WITH THE OFF-FIELD behavior of professional athletes an increasing focus of concern, getting busted trying to bring two loaded guns through security at Logan Airport certainly was not exactly a good look for a guy about to start his second season with the New England Patriots. And to any armchair jurist it seemed an open-and-shut […]
Gun ownership
Posted inCriminal Justice
We spearheaded state’s 2014 gun law; new legislation can build on it
FOR NEARLY 10 years Massachusetts has been one of the states with the lowest rates of firearm deaths. Firearm deaths include homicides and suicides by firearm and firearm accidents. Most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the annual firearm death rate in Massachusetts is 3.4 per 100,000 residents while […]
Posted inGuns
House passes gun bill as amendment to bond legislation
THE MASSACHUSETTS House on Thursday quickly introduced and passed provisions tightening gun licensing standards in response to a recent US Supreme Court decision. With just 10 days to go before the end of formal legislative sessions this year, House Speaker Ron Mariano announced Thursday morning that the House had reached an agreement with the Senate, […]
Posted inOpinion
Gun rights threaten our civil rights
WE HAVE A RIGHT to free speech. It is perhaps our most celebrated right as Americans. But no one has the right to cry “fire” in a crowded theater. Every right is subject to the tests of common sense, common decency, and a fair understanding of how the exercise of one right actually damages the exercise […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Andrea Campbell wants to cap gun purchases, expand assault weapons ban
DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEY general candidate Andrea Campbell will release her first in-depth policy plan on Thursday – a gun violence prevention plan that includes a mix of enforcement of current laws and advocacy for new rules. The plan involves working with lawmakers to revise the state’s assault weapons ban to cover additional guns, imposing caps on […]
Posted inGuns
Mass. concealed-carry law threatened by Supreme Ct. decision
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IN A RULING praised by gun rights advocates, the US Supreme Court on Thursday struck down New York’s concealed-carry gun licensing law with a decision that Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said flouts hundreds of years of state-level gun regulation and “poses a grave danger” to people traveling in public spaces. […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
‘Red flag’ gun bill used just six times last year
WHEN GOV. CHARLIE BAKER signed the so-called “red flag” bill in July 2018, it was pitched as a way to save lives. Under the law, a family member or police department can file a petition to have a judge confiscate someone’s legally owned gun, after a hearing, if the person poses a danger to themselves […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Changing the conversation on gun violence
THE MAY 26 San Jose murders, where a gunman opened fire at a public transit rail yard, killing nine people, further illustrate that this country’s epidemic of gun violence makes us an outlier around the globe. A stunning 232 mass shootings have taken place in the US in just the past five months. This has […]
Posted inOpinion
Mass. has blind spot when it comes to assault weapons
WHAT IS OUR moral responsibility as a Commonwealth for preventing the predictable loss of life from products manufactured in Massachusetts? Four state legislators — Democratic Reps. Marjorie Decker of Cambridge, Frank Moran of Lawrence, and Bud Williams of Springfield and Democratic Sen. Cynthia Creem of Newton — are pressing that question with proposed legislation. They want Massachusetts to ban […]
Posted inGun ownership
Our state gun laws need some updates
IN MASSACHUSETTS, we often congratulate ourselves for having strong gun laws. And we should. Evidence shows that there are fewer gun violence fatalities here than in states with laxer laws. In 2019 and 2020, Massachusetts was rated as the state with the lowest rate of gun deaths by The Education Fund to Stop Gun Violence. […]