Students from the Gun Violence Prevention Clinic Win First Case That Upholds Gun Safety Regulations in Minnesota

Minnesota Law launched a new Gun Violence Prevention Clinic (GVP) earlier this year to train future attorneys to make an impact on gun laws and litigation. The clinic—a first-of-its-kind legal clinic in the nation— is already making a difference while ensuring that Minnesota continues to enforce its gun regulations.

In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court shook up the Constitutional analysis for determining whether a gun regulation violates the Second Amendment when it decided New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. Previously, judges weighing challenges to gun restrictions employed an interest-balancing test that considered whether the regulation promoted public safety.

Under Bruen, courts no longer consider whether a gun law promotes the public interest. Instead, government entities now must prove that gun restrictions affecting one’s ability to keep or bear arms are consistent with the United States’ “historical tradition of firearm regulation,” using a test based solely on the Second Amendment text and early American history. To overcome a Second Amendment challenge, governments must identify historical laws that are analogous to the modern law in question, explains clinic founder and director Megan Walsh, a visiting assistant clinical professor of law.

Criminal defense attorneys quickly started putting Bruen to the test in Minnesota, challenging the constitutionality of their clients’ gun charges. The Minnesota Attorney General’s office, which has a right to intervene in such challenges, turned to the Gun Violence Prevention Clinic for help. Its student lawyers serve as special assistant attorneys general, making the case for why gun regulations pass the Bruen test.

Students clinched their first victory in September with State of Minnesota v. Sterling JaVale Robin-West. Ramsey District Court Judge DeAnne Hilgers ruled against the defense’s motion to dismiss based on a Second Amendment challenge to Robin-West’s charge for carrying a weapon in public without obtaining the required permit. 

Read the full story in the digital edition of Minnesota Law magazine.