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 this month. The House officials said the new bill incorporates a number of modifications designed to address concerns about an earlier piece of legislation, which […]
guns
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 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 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 that designation for the mass shootings that have gripped our nation, especially as we are still living in the reality of a years-long pandemic. But […]
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 soul-searching week at Northern Essex Community College… Like parents across the country and around the world, I’ve been holding my children even more closely this […]
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 the filing of a brief in US District Court supporting Mexico in its consumer protection case against seven gun manufacturers and a Massachusetts-based gun distributor. […]
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 greater embrace of Second Amendment rights and a more favorable business environment in the Volunteer State. The move, which will take place in 2023, will […]
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 city have come down, Facebook posts have dwindled, and parents are resting easier knowing that their children won’t walk by a gun shop en route […]
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 […]