Guns and hearing aids apparently mix

A gun advocacy group is opposing legislation allowing hearing aids to be sold over the counter because the measure is sponsored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and it might, somehow, infringe on the rights of hunters who purchase hearing-enhancement devices to track their prey.

I’m not making this up. In a letter earlier this month to members of Congress, Gun Owners of America executive director Erich Pratt said Bass Pro Shops carry a number of devices designed to help hunters detect the presence of game. The devices aren’t marketed as hearing aids, but they apparently work much like them.

“There’s a pretty good chance that these devices would fall within Warren’s definition of ‘over-the-counter hearing aid.’ Which would mean that a new federal bureaucracy would be in charge of regulating hunting,” Pratt wrote. “Were Warren less of an enemy of the Second Amendment, we might give more credibility to the argument that we were protected by the ‘perceived …hearing impairment’ language of the Warren bill. But she isn’t. So we don’t.”

The hearing aid legislation, which is cosponsored by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, is opposed by the six hearing aid manufacturers, who say it is dangerous to allow people to self-diagnose and treat hearing problems. Supporters, however, say the high cost of hearing aids is preventing most Americans from purchasing the devices. This debate would normally follow predictable Washington lines — between those seeking to protect their monopoly and those seeking a piece of the action — but the involvement of the gun lobby adds an unusual twist.

In a followup fundraising appeal, Pratt said lobbying by Gun Owners of America was having some success in the House, with the help of Republican Reps. Richard Hudson of North Carolina and Greg Walden of Oregon, in getting language inserted in the bill alleviating any potential impact on guns. But Pratt warned that the language has not been agreed to in the Senate.

“Hence, the bigger question is this: If Congress is going to protect people’s hearing, how about deregulating suppressors?”

–BRUCE MOHL

BEACON HILL

Jonathan Cohn says the Democratic supermajority on Beacon Hill is not so super. (CommonWealth)

Robert McHugh and Edward Nowak, two officials involved with harness racing, urge lawmakers to leave the Horse Race Development Fund to horses. (CommonWealth)

A Globe editorial supports a move in the Senate budget to trim back the state’s generous film tax credit, which analysts from both the left and right say is not worth its cost to state coffers.

A Herald editorial decries the local spending earmarks that lawmakers have loaded into the proposed 2018 budget, which include, in classic fashion, money for a local gazebo — “Isn’t there always a gazebo?” it says.

Both the Army and Air National Guard in Massachusetts are at 100 percent capacity of authorized slots. (MetroWest Daily News)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera appears to have contradicted himself in discussing the educational qualifications of a political ally he hired, saying one thing in court and another in press interviews. (Eagle-Tribune)

Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia, reportedly under investigation by the FBI, appointed a potential investor in his private company as the $84,000 head of a city-run training center despite the fact the last job the man held had been six years before. (Herald News)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller, tapped to investigate alleged Russian meddling into last year’s presidential election, was the commencement speaker at Tabor Academy in Marion where his granddaughter was among the graduates. He avoided the elephant in the room as well as politics in general but told the graduates, “You’re only as good as your word.” (Standard-Times)

There are striking similarities between the suicide bomber responsible for last week’s deadly attack in England and the Tsarnaev brothers who carried out the Boston Marathon attacks in 2013, writes the Globe’s Milton Valencia.

Andrew Bacevich says President Trump’s first trip abroad, far from being an assertion of the “America First” rhetoric of his campaign, involved a complete embrace of the foreign policy establishment’s failed approach to the Middle East and Islamist terror. (Boston Globe)

The 86-year-old daughter of a Civil War soldier who served on both sides is the last remaining recipient of a monthly US government pension issued to veterans of the war that ended more than 150 years ago. (U.S. News & World Report)

ELECTIONS

Gov. Charlie Baker’s political team has set an eye-popping goal of raising $30 million for still-undeclared 2018 reelection campaign. (Boston Globe)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Thousands turn out for the opening of Building 6 at Mass MoCA in North Adams, a massive expansion backed by $40 million in private funding and $25 million from the state. (Berkshire Eagle)

Three Provincetown restaurants on the docks in the transportation hub of the Cape tip town were destroyed by fire at the start of the tourist season. (Cape Cod Times)

EDUCATION

Keri Rodrigues Lorenzo of Massachusetts Parents United says the Massachusetts Teachers Association needs a timeout for snubbing a Dorchester teacher, Sydney Chaffee, who won National Teacher of the Year honors. (CommonWealth) CommonWealth reported here last week on the MTA move. A Herald editorial decries the “shabby” treatment of Chaffee by the union and asks whether MTA president Barbara Madeloni and her team think by recognizing her award “their members will catch charter cooties?” Telegram & Gazette columnist Clive McFarlane seems conflicted on the issue, saying the MTA should have recognized Chaffee, but he understands why it didn’t.

Gov. Charlie Baker and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announce a new program that will allow income-eligible Boston students to have all tuition and fees paid for a four-year degree at a public university. (Associated Press)

Teacher retirements in Massachusetts have slowed down as the percent of educators under the age of 50 increases while the ranks of those reaching retirement age have thinned because of cutbacks from Proposition 2½ as well as incentives to leave to reduce costs in years past. (Patriot Ledger)

Some are criticizing Salem State University’s pick of former state rep John Keenan as the school’s next president, saying it’s part of a pattern of white male former pols being handed the reins at state campuses. (Boston Globe)

State Education Secretary James Peyser says capital spending should focus on the huge backlog of maintenance and repair needs in higher education, including the crumbling garage at UMass Boston, before funding big expansion projects. (Boston Globe)

HEALTH/HEALTH CARE

North Shore Medical Center, owned by Partners HealthCare, receives a $5 million donation for a behavioral health center. (Salem News)

President Trump, following through on a campaign promise, is rolling back the mandate from the Obama administration that religious and faith-based employers must provide birth control coverage as part of health insurance plans. (New York Times)

TRANSPORTATION

The MBTA doesn’t understand college students, says recent college grad Maureen McInerney. (CommonWealth)

The T’s troubled pension fund is still without a permanent director one year after its last executive director stepped down. (Boston Globe)

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

The state gave final approval for Eversource to spray herbicide in 13 towns on the Cape and Martha’s Vineyard to clear out vegetation around transmission lines despite opposition from local officials and residents. (Cape Cod Times)

Steve Dodge of the Massachusetts Petroleum Council says the closing this week of the coal-fired Brayton Point power plant in Somerset increases the need for more natural gas pipeline capacity in the region. (CommonWealth)

Erich Stephens of Vineyard Wind says the offshore wind process is moving too slowly in Massachusetts. (CommonWealth)

The town of Littleton is proposing a first-of-its-kind wastewater treatment plant that would turn sewage into electricity and fertilizer that would then be sold at a profit to reduce costs. (Wicked Local)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

In an op-ed for the Brockton Enterprise, Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz argues mandatory minimum sentences have been effective in reducing crime in Massachusetts and do not contribute to over-incarceration.

Mary Brolin of Brandeis and Janice Yost of the Health Foundation of Central Massachusetts explain how to stop prison’s revolving door. (CommonWealth)

The regional 911 center in Middleton is being bailed out financially for the second year in a row by Essex County Sheriff Kevin Coppinger. (Gloucester Times)

MEDIA

Boston Globe CEO Doug Franklin sends a rally memo to the troops in advance of the impending move from Morrissey Boulevard to State Street and Dan Kennedy sees an ominous note in Franklin’s reference to moving the printing operation to Taunton. (Media Nation)

A Denver Post columnist is fired after posting a tweet saying he was uncomfortable with a Japanese driver winning the Indianapolis 500. (Deadspin)

PASSINGS

Manuel Noriega, the former Panama dictator and former ally of the United States who was later ousted and arrested under orders from then-President George H.W. Bush, died in his home country Monday. He was 83. (New York Times)

Frank Deford, the legendary literary voice of the sports world who offered weekly commentary for NPR for decades, has died at the age of 78. (New York Times)