TRENTON, N.J. — Attorney General Jennifer Davenport has selected Philip Bangle to serve as the next director of New Jersey’s Statewide Affirmative Firearms Enforcement Office, known as SAFE.
SAFE, established in 2022, is New Jersey’s first-in-the-nation office specifically tasked with bringing civil enforcement actions against firearm companies for alleged violations of law that harm the health and safety of residents.
“Phil Bangle is an extremely talented public-interest advocate with a strong track record of holding corporate defendants accountable when they harm the community,” said Attorney General Davenport. “We are also deeply grateful to Jeremy Ershow for his service as Acting Director, and for all he has done to build the SAFE office since its inception in 2022.”
Bangle most recently served as senior director of affirmative litigation at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, where he managed litigation against firearms manufacturers and dealers on behalf of mass shooting victims, municipalities and states.
In August 2025, Bangle secured what the attorney general’s office described as the largest jury verdict in a contested case against a gun company in history. A jury awarded the city of Baltimore $62 million from Hanover Armory, a firearms retailer accused of flooding the city with ghost guns.
“I have admired SAFE’s work since its creation, and I am grateful and honored to be chosen by Attorney General Davenport for this position,” said Bangle. “I look forward to working with the SAFE team and the rest of the Department to continue New Jersey’s vital efforts to reduce gun violence in the State.”
Before joining Brady, Bangle spent two decades working in state attorneys general offices.
He previously served as a deputy attorney general with the Delaware Department of Justice, where his work included civil enforcement lawsuits involving civil RICO and public nuisance actions. He later served as an assistant attorney general in the Medicaid Fraud & Integrity Division of the Tennessee Office of the Attorney General, investigating and litigating health care fraud, primarily through False Claims Act cases.
Bangle earned a bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from Hampden-Sydney College, a master’s degree from Fordham University and a law degree, cum laude, from Tulane Law School.
SAFE is authorized by the attorney general to bring lawsuits against gun industry members accused of contributing to a public nuisance in New Jersey through unlawful or unreasonable conduct or failing to maintain reasonable controls involving the sale, manufacture, distribution, importation or marketing of gun-related products.
Since its creation in 2022, the office has filed complaints against companies including Sig Sauer and Glock, as well as ghost-gun sellers and firearms retailers accused of violating New Jersey law.
