Panel of academic “experts”: Massachusetts needs more gun laws
Chief Tango sends us a link to the Boston Herald which reports that a “panel of academic experts”, whatever that means, spent a year noodling over Massachusetts’ gun laws in the wake of the Newtown tragedy, and *surprise* they determined that Massachusetts needs more gun laws.
The panel made 44 recommendations, including that Massachusetts join a national mental health database for screening potential gun owners, that it beef up firearms training requirements, and that it eliminate Class B gun licenses, which are seldom used.
It looks like a person with a “class B” license is limited to open carry and can’t own a handgun that holds more than ten rounds.
“Overall, Massachusetts continues to be a leader nationally in efforts to reduce gun violence. The committee believes that even more can be done,” the report said. “The committee recognizes that changes such as those proposed in this report may be challenging, but if adopted, provide a pathway to further reduce gun violence in the Commonwealth.”
Yeah, so I hope that they explain how each of their 44 points will actually reduce gun violence. The mental health database is a good idea, since all of the shootings in recent memory were committed by people who should have been in the database, but weren’t.
The Associated Press lists some of the 44 recommendations;
— Requiring background checks for most private firearms sales.
— Giving local police chiefs greater discretion to deny firearms identification cards.
— Eliminating Class B licenses, which allow people to carry firearms in the open.
— Requiring gun owners to sign affidavits stating they still own all the guns legally registered to them each time they renew their licenses.
— Increasing penalties for failing to report lost or stolen guns.
— Approving tax credits for the purchases of gun safes.
— Requiring Massachusetts to join a federal program that shares information about people who might be unsuitable to own guns because of substance abuse or mental illness.
— Banning convicted felons from receiving firearms identification cards.
— Requiring employees of firearms dealers to pass background checks.
— Encouraging schools to have access to two-way communication with local police departments for use in emergency situations.
— Mandating that firearms training courses require the firing of weapons.
Can anyone tell me how any of those things would have prevented any of the shooting of the last few years, let alone Newtown? Gun advocates say that they were effectively locked out of the task force, because, you know, who needs experts on gun laws and how they affect legal gun owners on their little task force.
Category: Gun Grabbing Fascists
Finally…someone hit the nail on the head for a change. I’ve said all along all we need are MORE FUCKING GUN LAWS! /sarc/
Dumb ass bastards in MA who are so open minded their brains have fallen out on the floor.
@1 There are no open minds in Massachusetts, having lived here close to 30 years the only “minds” I’ve run across are pretty well locked into a set pattern of thought. It is more prevalent in the greater Boston area than here in Western mass which is almost like another state where local republicans can actually get elected….but even out here we have cities like Northampton which make places like NYC seem quite conservative….
Remember kids, Boston is also the same town that wanted to ban knives over 3″ long or those with folding blades.
@2 VOV I feel ya. Here in liberal Washington state my east side is a whole other state of gun totin’ conservatives. However the politics are controlled by the liberal Starbucks mentality of the left coast. My reference to open minds and brains falling out just didn’t work well in that scenario.
Of course gun advocates were locked out of the task force. Who wants real common sense at play when there’s an agenda to be forced!!! Plus, those academic pussies don’t know the first, middle, or last thing about guns; so it’s obvious they are the ones you want lecturing and setting policy about guns.
And people wonder why nothing really gets done, other than taking more freedoms away from people while solving nothing. I’m so glad I don’t live in the NorthEast. Bunch of fricken morons.
Fucking morons all of them…
the Class B License along with the Class A license allows people to open carry but no one does it here because it is such a pain the ass getting the cops called on you every 5 minutes. What it does do by eliminateing that level of license though is restrict people to having to get a Concealed Carry license or an FID Card. The Class B was a lower level of license as well which restricted you from owning high capacity weapons/feeding devices.
The next level down is even more restrictive of course, and you no that they will downgrade not upgrade licenses.
I could go on all day about how stupid this shit is…
The part about reporting of those determined to be mentally defective is already in Law, we do not need more laws to make them enforce the ones already on the book!!
giving the Police Chiefs even more “discretion to deny”… that is because anytime they do and someone fights it they lose. So let’s make it easier for them to deny Citizens their rights.
none of these laws will do a damned thing to protect me or my family from violent thugs who do not give one rats ass about gun laws.
“shall not be infringed”
Literacy helps you shitbags.
@6 rb325th Here in my liberal state of Washington it still surprises me we have concealed carry permits. However we CAN open carry anywhere, except banks, places that serve alcohol and a couple others I can’t remember, without any permit other than legal ownership. It has been pushed several times in my 30+ years here, to do away with CC permits but it has always failed. Thankfully. I do see people in the east side of the state where I live open carry and nobody much cares unless they get near a school or do something simply dumb. It is always the dummies who screw it up for the rest of us. They become the “examples” the liberals use in their arguments to have nothing more to defend ourselves with except harsh language.
Thankfully I’m moving to Alaska in June. I don’t even need a permit to carry concealed. The only reason they even have permits is for when you travel to a State that honors Alaska permits.
California, as I’ve said before, is another bipolar state. LA (I wish somebody would nuke it), Berkely (they want anarchy so bad, I say let ’em have it, see how they like it), the Gay Bay (they should just secede and be the Socialist Empire of Pelosiland), Humboldt (potheads/hippies, enough said), and Imperial County (overrun by illegal aliens anyway) are liberal cesspools. Leave those counties and make your way to the other 3/4 of the state, and you’re back in America again.
Anywhere outside of the Major cities in Cali has a lot, if not a majority of people with common sense.
I’m surprised by them not listing the real cause of school shootings, AR15 bayonet lugs. That would make as much sense.
“Requiring gun owners to sign affidavits stating they still own all the guns legally registered to them each time they renew their licenses.” Sure, no problem, right after all of you pointy-headed dickless wonders register your computers, laptops, smart phones and tablets. After all, if you can infringe on the 2nd Amendment, let’s infringe on your 1st Amendment.
” Giving local police chiefs greater discretion to deny firearms identification cards.” Sure, right after we let local police chiefs have a say in who can access the internet, or write to the editor of the local paper, or make a speech. After all, it’s only fair.
” Requiring Massachusetts to join a federal program that shares information about people who might be unsuitable to own guns because of substance abuse or mental illness.” What is that program called? Does it exist? How do you get around HIPAA laws? Who makes that “unsuitable” determination? What criteria do you propose to determine “suitability”?
@12 Bayonet Lugs are still illegal here in Massachusetts… all of the former AWB restrictions are still in place in Mass.
@13, the Law regarding reporting of those determined to be Mentally incompetent is already in place. So I am not certain where they are going there. As to HIPPA, if a court finds you mentally incompetent and comitts you to a mental institution you are supposed to be reported to the NCIS as such. They do not send your medical records, just that you are not elligible for reason of mental defect.
By and large here in Mass it is not legal gun owners involved in murders or shootings in general. It is the same old folks who will never give a damn about gun laws because they will just break them regardless.
This isn’t about actually doing anything practical, like teaching firearms safety.
It’s about doing something that makes them ‘feel good about themselves’, or whatever floats their little maple leaf boats.
@2 VOV
I graduated from Northampton High School and never before or since have I known more people wanting to let the Government run their lives. Northampton, the San Francisco of New England, where a lot of the folks I knew were waiting for the glorious revolution of the worker and student. Oh the joy that awaited them when they too could march in lock step to the benevolent diktats of the chairman.
I still remember the assembly at the D.A. Sullivan School staged by the Viet Nam Veterans Against the War; it was during school hours and attendance was mandatory. No one other than the VVAW spoke at the assembly. Were we, the students of the Hawley Jr High School, going to end the war?
I find it curious how the communists and the nazi’s both prefer to get their members when they are too young to know better.
I didn’t want to leave Northampton; I had to.
@16 I go there to play indoor soccer at the horse barn on the fairgrounds….I like the vibe downtown there are a lot of cool little shops and restaurants and I am fine with folks having a different opinion than mine, but you are spot on with that whole attitude of anything US must be bad and they pass resolutions condemning it all as if anyone actually cares what a jerkwater little town in western mass actually thinks about anything….if they really wanted to do anything useful working to build a consensus outside their community would at least make sense….a protest in NoHo is preaching to the choir and they do it all the time….cracks me up…Provincetown is equally idiotic but they at least have a little panache while being so idiotic…and they have that great view of the water…
— Requiring background checks for most private firearms sales. How the heck would they monitor private firearms sales? It’s not like DMV and selling a car. — Giving local police chiefs greater discretion to deny firearms identification cards. This makes so much sense. Make it so you have to have been attacked by someone before you can arm yourself to prevent attack. Oh, and I hope you are ready to bribe your way into getting a FIC! — Eliminating Class B licenses, which allow people to carry firearms in the open. Nothing is scarier than carrying a firearm in the open. You know, because all criminals openly carry firearms before committing crimes. — Requiring gun owners to sign affidavits stating they still own all the guns legally registered to them each time they renew their licenses. Don’t worry, we’re not going to confiscate your guns, but we still want to know how many you have, where you have them, and that they are safe. While you’re at it, please also check the box indicating that you have health insurance. — Increasing penalties for failing to report lost or stolen guns. And, if you didn’t know that your firearm was stolen? I’m sorry, but you will now serve a prison sentence because little Jimmy’s friend stole your gun yesterday without your knowledge. — Approving tax credits for the purchases of gun safes. Why not, they are giving tax credits for everything else nowadays. — Requiring Massachusetts to join a federal program that shares information about people who might be unsuitable to own guns because of substance abuse or mental illness. I wonder if they will also make a law about requiring doctors to actually sign people up for the mental illness and substance abuse website? — Banning convicted felons from receiving firearms identification cards. Aren’t convicted felons prohibited from owning firearms in the first place? Who would give them FICs? — Requiring employees of firearms dealers to pass background checks. I don’t know of a single firearms dealer who hasn’t run a background check on their employees. — Encouraging schools to… Read more »
Wasn’t local police departments turning down virtually all applications for firearm licenses the reason Heller sued DC in the first place? Why would they recommend something that has already been found Unconstitutional?
Never mind, these are liberals with an agenda; that pesky Constitution can’t be allowed to stand in their way.
I saw this on a friends Facebook page: http://www.thefederalistpapers.org/video-2/video-canadian-news-anchor-gives-warning-to-american-gun-owners-powerful The guy raises some serious concerns.
Registration does not work. Teddy Kennedy’s car was registered yet it still killed more people than my unregistered Colt.
@14, my take-away from the mention of mental stability was, “Requiring Massachusetts to join a federal program that shares information about people who might be unsuitable to own guns because of substance abuse or mental illness.” What federal program? And, “information about people who might be unsuitable“? Again, not addressing those found incompetent by a court, but they seem to want to give “someone” a lot of latitude in determining who is “unsuitable to own guns”. Any bets that not too far down the road, everyone will be deemed “unsuitable”?
I have tried to post this 4 times, and each time my laptop has dumped it before I could finish. SO downstairs to the old and slow, but reliable desktop I go.
I have what may seem to be a simple, even simplistic solution to this problem of gun control. But considering what we “know” about the connection between Democrats, irrationality, and mass shootings, I think it would work. And what I propose is no worse then what these egghead Libtards are proposing up in Mass-hole-chusetts.
Have everyone who wants to possess/carry/buy a gun, declare their political affiliation. With follow up investigation by the local po-po into voting records.
If you’re a Democrat, a RINO (which is merely a Libtard Lite), an “Independent” (think Joe Lieberman) or other form of “Progressive”, then (Soup Nazi accent here) NO GUNS FOR YOU, on grounds of mental instability, and borderline insanity. Just because you haven’t done something YET, doesn’t mean that you won’t in the near future. Any guns which you already have in your possession, shall be confiscated immediately, without recompense.
If you’re a Republican, a conservative, or a libertarian (big L or little l), you are given a card which identifies you as such. This is not a permission from Big Brother that you are “allowed” to carry (concealed or open), but just in case the local po-po need to investigate a call from a panty-twisted collectivist about “a man with a GUN!”, you show them your card, and go about your business.
(Oh, and as a side note, no “anonymous” calls or tips. The panicked Libtard either gives his/her name & address, or the po-po don’t investigate.)
Yeah, impossible, I know, but I can DREAM, can’t I?
@22, yes that concerns me also. I was simply pointing out that right now there is a system in place where a person can be reported and barred from being able to own or posess firearms. No need to expand that, and the law in existence already accounts for chronic substance abuse as a disqualifying factor as well. Whether or not those persons are reported under current law or not is in my opinion what needs to be fixxed, not an expansion of the current definitions. Which appears to be what they would try and do.
Having been a Mass resident, the “giving local police chiefs greater discretion to deny firearms identification cards” remedy is particularly laughable. Anyone who has had to deal with a Mass police chief who doesn’t want to issue a permit knows how much power they already have. The chief in the town where I lived required two personal references. He would send out letters to the two references and not issue the permit until the letters were returned. The trick was that only one letter would be sent, and, since the two reference letters weren’t returned, no permit.