September 11, 2020 — Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced today that Mr. J. Pierce Shields has joined the FPC Team as its National Director of Advancement. In that role, Shields will lead the organization’s new Office of Advancement, established to support and grow the organization’s liberty and freedom-focused programs, which include litigation, research, policy, grassroots, education, outreach, and others. 

Shields holds a Juris Doctor degree from Widener University School of Law, a LL.M from Villanova University School of Law, and is admitted to practice law in Maryland and New Jersey. He brings over twenty years of experience as an attorney, banker, and national-scale fundraiser. He recently served for nearly a decade as the Assistant Director of Planned Giving for the National Rifle Association.

“I am very excited to join the FPC Team to help build the future of Second Amendment advocacy and fight for the People,” said Shields. “My job is to make sure that gun owners have the strongest possible team in their corner, and I am confident that FPC is where I can and will do just that.”

“Through strategies like strategic, corporate, and planned giving, our Office of Advancement will enable us to expand on FPC’s already class-leading programs and build the war chest we need to create the truly free society Americans are entitled to,” Shields concluded. 

“We are living in an unprecedented era of outright attacks on America’s founding principles and fundamental freedoms. Presidential candidates are openly calling for the government to enforce insane eliminations of the rights and liberties of gun owners. Those dangerous and unconstitutional policies would no doubt create chaos and lead to the loss of life. Meanwhile, radically anti-American groups are rioting in our streets, burning down small businesses, and hurting innocent people. Our nation and Constitution are being assaulted, and we have to fight back stronger than ever if we are going to preserve the America that has served as a beacon of liberty and exemplar of freedom for generations,” explained FPC President Brandon Combs. “Armed individuals and our right to keep and bear arms are the only shield standing in the way of a revolutionary shift in values from freedom and individual liberty to authoritarianism and control.”

FPC believes that it is more important than ever for gun owners to have strong, ideologically principled, and well-supported programs to fight back in our courts, legislatures, and executive offices. 

“The next decade of legal, legislative, and political advocacy will likely make the difference between a robust Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, and expanding restrictions on guns, free speech, and other fundamental rights. With FPC’s audacious and world-changing mission ahead of us, we are delighted for Pierce to join our FPC Team and Fight Forward for the People. With his help and the generous support of the People, we can and will defend liberty and the United States of America,” concluded Combs.

Firearms Policy Coalition (www.firearmspolicy.org) is a 501(c)4 grassroots nonprofit organization. FPC’s mission is to protect and defend constitutional rights—especially the right to keep and bear arms—advance individual liberty, and restore freedom.