Year 4 ,2026
GAGV calls out the Supreme Court for improperly expanding the Second Amendment to override property rights and strike down a Hawaii law in Wolford v. Lopez (Substack article).
⭐️ Jon Lowy and Professor Arturo Carrillo argue for a novel integrated approach to prevent gun violence using litigation and international law principles in “Two Heads Are Better Than One: Integrating International Law and Global Public Health Approaches to Firearm Violence to Promote Public Safety” published by Emory International Law Review.
⭐️ GAGV opposes and argues for the illegality of a proposed ATF rule broadly allowing online gun sales (published comments to ATF rule).
GAGV blasts the Supreme Court United States v. Hemani decision holding that it was unconstitutional to disqualify Hemani from gun possession for marijuana use (Substack article).
⭐️ Justice Jackson’s dissent in United States v. Hemani follows GAGV’s call for the Supreme Court to replace its historical test in gun cases, which Jon Lowy amplifies in a USA Today article, Supreme Court justice wants to scrap ‘failed’ Second Amendment test
GAGV promotes bringing criminal, terrorism charges against gun dealers who supply cartel traffickers in a Christian Science Monitor article Terrorism-related charges are a new tool to pursue illegal arms flow to Mexico and an International Consortium of Investigative Journalists article, Arizona gun shop owner faces terrorism-related charges for allegedly selling high-caliber weapons bound for Mexican cartels.
Jon calls out the U.S. on its Weak Gun Laws on Al Jazeera English’s This is America TV show.
⭐️ GAGV gathers supporters to celebrate the life and activism of Parkland victim Joaquin Oliver and his father, Manny Oliver at GUAC — A Powerful Night of Theater and Advocacy in Los Angeles, California.
Jon Lowy argues for expanded liability of gun companies who supply traffickers in a panel on Firearm Violence: A Global Tragedy Needing WHO Attention Session, at the Consortium of Universities for Global Health Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.
⭐️ Jon Lowy, Arturo Carillo and Emily Fallin argue for using transnational litigation to reduce the supply of the criminal gun market in Promoting Firearm Industry Accountability for Civil and Human Rights Abuses in the United States through Strategic Transnational Litigation, is published by Cambridge University Press.
Jon Lowy attacks the Supreme Court’s Second Amendment methodology in a Substack article: Guns, Gummies, and the Framers: How the Marijuana Gun Ban Case Shows Where the Supreme Court Got the Second Amendment Wrong.
⭐️ The Inter-American Court of Human Rights issues a groundbreaking advisory opinion on the obligations of states to prevent illicit arms trafficking, responding to a request Mexico filed in November 2022 GAGV was the only gun violence prevention group to file a brief and testify at a hearing in Costa Rica in support of Mexico’s request for an opinion.
GAGV Senior Counsel Jake Steisel exposes the harms caused by a major .50 caliber sniper rifle manufacturer in Gun control at home, gun profits abroad: Australia’s defence contradiction featured in Independent Australia.
⭐️ Jon Lowy maps out a legal strategy to strike down the federal gun industry protection law, PLCAA, as unconstitutional at the “Challenging Gun Industry Immunity” symposium co-hosted by the William & Mary Law Review and the Duke Center for Firearms Law in Williamsburg, Virginia.
GAGV expands its communications and thought leadership efforts by launching its Video Explainer Series. The first video, Do you know how the Supreme Court got the Second Amendment so wrong? explains how the Supreme Court has misread the Second Amendment to improperly expand gun rights at the expense of public safety.
⭐️ GAGV expands its communications and thought leadership efforts by launching Jon Lowy’s Substack. His first article, Out of Tragedy, Unity: The Killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good Can Unify Americans Around Our Most Fundamental Rights, argues for common ground around the unjustified killings by ICE officers in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jon Lowy explains how the law supports imposing liability for negligent gun manufacturers, as a panelist in Lethality in Firearms Law, at the Association of American Law School’s Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.
2025
Jon Lowy explains the dangers of negligent gun industry marketing in KFF Health news’ Guns Marketed for Personal Safety Fuel Public Health Crisis in Black Communities.
⭐️ Jon Lowy calls for holding gun dealers accountable for supplying gun traffickers who supply gangs in Haiti while testifying as an expert at the Haiti: Arm trafficking and its impact on human rights (Ex Officio) hearing in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Miami, Florida.
GAGV is a leading voice at a JAMA Public Health Summit on Reducing Firearm Violence and Harms in Washington, DC.
Jon Lowy explains how courts can and should hold negligent gun companies accountable for contributing to gun violence, as a panelist in the Gun and the Courts session during the Fourth Annual Center for the Study of Guns and Society Conference form Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.
⭐️ GAGV wins favorable ruling requiring disclosure of important documents in Mexico’s anti-trafficking lawsuit against gun dealers in federal court in Arizona.
GAGV’s Lawsuit for Survival is promoted by global cosmetics company. Lush; Lush’s campaign is nominated for Greater Good Awards.
Year 3
⭐️ GAGV asks the U.S. Supreme Court to hold the gun industry protection law, PLCAA, unconstitutional. GAGV filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in Gustafson v. Springfield Armory, in which the Superior Court of Pennsylvania held that PLCAA was unconstitutional, on Commerce Clause and Tenth Amendment grounds, and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania reversed.
⭐️ GAGV partners with cosmetics company Lush and Change the Ref on a Lawsuit for Survival campaign. From July 3 to July 14, all 200+ Lush shops across the United States are promoting GAGV’s Lawsuit for Survival, urging customers to sign a petition in support of the groundbreaking human rights lawsuit and advocate for the right to live free from gun violence. As part of the campaign, Lush is selling sunflower bath bombs in honor of Joaquin Oliver, in whose name the Lawsuit for Survival was filed. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the bath bombs go to GAGV.
⭐️ The Ontario (Canada) Court of Appeal grants class-action status to plaintiffs in a Canadian lawsuit against a U.S. gun manufacturer, reversing a trial court denial of a class action. Price v. Smith & Wesson was brought by victims of a 2018 mass shooting in Toronto against Smith & Wesson. GAGV is foreign legal counsel for the plaintiffs. The decision allows the lawsuit to move forward.
GAGV holds a webinar with U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman on international gun trafficking.
⭐️ The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its first decision ever on gun industry liability, ruling that PLCAA, the gun industry shield law, immunizes the gun industry from liability in Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Smith & Wesson. However, the decision is narrow, and leaves the door open for future liability. GAGV is co-counsel for Mexico.
Rolling Stone publishes, ‘There’s No Second Amendment Right to Sell Guns to the Cartels’, an extensive interview with Jon Lowy about U.S. gun trafficking to Mexico and Mexico’s lawsuit against gun manufacturers.
The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Smith & Wesson, the first gun industry liability case to be heard by the Court.
GAGV participates in a panel on gun rights at the Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice symposium in New York, New York.
GAGV’s Jon Lowy is a panelist at the Duke Global Health Initiative event, “From Marlboro to Meta: Combatting the Health Impacts of Market-Driven Epidemics.”
⭐️ GAGV holds a sold-out fundraiser at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C. at a performance of Manny Oliver’s one-man show, Guac, about his son Joaquin, who was killed in the 2018 Parkland, Florida, high school massacre.
⭐️ GAGV wins a major victory on behalf of Mexico in its lawsuit against five gun dealers in Arizona. In the first federal court ruling of its kind, the district court judge orders the defendants to produce significant records in the case, rejecting the gun dealers’ arguments that a 2003 Congressional appropriations rider called the Tiahrt Amendment prohibits such information from being disclosed.
GAGV’s Jon Lowy speaks as a panelist in the discussion, “U.S. Border: Understanding the Guns and Immigration Link in 2025,” sponsored by the Forum on Arms Trade.
GAGV files Mexico’s brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Smith & Wesson, the first gun industry liability case to be considered by the Court.
2024
⭐️ GAGV’s Jon Lowy and Mexico’s lawsuits against the gun industry are the stars of a 60 Minutes segment, “The Iron River: Mexico’s legal battle against the U.S. gun industry.” The segment is watched by an estimated 8.74 million, more than any other media segment on the gun industry’s role in contributing to gun violence.
⭐️ GAGV’s Jon Lowy testifies before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the impact of gun violence on human rights in the United States. Testimony led off with a screening of the Lawsuit for Survival video.
The United States Supreme Court announces that it will review an appeals court decision that allowed Mexico’s lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers to proceed. This will be the first time the Supreme Court has ever considered any issue concerning gun company liability.
GAGV’s Jon Lowy speaks to law students and faculty about the global approach to gun violence at Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville, Tennessee.
Year 2
⭐️ GAGV continues to engage in discovery in Mexico’s landmark lawsuit against five gun dealers in Arizona. The lawsuit is the first brought by a sovereign nation against gun dealers and is part of GAGV’s legal strategy to stop gun trafficking to Mexico at its gun industry source.
Indiana judge rules that state law intended to dismiss the City of Gary’s decades-long lawsuit against gun manufacturers is unconstitutional, allowing case to proceed. GAGV is co-counsel with Brady, Perkins Coie, and other counsel in the case.
GAGV, as co-counsel for Mexico, files a brief in U.S. Supreme Court in opposition to several gun manufacturers’ petition for review of GAGV’s monumental victory in Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Smith & Wesson Brands Inc., et al., the first lawsuit ever brought by a sovereign nation against members of the gun industry. The Court is reviewing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit’s unanimous ruling that Mexico’s lawsuit was not barred by the U.S. federal gun industry protection law, PLCAA, reversing the trial court’s dismissal.
⭐️ GAGV files the first amicus brief in U.S. Supreme Court that argues that U.S. gun policy causes harm to other nations, and those international effects should be considered. The brief, in Garland v. Vanderstok, argued that ATF has the statutory authority to regulate ghost guns, and that excluding ghost guns from the firearms that the ATF can regulate will have immense negative consequences in the U.S. and abroad and will harm the U.S.’s global standing. The Court later agrees that ATF’s ghost gun regulation should be upheld.
⭐️ In response to the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the ban on domestic abusers from possessing firearms, GAGV repeats its call to overturn the Bruen decision, saying, “The Second Amendment madness must end.”
GAGV registers as a foreign agent for the Government of the Bahamas to assist on measures to prevent gun trafficking and gun violence.
GAGV Founder Jon Lowy speaks on a panel discussion on philanthropy and gun violence prevention at the Milken Institute 2024 Global Conference in Los Angeles, California.
⭐️ The Wall Street Journal highlights Mexico’s lawsuits against the gun industry and quotes Jon Lowy in an article, “Legal Shield for the Gun Industry Is Starting to Crack” (paywall).
⭐️ In a groundbreaking legal victory, a federal trial court in Arizona rules that the Government of Mexico can proceed in its landmark lawsuit against five gun dealers in that state. GAGV is co-counsel for Mexico.
⭐️ GAGV’s Jon Lowy delivers the keynote address at the George Washington International Law Review Symposium, “A World Under Fire: Examining the Global Impact of Gun Trafficking and Violence,” at the George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C.
GAGV discusses the Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Smith & Wesson, et al., appellate court decision at the Consortium of Universities for Global Health annual conference in Los Angeles.
⭐️ U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) opens a GAGV briefing on the Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Smith & Wesson, et al., decision.
GAGV participates in an international webinar on the Smith & Wesson decision. The event is organized by the Forum on the Arms Trade and the Asser Institute for International and European Law.
⭐️ In Mexico City, GAGV meets with representatives of the two leading candidates for President of Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico to encourage them to keep the pressure on the U.S. gun industry if elected.
GAGV speaks at the Hope & Heal Fund’s historic first annual Latino Leadership Convening on Gun Violence in Los Angeles, California.
⭐️ GAGV argues on behalf of Mexico against dismissal of Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Diamondback Shooting Sports, Inc., et al., in Arizona federal court in Tuscon. This is the first hearing in the first lawsuit by a sovereign nation against gun dealers.
⭐️ Newsweek publishes GAGV’s op-ed, “Mexico May Save Us From Our Own Crazy Gun Laws.”
⭐️ GAGV participates in a Wilton Park conference with members of the arms industry and peace advocates in the United Kingdom on the role of industry in the Arms Trade Treaty.
2023
⭐️ GAGV submits a report to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the “impact of arms transfers, including the diversion of arms and unregulated or illicit arms transfers, on the enjoyment of human rights, with a focus on the role of access to information in preventing, mitigating and responding to the negative human rights impact thereof.”
⭐️ GAGV and the Civil and Human Rights Clinic at George Washington University Law School testify before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in Costa Rica on gun industry practices and weak U.S. gun laws that contribute to violence and human rights violations in the Americas.
⭐️ GAGV files the Lawsuit for Survival against the United States in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Filed on behalf of Manny and Patricia Oliver and their son Joaquin, who died in the 2018 Parkland, FL, school massacre, the suit claims that the U.S. failed to protect people’s right to live free from gunfire and asks the IACHR to pressure the U.S. to strengthen its gun laws.
Year 1
GAGV files a brief in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Gustafson v. Springfield Armory, which reviews the first appellate decision to find the U.S. gun industry protection law (PLCAA) unconstitutional. GAGV is lead counsel.
⭐️ GAGV files a brief in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in support of Mexico’s request for an opinion on human rights implications of gun industry practices
GAGV files the first amicus brief by a major gun violence prevention group in the U.S. Supreme Court to argue that its pro-gun decisions in Heller and Bruen should be reversed.
GAGV files an amicus brief in support of activist John Lindsay Poland’s lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for their refusal to release data on U.S. guns recovered in Mexico and Central America.
GAGV argues Mexico’s appeal of Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Smith & Wesson Brands Inc., et al. in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston, Massachusetts.
⭐️ GAGV, Mexico, and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime host a side event in Geneva, Switzerland, on gun industry’ practices as a human rights concern at the 53rd session of the U.N. Human Rights Council.
GAGV participates in a webinar on “Taking the Profit out of Illicit Trafficking of Firearms in Latin America and the Caribbean,” sponsored by the University of the West Indies’ Institute of International Relations, the Caribbean Policy Consortium, and the Criminal Justice Section of the American Bar Association.
⭐️ The Hill publishes GAGV’s op-ed, “Hey, SCOTUS — the right to life trumps the right to own a gun.”
⭐️ The UN High Commission on Human Rights releases its report on “Human rights and the regulation of civilian acquisition, possession and use of firearms,” which draws on GAGV’s input submitted in February. The report marks the first time that the UN addressed the gun industry’s complicity in fueling violence around the world.
GAGV receives its tax-exempt status as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
⭐️ GAGV testifies at a special meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C. on human rights and the role of arms companies.
⭐️ Newsweek publishes GAGV’s op-ed, “Awash in U.S. Guns and Gun Violence, Caribbean Leaders Are Fighting Back.”
⭐️ GAGV participates in a Constructive Dialogue on Firearms held by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna, Austria.
GAGV participates in a seminar on “Transnational Litigation and Corporate Accountability,” sponsored by the University of Arizona and the government of Mexico.
GAGV speaks at a conference sponsored by the Center for American Progress on “Guns Without Borders: Addressing the flow of U.S. firearms to Mexico and Central America’” in Washington, D.C.
⭐️ GAGV participates in the Caribbean Community regional symposium on “Violence as a Public Health Issue – The Crime Challenge” in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
⭐️ The Washington Post publishes GAGV’s op-ed, “How to stop the Mexican cartels? Stop supplying them with guns.”
⭐️ GAGV speaks at the 23rd meeting of the consultative committee of CIFTA in Washington, D.C. CIFTA is an international firearms control treaty adopted by the Organization of American States in 1997.
⭐️ GAGV launches its periodic newsletter, The Call to Global Action.
GAGV files an appeal brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Mexico’s lawsuit against gun manufacturers. Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Smith & Wesson Brands Inc., et al.
GAGV participates in international delegations in Guerrero and Mexico City, Mexico investigating arms trafficking from the U.S., with a briefing with officials and a Peace Summit.
⭐️ GAGV files a report with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on human rights and the regulation of civilian firearms.
2022
⭐️ The Miami Herald publishes GAGV’s first op-ed, “U.S. failure to reign in guns, manufacturers fueling an international crisis.”
GAGV speaks at a conference on “The Business of Lethality: Arms Trafficking to Mexico,” in Mexico City, Mexico. Read more about it.
⭐️ GAGV announces its founding and debuts its website, www.actiononguns.org
⭐️ GAGV testifies at a public hearing on human rights and arms production and trade companies in the Americas at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C., as part of its 185th Session.
⭐️ GAGV and its new strategy is profiled extensively in national and international media, including Politico, Time (Oct. 25), and Courthouse News (Nov. 3).
⭐️ GAGV files Estados Unidos Mexicanos v. Diamondback Shooting Sports, Inc., et al., the first RICO lawsuit ever against gun companies and first lawsuit by a sovereign nation against gun dealers in federal court in Arizona.
GAGV files as registered foreign agent for the Government of Mexico, to assist in Mexico’s anti-gun trafficking efforts.
⭐️ GAGV founder and president Jonathan Lowy files Articles of Incorporation for Global Action on Gun Violence.