SAF Announces Don Kilmer as 2026 Golden Bowtie Award Winner
BELLEVUE, Wash. — Sept. 29, 2025 — The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) honored its third recipient of the Golden Bowtie Award at this year’s Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC) in Dallas. This year’s award was presented to longtime Second Amendment advocate and litigator Don Kilmer.
Recipients of the Golden Bowtie are people and/or organizations who have made significant contributions of time, talent and treasure to SAF and its mission.
Kilmer has been litigating constitutional law – primarily Second Amendment cases – for more than 25 years and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and all California U.S. District Courts. In addition, he is co-author of the law school casebook: Firearms Law and the Second Amendment: Regulation, Rights, and Policy, 3rd Ed, and is a professor of Constitutional Law at Lincoln Law School of San Jose. Kilmer has represented SAF in numerous cases over the years and is a frequent presenter at GRPC.
“It was a privilege to present this year’s award to Don who has been a tremendous SAF partner for more than 20 years,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “Thanks to Don’s legal research and strategies, he has helped set precedent cited in countless Second Amendment cases across the country. I was honored to present this year’s Golden Bowtie award to Don, and we look forward to continuing working with him for years to come.” … 
