Announcing the Winners of the First Annual Everytown Law Fund Law Student Writing Competition!

The Everytown Law Fund is delighted to announce the three winners of its first annual law school student writing competition! The competition asked law students to submit original research and writing on how to advance gun violence prevention and gun safety through litigation in the civil and criminal justice systems. Here are the 2023 winners:

Co-winner Josh Hochman (Yale Law School) wrote The Second Amendment on Board: Public and Private Historical Traditions of Firearm Regulation–the first published account to chart how historical firearm regulations on private railroads support the constitutionality of modern laws regulating guns in today’s trains and subways. Government lawyers for both New York State and City cited his article in their briefs in the Frey case, where they’re defending prohibitions on firearms on the NYC Subway and on commuter trains.

Co-winner Evan Dale (University of Minnesota Law School) penned Help Me Sue A Gun Manufacturer: A State Legislator’s Guide To The Protection Of Lawful Commerce In Arms Act And The Predicate Exception. Evan’s piece provides an in-depth study of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), demonstrating how the law has harmed victims and incentivized gun companies to engage in dangerous business practices. Then Evan creates a guide for state legislators seeking to write and implement a successful predicate statute so that plaintiffs can sue gun manufacturers who are engaging in dangerous conduct.

First runner-up Samantha Fawcett (Duke Law School) takes on the constitutional analysis of domestic violence firearms prohibitors under the new Bruen framework in Upholding The Domestic Violence Firearm Prohibitors Under Bruen’s Second Amendment. Her work analyzes legal decisions by many circuit and district courts and with a broad historical lens. Samantha breaks down the legal arguments for how and why the Second Amendment must be interpreted to allow for the disarming of domestic abusers.

For more information about the writing competition, please visit our competition webpage. Entries for the 2024 writing competition will be due by 11:59pm on Friday, May 31, 2024.