New York Law School Starts Gun Control Clinic

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Summary: New York Law School has started a clinic to tackle the issue of gun violence, the first clinic of its kind, but not likely to be the only one.

New York Law School announced it is starting a new law school clinic focused on gun violence. The clinic, NYLS-Everytown for Gun Safety Legislative Advocacy Clinic, is possible through a partnership with Everytown for Gun Safety. According to Law.com, this is the first law school clinic of its kind.

  

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Everytown for Gun Safety is a nonprofit gun control advocacy organization created by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2014. Two of the group’s deputy legal directors will lead the clinic as adjuncts. One of them, Jonas Oransky, said, “We consider ourselves a counterweight to the NRA, and we’re up and running in 50 states – pushing strong gun safety legislation and trying to fight the worst gun lobby items. We now have enough work and bandwidth that we can really let students take on a lot of it.”

There are clinics at other law schools that focus on policy or legislation but none are solely focused on gun control. This clinic will allow eight students to spend their time addressing gun safety laws for each state, helping to push for changes to improve gun control and fight off challenges. The legal directors stated they will have the students doing research and legislative outreach work on issues like background checks for gun purchases and stopping domestic abusers from obtaining firearms.

The other legal director, William Rosen, added, “What happens in the fall will unfold in real time. We’ll have to see what’s happening at the time the students are here.” The students will continue working on existing projects and take on new ones. The students will also gain experience drafting practice legislation.

Law school dean Anthony Crowell worked with Everytown president John Feinblatt in Bloomberg’s mayoral administration. This is where the relationship formed that led to the clinic being started at the law school.

Students will be able to keep working with Everytown in the spring as externs. Oransky said, “A clinic like this gives students an invaluable skill, and one that many people who start with us full time don’t have a lot of experience with. One the spring begins and state legislatures swing fully into action, we’d love to have students who have been trained and continue to be interested in the issue really dig into the battles that rage.”

Do you think a gun control clinic is an appropriate law school clinic? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

To learn more about law school clinics, read these articles:

• UCLA Law Launches Documentary Film Legal Clinic
• UCLA Law School Opens Music Industry Clinic
• University at Buffalo Law School Plans Clinic for Veterans

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