require states to adopt the NRA’s dangerous agenda of guns everywhere, for anyone, at any time, with no questions asked.

As Everytown’s amicus brief made clear, the NRA’s historical arguments were incorrect, and the licensing systems used by Brookline and Boston are fully consistent with a centuries-old historical tradition. We’re pleased the First Circuit agreed.”