Massad Ayoob has been handgun editor of GUNS magazine and law enforcement columnist for AMERICAN HANDGUNNER since the 1970s, and has published thousands of articles in gun magazines, martial arts publications, and law enforcement journals. He is the author of some twenty books on firearms, self-defense, and related topics, including “In the Gravest Extreme” and “Deadly Force,” widely considered to be authoritative texts on the topic of the use of lethal force.
The winner of the Outstanding American Handgunner of the Year Award in 1998, Mas has won several state and regional handgun shooting championships. Ayoob was the first person to earn the title of Five Gun Master in the International Defensive Pistol Association. He served 19 years as chair of the Firearms Committee of the American
Society of Law Enforcement Trainers, and several years as a member of the Advisory Board of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association. In addition to teaching for those groups, he has also taught for the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors and the International Homicide Investigators seminars.
Mas has received judicial recognition as an expert witness for the courts in weapons and shooting cases since 1979, and served as a fully sworn and empowered, part time police officer for 43 years, mostly at supervisor rank. Ayoob founded the Lethal Force Institute in 1981 and served as its director until 2009, and now trains through Massad Ayoob Group. He has appeared on CLE-TV delivering continuing legal education for attorneys, through the American Law Institute and American Bar Association, and has been retained to train attorneys to handle deadly force cases through the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network. Ayoob served for two years as co-vice chair of the Forensic Evidence Committee of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He also appeared in each episode of Personal Defense TV (Sportsman’s Channel).
Mas has served for decades on SAF’s Board of Trustees, and in September 2020 was named President of the Second Amendment Foundation.

Chris Boeck is the General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer at Silencer Shop, the nation’s largest NFA firearm distributor. With a network of thousands of Powered By Silencer Shop dealers nationwide, and thousands of fingerprint kiosks across the country, Silencer Shop helps both consumers and dealers navigate the complex regulatory and bureaucratic obstacles to purchasing NFA firearms like silencers and SBRs. Silencer Shop is one of the industry’s strongest supporters of Second Amendment rights and is currently co-funding a lawsuit in Illinois federal court, along with the American Suppressor Association, to challenge the state’s firearm silencer ban. Prior to joining Silencer Shop, Chris Boeck was a partner at Locke Lord LLP, an AMLAW 100 law firm, where he focused on providing commercial and regulatory guidance to clients in the firearms industry. Mr. Boeck is a Director with the American Suppressor Association Foundation and a Director with the Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition (FRAC). He graduated with Honors from The University of Texas School of Law after receiving his undergraduate degree in criminal justice, Summa Cum Laude with top-tier University Honors.

John Dillon developed a robust firearms law practice while associated with Gatzke, Dillon & Ballance LLP. In 2020, John formed the Dillon Law Group APC and acts as the firm’s principal attorney. John’s current practice covers a broad range of firearms-related matters including constitutional law and civil rights matters and firearms litigation arising under the Second Amendment in federal and state courts. John has worked on a number of Second Amendment cases challenging unconstitutional state bans that include assault weapons bans, age restrictions on gun purchases, home-built firearms regulations, COVID gun shop closures, and state and federal bans on switchblades. Additional firearms-related practice areas encompass: • Firearms regulation and compliance • Licensing regulation and compliance • Gun rights restoration; and • 5150 Involuntary Holds and GVRO/Red Flag Order, and gun rights restoration; John is a certified firearms specialist in the operation and classification of firearms, ammunition, National Firearms Act weapons, other weapons, curio and relics, and various other complex firearm and munitions categories. John also appears regularly as a special guest host of the popular radio show, “Gun Sports Radio,” on AM 1170 The Answer San Diego – KCBQ. John received his J.D. from Loyola Law School of Los Angeles in 2013. He is currently admitted to the State Bar of California, California Supreme Court, U.S. District Courts of California for the Southern, Central, Eastern, and Northern Districts, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and Eighth Circuit. John obtained his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Chad Flores is an appellate specialist handling civil litigation and government controversies. Headquartered in Texas, his firm supplies appellate expertise and manages complex litigation across the country. Chad founded his firm after specializing in appeals for over a decade at Beck Redden LLP, where he was a partner in the appellate section. He has been Board Certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization since 2012. Before entering private practice, Chad clerked on both the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the Supreme Court of Texas.

Kenyon Gleason is the president and secretary of the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers (NASGW), headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa. He joined NASGW in January of 2015.
NASGW is a trade association comprised of wholesalers, manufacturers, independent sales reps, media and service providers – both national and international – primarily focused on
shooting sports equipment and accessories. He is currently a board member for the American Suppressor Association (ASA) and board member for Walk the Talk America (WTTA). He is a former board member for the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) in Washington, D.C.
Prior to taking over at NASGW, he was the VP of development and field operations for the
American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) in Washington, D.C. Gleason has also been an active participant in the political arena, serving as a campaign advisor and coalition director for U.S. House and Senate races. He was himself elected to an at-large seat on the Sioux Falls (S.D.) City Council from 2000-2004. Gleason has over 30 years of media, communications, marketing, public and government relations experience in a variety of industries including healthcare, education, transportation, agriculture and the shooting sports. A North Dakota native, he is a graduate of St. Cloud State University in Minnesota with a degree in communications. He’s the owner of Connect Consulting, LLC, a business and association management service provider. He and his wife live in Topeka, Kansas, and are the proud parents of five grown sons.

Alan M. Gottlieb is Chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) and Founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, the two groups that co-operate to organize the annual Gun Rights Policy Conference. He is also the author or co-author of numerous books including Dancing In Blood: Exposing the Gun Lobby to Destroy Your Rights, Politically Correct Guns, The Gun Rights Fact Book, The Gun Grabbers, Things You Can Do to Defend Your Gun Rights, Gun Rights Affirmed and Black and Blue. He is also co-author (with Dave Workman) of Shooting Blanks: The Democrats War Against Guns, America Fights Back: Armed Self-Defense in a Violent Age, These Dogs Don’t Hunt: The Democrats’ War On Guns, Assault on Weapons: The Campaign to Eliminate Your Guns, Shooting Blanks: Facts Don’t Matter to the Gun Control Crowd, Right to Carry: A Cop Is Too Heavy and Good Guys with Guns.. Alan has published articles in the San Francisco Examiner, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and USA Today. Mr. Gottlieb has appeared on over 8,500 TV and radio talk shows.

Joseph Greenlee is the Director of the Office of Litigation Counsel at the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action. He is also a Research Associate at the Independence Institute and a Policy Advisor for Legal Affairs at the Heartland Institute. Greenlee has worked on more than 100 constitutional law cases (representing a party or amicus curiae) and has filed more than 30 briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court. Greenlee has published 15 scholarly articles on the right to keep and bear arms. He has been cited in over 100 cases, including five United States Supreme Court cases—NYSRPA v. NYC, Chiafalo v. Washington, NYSRPA v. Bruen, Garland v. Cargill, U.S. v. Rahimi—as well as decisions by five federal circuit courts of appeals, over thirty district courts, the highest courts of six states and Puerto Rico, and three state appellate courts. Greenlee has also authored dozens of short articles on the right to keep and bear arms, which have appeared in The Hill, Washington Post, Washington Times, and SCOTUSblog, among others.

Donald Kilmer is admitted to practice law in Idaho (where he now lives), Washington, and California. He is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and all U.S. District Courts located in California. He is co-author of the law school casebook: Firearms Law and the Second Amendment: Regulation, Rights, and Policy, 3rd Ed. He is a professor of Constitutional Law at Lincoln Law School of San Jose. He has been litigating constitutional law (primarily 2nd Amendment) cases for more than 25 years. He is proud to have been affiliated with the Second Amendment Foundation for more than 20 of those years.

Adam Kraut is the Second Amendment Foundation’s Executive Director. He brings almost a decade of experience in the Second Amendment realm as a litigator and educator. Throughout his career, Kraut has represented individuals, companies, and institutional plaintiffs in state and federal litigation and regulatory matters. In addition to his legal background, Kraut draws management experience from his time in the non-profit world, where he was responsible for overseeing the programmatic functions of a liberty-based non-profit, which concentrated on Second Amendment issues. He also managed a federal firearms licensee. Kraut comes with a variety of media experience, having written for publications such as Recoil magazine, Recoil Web, and other online publications, writing and hosting a YouTube series, hosting and appearing as guest on multiple podcasts, and appearing on television.

D. “Chuck” Michel is Senior Partner at Michel & Associates, P.C. in Long Beach, California. His work focuses on litigation and regulatory compliance advice on firearms law, civil rights, land use, and environmental law. For over two decades, Chuck has advocated for individual civil and constitutional rights, particularly Second Amendment rights. He has crafted some of the most important legal challenges to legislation that infringes on rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Mr. Michel has represented many of the most prominent shooting sports and self-defense civil rights associations, including the National Rifle Association, California Rifle & Pistol Association, Second Amendment Law Center, Second Amendment Foundation, Gun Owners of America, and Gun Owners of California. He is a regular commentator and frequent contributor to national media discussions and has appeared in dozens of video and radio interviews and thousands of newspaper articles. Mr. Michel taught Firearms Law and Law Practice Management as an adjunct professor at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law. He is the author of the book California Gun Laws – A Guide to State and Federal Firearm Regulations. Mr. Michel began his career as a judicial clerk with U.S. District Court Judge William J. Rea in Los Angeles. He worked as a criminal prosecutor for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office as well as for several Southern California cities, and as an advocate with the Los Angeles Federal Public Defender’s office. Mr. Michel also practiced as an attorney at the renowned international law firm of O’Melveny & Myers, LLP.

Mr. Moros is an accomplished attorney specializing in general civil litigation at Michel & Associates. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of California, San Diego in 2011, followed by his Juris Doctorate from California Western School of Law in 2014. At Michel & Associates, he has contributed to several high-profile victories for gun rights litigants, including cases vindicating the right to carry, others affecting the types of firearms Californians can purchase and possess, and even one that stopped California from blocking access to the courts for Second Amendment claims. Mr. Moros has also helped draft several amicus briefs at the appellate and Supreme Court levels. Aside from litigation, he has also written numerous articles about the Second Amendment and gun culture generally. He recently co-authored a law review article focused on the anti-tyranny roots and history of the Second Amendment. See Michel, C.D. and Moros, Konstadinos (2024) “Restrictions “Our Ancestors Would Never Have Accepted”: The Historical Case Against Assault Weapon Bans,” Wyoming Law Review: Vol. 24: No. 1, Article 3.

Representative Rebecca Schmoe began her public endeavor to educate and empower gun owners over a decade ago by advocating for our constitutionally protected inherent rights at both the state and national level. Today she co-manages 1 Million Moms Against Gun Control, the original voice of opposition to the red shirt wearing, Bloomberg funded, nag-tavists, alongside Mary Callison. She has worked extensively with Women for Gun Rights, serving as the Kansas Director when she was elected to public office, and continues to keep them engaged with opportunities to meet and discuss gun rights with their legislators and leadership in the statehouse. Rebecca co-hosted the To The Republic Podcast with Timothy Knight. She continues to support and volunteer her time and talent with multiple liberty-focused organizations, and engages in public speaking engagements across the nation promoting individual liberty and personal responsibility. She does all of this while working full time in the private sector, raising a family, and serving her community in the Kansas Legislature as the House Representative for District 59.

Professor Mark W. Smith is a constitutional lawyer and the producer and hosts of the popular The Four Boxes Diner YouTube Channel, which addresses Second Amendment scholarship, history, and legal issues. Mark is a New York Times bestselling author who frequently appears on the Fox News Channel. His books including DISARMED: What the Ukraine War Teaches Americans about the Right to Bear Arms; First They Came for the Gun Owners; and Duped: How the Anti-gun Lobby Exploits the Parkland School Shooting. Mark has spoken at some of the world’s most famous universities including Princeton University, the Harvard Law School, the Yale Law School, the U. Penn Warton School of Business and the Columbia Law School. Mark is a Visiting Fellow in Pharmaceutical Public Policy and Law in the Department of Pharmacology, Oxford University (England); Presidential Scholar and Senior Fellow in Law and Public Policy, The King’s College; Distinguished Scholar and Senior Fellow of Law and Public Policy, Ave Maria School of Law.

Bryan Strawser is Chairman of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus. In this role, Mr. Strawser leads the governance and strategic direction of the organization. Mr. Strawser also performs the same role for our connected political fund, the Minnesota Gun Owners Political Action Committee, and our aligned 501(c)(3) organization, the Minnesota Gun Owners Support Fund. This is a volunteer position.
In this day job, Bryan is a globally recognized crisis management, business continuity, & crisis communications consultant with more than twenty-five years of experience. He currently serves as Principal & Chief Executive of a strategic advisory firm based in Minneapolis.
Bryan holds a B.S. in Criminal Justice Administration from the University of Phoenix and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. In July 2023, Bryan was awarded a Master of Arts in International Relations & Contemporary War and the Associateship of King’s College (AKC) from King’s College, London. He is a graduate of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative Program at Harvard University’s JFK School of Government. He is presently a PhD student at Hamline University.

Tom Taylor is currently the Executive Vice President, Global Brand Development at SIG SAUER. In this role, Taylor leads global brand and marketing initiatives and serves the company for all firearm industry governance. Since 2015, and throughout most of his tenure, Taylor served as Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President, Commercial Sales for all SIG divisions including firearms, optics, ammunition, suppressors, airguns and training. Prior to joining SIG SAUER, Taylor was Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Mossberg from 2010 – 2015. He spent 5 years at Smith & Wesson as Vice President, Marketing and Product Development from 2004 – 2009. During his tenure at Smith & Wesson, he led the development and introduction of the now iconic Military & Police (M&P) pistol and rifle lines. Also in the firearm industry, Taylor spent time at Remington/Freedom Group where he served as Senior Vice President overseeing several special projects. Prior to joining the outdoor industry, he had executive experience with The Coca Cola Company where he worked for more than two decades in various areas, including senior management positions in sales and marketing. He also served in senior management positions at Frito-Lay for 3 years. Taylor is an industry activist and board member supporting shooting sports, hunting, and advocacy for the 2nd Amendment. In 2007, Taylor was part of a small group that founded Honored American Veterans Afield (HAVA) where he still serves on a volunteer basis as Chairman and Executive Director. HAVA is a 501(c)3 organization formed by companies in the shooting and outdoor industry with the purpose of raising awareness and supporting disabled veterans with their healing process through guided hunts, shooting events and other outdoor sports activities. HAVA has served over 20,000 disabled veterans and was awarded the U.S. Department of Defense “Spirit of Hope Award” in 2018. He is personally passionate about veteran support, shooting sports and hunting.

Julianne Hoy Versnel is the former director of operations for the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to keep and Bear Arms. She represents SAF on the Executive Committee of the World Forum on Shooting Activities. She is the first woman to be elected to a leadership position in that organization, Chairwoman of the Image Committee. She is active in the international arena at the United Nations, ATT and other NGO meetings reminding disparate governmental representatives that there is a civil and natural right to self-defense. She is a founding officer of the International Association for the Protection of Civilian Arms Rights (IAPCAR). She serves as publisher of The Journal on Firearms and Public Policy. She is the editor and author of Shooting Sports Survey, and Collision Course and Shooting Sports Survey II to be released in 2024 and 2025.

Michael serves as General Counsel of the American Cornerstone Institute and the American Suppressor Association, and is Co-Founder of The Cylinder. Previously, Michael worked at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), where he served two years as an attorney in the Office of General Counsel and focused on federal budget and regulatory matters. He transitioned to the West Wing in March of 2019, where he served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Counselor to White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. During his time in the West Wing, Michael advised the Chief of Staff and the President on numerous matters, and served as the top White House policy advisor on Second Amendment issues. Michael left the West Wing in July of 2020 to serve as Acting General Counsel at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where he advised Secretary Carson and other HUD executives on matters of law, and helped lead the charge to repeal a regulation in under two weeks. In that capacity he also served as HUD’s chief Ethics Official.
Michael is a graduate of Emory University, where he earned his Master’s and Bachelor’s Degrees in History, and the George Washington University School of Law.