Q & A with Comm2A

Everything you always wanted to know (but were afraid to ask) about litigating 2nd Amendment rights in the Commonwealth.

So, with the lull in the action as we wait for a decision in Fletcher and Hightower while prepping for our next case (yes, we are prepping for our next case and more than a few will like it ). I figured I would post up an opportunity to get to know more about what Comm2A is all about. Ask a question and Brent, Rob or myself will attempt to answer it. Here are a few that I figure more than a few folks are curious about. More importantly, we will be turning this into a FAQ on our website. We actually rely on crowd sourcing more than most would imagine.

How many people are affiliated with Comm2A?
5 Board members. 3 of whom have executive duties. There are a handful of trusted volunteers that have helped us over the last year. Sara Vail with our graphics is a notable one. Others wish to remain anonymous for various reasons and we respect that.

How much time do you spend on Comm2A related activities?
Between the three of us about 40-50 hours a week. Rob does the books, Brent does outreach and management. I do intake and legal research, managing the lawyer relationships and shepherding criminal cases. All three of us split the duties of civil case management with individual cases belonging to one or more of us. Fletcher was Brent's case for instance.

Do you have titles?
No. But if you pushed us, Brent would be executive director, Rob would be educational director and treasurer while I would be the legal affairs director. But I also co-man the twitter and Facebook duty with Brent and Rob turns his industry contacts into actionable support so you can see we really are a team operation.

Do you all take salary's?
No, we do not. We are purely volunteer now and for the foreseeable future. As we mature as an organization this may change, but it won't happen soon.

How many cases are you working on?
5 criminal cases are on our radar, one is Stan Sokolowski, three others are §131L violations and one is a 4th Amendment case in appeals. More will come as we become more well known amongst the legal community.

As for civil cases, we have the two you know about (Fletcher and Hightower), two that got aborted in late stages of development because of various reasons (one was in a state other than MA and we had the complaint drafted!) and an infinite number in development. However, of the ones in development, there are about 3-4 that could be filed within the next year.

How long does it take to get a case from plaintiff to filing a complaint?
A LONG time. It took the fletcher case 2 years to get filed. From the point of having funding and plaintiffs, it still took 6 months. The legal process is slow. We hope to be able to move faster as we mature as an organization but the reality is, the delays are not all our doing.

Why don't you take x case today?
Because of any number of reasons. Typically the reasons range from lack of plaintiffs, lack of funds, preexisting cases here and elsewhere and lack of good case law needed to develop better case law here. We will take cases in the order of what case law provides us, not necessarily the order which the folks here are most effected. The latter approach works for lobbyists, not litigators. It's frustrating but we are playing a strategic game and the way to win is to win incrementally building on previous wins.

What do you mean, preexisting cases here and elsewhere?
Example: Hightower is holding us up from moving on any number of licensing issues. This is because Hightower deals with discretionary licensing. Once that part is dealt with, the variants of problems we deal with daily can be dealt with. Until then, if we were to file a case against x town for licensing BS, it would get held up pending the outcome in Hightower. So why bother filing it... Another example is the EOPSS list. Calguns is litigating the very same list and requirements in CA. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. We need to improve on the wheel by making it stronger, more flexible and longer lasting. So at some point we will file a case against the list leveraging what they are doing there as seed. We will improve on their case and hopefully we will either force a circuit split or compel SCOTUS to hear our case.

Do you plan on lobbying?
NO! That is GOAL's job and they do a good job of it. MA needs litigators and lobbyists. By the necessities of our tax free charters, one can't do what the other does. It is a very symbiotic relationship. We respect each other's jobs and give each other the space needed to accomplish those jobs.

What is the status of your §501(c)(3)?
Good question. Brent is working regularly with the IRS to get this finalized. They are trying to make sure we aren't scamming the system and we get that. But as a result, it is taking a little while to get it finalized.

If a person comes to you for help how much can they expect to pay?
If we take their civil case? Nothing really. Maybe a few bucks for parking their car at the courthouse, but we cover the costs of the lawyer and court fees.

On the criminal side it varies based on need, strategic value, etc. It could be zero all the way to all of it. We always help with case law and legal research and making sure their attorney has access to other talented attorneys in the field.

Do you have members?
No, we are donation driven. We made the decision given that we expected to be fully volunteer to not have membership in order to allow us to focus on our core mission and to not have "members" desiring newsletters and other member benefits which would pull us away from our core mission.


Post up your questions and we would be happy to answer them if we can.

Originally Posted by mike01824

I am currently not a member, but this post has inspired me to pay up. First thing I'll do when I get home after work. Thanks for the hard work.

This brings up another question:

Do you have members?
No, we are donation driven. We made the decision given that we expected to be fully volunteer to not have membership in order to allow us to focus on our core mission and to not have "members" desiring newsletters and other member benefits which would pull us away from our core mission.

We take donations so thank you for your donation this afternoon.