The law sets new strategies for combating so-called ghost guns, expanding the law that allows a court to take guns away from someone considered a threat to themselves or others, and adding schools, polling places, and government buildings to the list of areas where state law forbids people from carrying firearms.
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Posted inGuns
House leaders take hands-on approach with latest gun bill
GUN CONTROL legislation moved back on to Beacon Hill’s front burner on Thursday, as House leaders unveiled a revised bill that they hope to send directly to the Senate later […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Posted inOpinion
Treat gun violence like the public health crisis it is
GUN VIOLENCE is a public health crisis. That’s what we continue to hear from healthcare leaders across Massachusetts and the nation. It may seem odd at first blush to use […]
Posted inOpinion
Uvalde comes nearly a decade after Newtown
NEARLY A DECADE AGO, on December 19, 2012, I shared this message with my college and our community about the worst school mass shooting in American history: It’s been a […]
Posted inGuns
Healey backs Mexico in case against gun manufacturers
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE RETURNING TO AN ISSUE that was at the center of her first campaign, Attorney General Maura Healey led a coalition of state prosecutors on Tuesday in […]
Posted inGuns
Citing bills, Smith & Wesson moving HQ
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE FIREARM MANUFACTURER Smith & Wesson announced Thursday that it will move its headquarters and “significant elements of its operations” from Springfield to Maryville, Tenn., citing a […]
Posted inGuns
Insular thinking in Boston’s suburbs
AFTER AN EFFICIENT campaign by gun control proponents, the Newton City Council recently approved zoning changes to keep gun stores out of Newton. Yard signs that dotted lawns across the […]
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 […]
Posted inOpinion
Actually, Mass. is willfully blind to mass murder, suicide
IN RESPONSE to an opinion piece published on May 8, 2021, by Jim Jordan, I would point out that Massachusetts does not have a “blind spot” when it comes to […]
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 […]
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. […]
Posted inOpinion
Gun store not welcome in Newton
PERHAPS THE MOST jarring part of returning to a sense of normalcy from COVID-19 has been the resurgence of daily headlines reporting the massacres of gun violence that continue to […]
Posted inGuns
While Black Lives Matter rises, gang gunfire keeps claiming more lives
IT’S BECOME THE untenable backdrop to a national movement demanding a reckoning with systematic racism and centuries of sanctioned brutality against black Americans: While thousands have taken to the streets to […]
Posted inGuns
Boston doctors seek different approach to gun violence
DOCTORS AT MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL launched the new Center for Gun Violence Prevention on Monday, with a slew of Massachusetts elected officials on hand to support the effort. Clinicians will […]
Posted inThe Download
Boston doctors seek different approach to gun violence
Doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital launched the new Center for Gun Violence Prevention on Monday, with a slew of Massachusetts elected officials on hand to support the effort. Clinicians will […]
Posted inGuns
Does attention to shooting miss the mark?
YESTERDAY’S DAYTIME FATAL SHOOTING of a taxi driver near the Prudential Center in Boston was the top story among local media outlets throughout the day and it’s the lead front-page […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Guns
Holding Steven close
RONALD ODOM TALKS about his son’s death like it was yesterday because, for the soft-spoken retired letter carrier, it still feels that way. But this fall will mark 12 years […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Guns
Police-worn body cameras not panning out
AS MORE AND MORE POLICE DEPARTMENTS adopt policies to have officers wear body cameras to record interactions with the public, the research evidence continues to build on the effects of […]
Posted inGun ownership
How the ‘red flag’ gun bill came to be
House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Rep. Marjorie Decker of Cambridge hosted a rally of sorts at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School on Wednesday where they pledged to push for […]
Posted inOpinion
Arming doctors with a tool to save lives
“It is the curse of humanity that it learns to tolerate even the most horrible situations by habituation” – Rudolf Virchow, MD OVER THE COURSE of 1,000 days spanning 2014 […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Opinion, Politics
Solution to domestic violence homicide: Fewer guns or more guns?
SINCE 2012, THERE have been 82 domestic violence homicides in Massachusetts, many involving the use of a gun. What’s to be done about these tragedies? The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee heard […]