Douglas Letter ’75

F

our years ago, Douglas Letter ’75 was at a crossroads. He had spent 44 years in public service in the Department of Justice, followed by a stint as general counsel for the House of Representatives under Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which included playing key roles in two impeachment trials and being caught in the House chamber during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Letter was considering teaching at a law school when he heard that Brady: United Against Gun Violence was looking for a new chief legal officer. He had learned to shoot while growing up, but only for sport; Letter knew that gun usage today was an entirely different issue. He thought about a conversation he had with his daughter, and how scared she was to send her children to preschool for fear of getting the phone call no parent wants.

“I realized that I could maybe do something about this,” Letter says. “I took the job because of my grandchildren.”

Now head of Brady’s legal arm, Letter supports efforts to prevent gun violence through the judicial system and state legislatures. By representing families, survivors and public entities in court, Brady helps strengthen arguments in an array of cases, e.g., lawsuits against businesses that contribute to gun violence (like manufacturers and dealers) and challenges to insufficiently restrictive laws.

“We’re very active in a number of progressive states passing and defending gun violence prevention legislation,” Letter says. “And we do all of this work for free.”

Letter says he is especially proud of his efforts to bring different causes together on the issue. He worked with domestic violence groups on the Supreme Court case U.S. v. Rahimi, which struck down a precedent that would have made it possible for convicted domestic abusers to possess firearms. The groups shared stories from survivors in court, which helped convey the danger these situations pose to women and children.

While the outrage following a mass shooting can spur action, Letter says that this kind of everyday gun violence, which doesn’t typically make the news, is what particularly needs attention and advocacy.

“These are often not big headline cases; it’s like ‘Girlfriend Shot’ or ‘Child Shot and Killed’ … I just cannot for the life of me understand why there isn’t more concern about this,” he says.

— Emily Driehaus