David Lamb ’24 and Prof. Megan Walsh Testify in Support of Domestic Violence Bill

In January of 2023, the Gun Violence Prevention Clinic began researching systemic issues that result in domestic violence (DV) abusers illegally retaining firearms. The Clinic interviewed dozens of stakeholders and DV researchers to illuminate the flaws in the state’s existing processes for separating offenders as well as those under DV restraining from their guns. After the Clinic presented its findings to Minnesota’s Department of Public Safety, members of the Minnesota House drafted a bill, HF 4387, that seeks to address the problems that the Clinic uncovered. The bill would establish a task force to study the flaws in the implementation of Minnesota’s domestic violence-related gun surrender laws. 

On April 12, 2024, David Lamb ’24, student director of the Clinic’s domestic violence prevention team, and GVP clinic director Megan Walsh, visiting assistant professor of law, testified before the Minnesota Senate’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety. Their testimony drew from the research of other current and former members of the domestic violence prevention team, including Leigh Crews ’24, Rose Lewis ’25, and Emily Byers Olson ’25. Lamb and Walsh advocated for the Senate to adopt a task force in its counterpart to the House bill. “Three decades ago, Minnesota legislators passed the first laws in the state requiring abusers to give up their guns,” Lamb said. “It was a promise that Minnesota would use its power to protect domestic violence survivors. The time has come to fulfill that promise.”