The Second Amendment Foundation—a group which has become a litigation powerhouse in defense of the right to keep and bear arms—is celebrating its 49th anniversary this Saturday.
The organization was officially founded on Aug. 26, 1974. Already, SAF is looking ahead to its 50th anniversary in 2024.
“As the saying goes,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb in a statement announcing the milestone, “we’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go in our mission to win firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time.”
The observance comes at a moment when the SAF staff—a small but dedicated group based in a two-building complex in Bellevue, Washington—is preparing for the 38th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC). This year’s event will be held the weekend of Sept. 22-24 in Phoenix, Arizona. The two-day event attracts hundreds of gun rights activists and leading Second Amendment advocates from around the country. Attendance at the GRPC is free, and to pre-register, sign up here.
SAF’s litigation efforts began with two early court victories, challenging a ban on handgun sales in New Haven, Connecticut and an outright ban on handgun ownership in San Francisco, California.
Since then, SAF has filed more than 250 lawsuits and currently has 50 legal actions filed in court defending Second Amendment rights.
In addition, the Second Amendment Foundation’s Legal Preemption Project has removed over 600 local anti-gun-rights laws off the books simply by threatening to go to court.
“Those were two key lawsuits we won, and that was just the beginning of something which has grown into an organization we can proudly say represents and protects American gun owners and their right to keep and bear arms,” Gottlieb observed.
Adam Kraut, a practicing civil rights attorney based in the Philadelphia area, and who came on board late last year as SAF’s Executive Director, is excited and planning for the future, which includes a bigger 50th anniversary celebration next year.
Adam Kraut, SAF’s Executive Director and a practicing civil rights attorney based in the Philadelphia area, is excited and busy planning for the future, which includes a bigger 50th anniversary celebration in 2024.
“We’re living in challenging and exciting times,” Kraut said, “and I am glad to be a part of this organization. What SAF has accomplished with a small crew over the past four decades only signals what we have on the horizon as we continue to grow our legal footprint and expand our programmatic capabilities.
“We’re just getting started,” Kraut said.
