Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, a nonpartisan gun safety group, has filed a Freedom of Information Act suit seeking records of U.S. government employees' communications with the National Rifle Association of America and other gun lobbyists after the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, last year.

The federal suit, filed Oct. 16, states, "The requested records will shed light on topics of vital national importance. Everytown seeks to learn the extent to which the DOJ's policy choices are informed or influenced by gun lobby access to government decision-makers, and why certain gun safety initiatives have been abandoned."

It alleges that the U.S. Department of Justice has failed to produce the records in response to 18 months of requests from Everytown. The Justice Department, which usually does not talk about ongoing litigation, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.