Gibson Dunn Team Secures Important Victory Successfully Defending Texas “Sensitive Places” Gun Law
Firm News | March 27, 2026
A Gibson Dunn team led by Houston partner and former federal judge Gregg Costa has secured an important victory in a Second Amendment case in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, successfully defending a Texas “sensitive places” gun law.
In May 2025, a federal judge in the Northern District of Texas appointed Gregg and SMU law professor Eric Ruben as amici curiae to defend the constitutionality of Texas’s ban on guns at bars and restaurants, racetracks, stadiums, and interscholastic and sporting events after the Texas Attorney General refused to defend the law in response to a challenge from California-based plaintiffs. In September 2025, the Gibson Dunn team and Professor Ruben filed an amicus brief that drew on deep research into Texas and American firearms regulation.
On March 24, 2026, relying on the research and many of the arguments in the amicus brief, the district court granted summary judgment, rejecting the challenge and holding that Texas’s laws are consistent with the historical tradition of firearm regulation in the U.S. and thus comport with the Second Amendment. The decision reinforces the constitutionality of longstanding “sensitive places” restrictions and provides important guidance for Second Amendment litigation nationwide.
The winning Gibson Dunn team also included associates Kylie Calabrese, Andrew Mitchell, Arjun Ogale, and Alexa Acquista.