Attorney General Andrea Campbell formally launched her office's new Gun Violence Prevention Unit on Thursday morning and tabbed a Massachusetts native who has worked on gun safety litigation across the country to lead it.
The new unit, which Campbell said in February that she would create, will officially be charged with "enforcing the Commonwealth's gun and consumer protection laws, working to ensure that Massachusetts has the strongest, most comprehensive commonsense firearm laws in the country, supporting the defense of commonsense gun laws from legal challenge and supporting law enforcement and community-based gun violence prevention work to help reduce gun deaths and shootings across the Commonwealth," the AG's office said.
Christine Doktor is Campbell's pick to work as inaugural director of the GVPU, hiring her away from a role as managing attorney for Everytown Law, which says it is "dedicated to advancing gun safety in the courts and through the civil and criminal justice systems." The Bay State native graduated from Columbia Law School and previously worked as a civil litigator for the firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges. She will be based out of Campbell's Springfield regional office.
"The unit’s mission is deeply critical during the current climate of increased gun violence and nationwide attacks on gun safety laws," Doktor said. "Despite having some of the strongest gun safety laws in the country and the lowest rate of gun violence in America, over 800 adults and children are shot and wounded or killed in Massachusetts on average each year. As the Director of the new GVPU, I am eager to continue my work in this field, leverage my expertise, and implement AG Campbell’s commitment to the life-saving work of reducing gun deaths and shootings here in my home-state."
The attorney general also selected a former assistant district attorney and chief of the Major Felony Bureau at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, Ryan Mingo, as deputy director of the GVPU.
Gun laws figure to be a central point of emphasis for the Legislature next spring and summer. The House last month passed a controversial gun law reform bill and the Senate is developing its own firearms legislation for debate in 2024. Campbell's office has been pushing for lawmakers to crack down on untraceable ghost guns (which the House bill does) and said the new GVPU will continue to lobby for a bill (S 1560) that Campbell co-sponsored with Sen. Michael Moore to prohibit the purchase, possession or use of silencers by amending the state law definition of "silencer" to mirror the definition in federal law.
