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Symposium

Minnesota Law Review and Giffords Law Center are excited to present the Fall 2023 Symposium, Aiming for Answers: Balancing Rights, Safety, and Justice in a Post-Bruen America.

Through a multidisciplinary framework, this Symposium will focus on how lawyers, scholars, and historians can work within the NYSRPA v. Bruen framework to address gun violence across our country and dismantle inequities that persist within our current regulation regimes.

With speakers and panelists ranging from scholars and litigators to historians and public health experts, the Minnesota Law Review and Giffords Law Center hope to present a balanced scholarly discussion on these issues with a focus on workable solutions that save lives.

 

The Symposium will take place on October 27, 2023 at the University of Minnesota Law School, located at 229 S. 19th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55454.

Complete the RSVP form to confirm attendance today, and please contact Chad Nowlan, MLR’s Symposium Articles Editor, at nowla020@umn.edu, if you have any questions!

Schedule:

Registration & Breakfast | 8:00 – 8:30 AM
Opening Remarks | 8:30 – 8:45 AM
Panel #1 – Race and the Disparate Impact of Gun Law Enforcement, Historically and Today | 9:00 – 10:15 AM

It is indisputable that firearm regulations have been disproportionately applied to racial minorities across the country. This problem persists in all settings, whether it be rural, suburban, or urban, and no conversation about gun violence prevention can proceed without first understanding these dynamics. In this panel, litigators, historians, and professors will discuss how racial biases have impacted the enforcement of firearm regulation violations and what steps individuals working in this field can take to ensure that the fight to end gun violence includes ending the skewed enforcement of laws meant to protect our communities from gun violence.

Panel #2 – Bruen, A Year in Review | 10:30 – 11:45 AM

The decision in New York State Rifle & Association v. Bruen was handed down from the United States Supreme Court on June 23, 2022. In the year and a half since then, courts around the country have grappled with the ramifications of the radical alteration of Second Amendment jurisprudence. In this panel, professors & litigators will discuss what struggles have appeared in lower courts when litigating firearms issues since the Bruen decision and what the outlook moving forward may be.

Lunch | 11:45 – 12:15 PM
Keynote | 12:15 – 1:30 PM
Panel #3 – Gun Violence, Domestic Violence, & Rahimi | 1:45 – 3:00 PM

As of 2023, over 4.5 million women in the United States have reported being threatened with a gun by an intimate partner. While laws at both the state and federal level attempt to address this through domestic violence protective orders, the constitutionality of these laws is being questioned by courts across the country. The Supreme Court will be hearing a case on this topic, United States v. Rahimi, on November 7th of this year. These panelists all have backgrounds in the nexus between domestic violence and gun violence, and they will discuss how Rahimi may re-shape the way we approach these issues moving forward.

Breakout Sessions | 3:15 – 4:30 PM
Panel #5 – Non-Carceral Solutions to Gun Violence | 4:45 – 6:00 PM

As America continues to battle against gun violence, it must also reckon with the fact that incarceration cannot be the go-to solution for addressing all gun-related harm. On this panel, scholars and practitioners will discuss non-carceral solutions to gun violence, including alternative policy solutions, public health approaches to gun violence prevention, community-based violence intervention programs, along with practices that can improve equity in enforcement of criminal gun laws.

Closing Remarks | 6:00 – 6:15 PM
Reception | 6:15 – 9:00 PM

CLE Credits:

For those that are interested in obtaining CLE credit for attending the symposium, the Minnesota Board of Continuing Legal Education has approved the event for a total of 6.75 credits. Registration and in-person attendance are required in order to be eligible for CLE credit.