AP

The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun control advocacy group launched by former Rep. Gabby Giffords of Arizona, has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its failure to release documents potentially detailing the NRA’s influence on White House gun policy.




At the center of the suit are two Freedom of Information Act requests that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) failed to comply with. The suit was filed on Tuesday in the the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, according to the Huffington Post, which first reported the lawsuit (you can read a copy of it here).


The complaint alleges that the ATF repeatedly ignored requests for documents showing communications between Trump administration officials and the NRA. The suit seeks to explicitly reveal the extent to which the NRA has shaped White House policy on regulating bump stocks, gun silencers, assault weapons, and concealed carry permits.

Similarities between NRA talking points and the White House’s following the mass shooting in Las Vegas and most recently Texas suggest Trump’s team is in lock step with the gun lobby. For example, when the NRA appeared to endorse a bump stock ban, the White House “shifted its position to align” with theirs—and as the NRA backed off from supporting a ban, so did the White House.

“The policy choices made by the Trump Administration, as well as its public response to prominent instances of gun violence, mirrors closely, if not exactly, the views and communications strategies preferred and employed by the Washington gun lobby,” reads the lawsuit. “It appears that the Administration is coordinating with, or taking direction from, the Washington gun lobby in responding to mass shootings.”



I’ve reached out to the Gifford Law Center for comment and will update with their response.