Gun Violence

As the polls closed on Election Day, Tuesday, November 7, 2006, 17-year-old Hakeem Horton died from a gunshot wound to the head on Hamlet Street in Dorchester, Massachusetts.  It was Boston’s 66th homicide of the year.   Hakeem was one of 55 people in the Boston area that died as a result of a gun shot in 2006.   His death also represented the growing needs of a community in crisis. 
In 2005, there were 340 victims of shootings in Boston, 50 of whom died.   That total represents the city’s highest number of shootings since the height of gang violence in 1996.  In 2006, Boston finished the year with 74 homicides, 55 by a gun, only to have the first gun death of 2007 occur six hours into the new year. Greater Boston is at a Code Red with youth gun violence.  In the last year, the number of gunfire victims actually tripled.
At the federal level, we have moved in the wrong direction.  COPS monies have been slashed and the NRA has successfully protected gun manufacturers and killed the assault weapon ban.  Unbelievably, the NRA successfully inserted an amendment in the 2004 federal budget, through Congressman Todd Tiehrt (R-KS) that actually prevents the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) from providing gun tracing data to any local or state law enforcement agency.  This NRA-sponsored amendment effectively takes away a major tool of law enforcement to stop the trafficking of illegal guns.  But it does more than that:  it is the poster-boy for bad laws that stop good police practices because of an overly-powerful special interest lobby.
The real question is how we can get the powers that be motivated to remove these types of barriers.  At the state level, there is much that we can do to help police and prosecutors and to promote prevention.  Local and state law enforcement entities must have the all tools reasonably available to investigate crimes and cases.  There are many tools, including:

 Enhancing the gun and licensing registries by allowing database information sharing networks to be utilized by both state and local law enforcement entities;

 Targeting low compliance of secondary market sales including facilitating the registrations and enforcing the registration requirements with both buyers and sellers;

 With the improved database, begin to charge persons found to sell or “lose” guns to unlicensed persons;

 Design interstate compacts with surrounding states to utilize gun registry and ballistics information to circumvent the NRA restrictions on gun tracing data sharing; and

 Close the Illegal Gun in the House Loophole so that traffickers are no longer protected because the guns are discovered in their homes or places of business.

These are some commonsense ideas I have found from my research on the gun market and state laws.  I will be releasing the full report of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee, along with my Committee colleagues, in the coming week.  This report will contain the full set of recommendations which will, of course, be posted on the blog.

Comments

[Happy Day]

You made some fantastic points there. I researched this issue and found out that a good number of people will agree with your web site. Regards

[JOHN PITTS]

Sir,
How many times are we going to have to hear that another criminal with a long rap sheet was recently released from prison and killed innocent people? Some states have concealed carry laws that allow a person to legally carry a concealed weapon and shoot back at criminals. It happens every day but is rarely reported in the liberal media.
John Pitts

[Bob]

Frankly, I find it both shocking and stunning that a person of your personal persuasion would want to trample on the Bill of Rights as you do. One would think that the privacy of a person in their own home would be something that you would champion. Instead, you seek to establish something that sounds very much like a police state. Will you ever understand that the criminals don't obey the law, and that they get their guns the same way they get their heorin and crack? Only honest people will be affected by what you propose. The only way to reduce gun crime is by increased neighborhood policing and long sentences for violent offenders. For the sake of our civil liberties, get a clue!

[MrTwigg]

"We recommend that penalties be established by statutory amendment to the existing law, and that State Police be assigned the duty of making periodic checks of registered guns."

So now you want to send armed state police (Paramilitary unit) officers into the homes of law abiding citizens "Just to check".

Nice to know where you stand on the US Constitution and the Bill of rights, But you seem to be standing directly on top of them.

[David]

While I applaud your objective of reducing gun violence by getting illegal guns off the streets, I was completely beside myself to read, in the Findings and Recommendations section of your Final Report the following recommendation:

"We recommend that penalties be established by statutory amendment to the existing law, and that State Police be assigned the duty of making periodic checks of registered guns."

So if I have an LTC and a legally purchased, registered and safely stored firearm, are you suggesting that the State Police ought to be assigned the duty of periodically checking on my firearms in my home? I would sincerely appreciate an elaboration on that recommendation. Suddenly it seems that I am being treated by a criminal, when as an LTC holder I have no felony convictions. Is this how we ought to be treating the citizenry of the State that set the torch of Liberty alight not so long ago?

[Dan Egner]

What is the "Illegal Gun in the House Loophole"?

[Bruce]

Jarrett, law enforcement agencies can have all the access to gun trace data they want, so long as they're actually investigating a crime. The amendment you refer to prohibits the public from obtaining data that was never meant to be used in any statistical manner. Gun trace resuests can be made by authorities for many reasons, and do not necessarily mean the gun in question was used in a crime. The amendment prevents people from taking an incomplete data set, and engaging in fishing expeditions, designed to bankrupt and shut down firearms dealers, whose only offense might have been to file their paperwork improperly.

This, like nearly every other measure you have proposed in your "illustrious" career in the MGC, would do little more than impact the law-abiding gun owning community.

Over the last three years, as I have become more and more impassioned in this arena (trying to get the City of Boston to give you permission to own a handgun will have that effect on you), I have never heard anyone in your position in Massachusetts advocate for longer mandatory sentences for the PEOPLE who are using guns in the commission of violent crime.

Nor, have I heard much about looking for ways to hold our judges more accountable for letting violent offenders back on the streets with a mere slap on the wrist (11 days on a charge of illegal gun possession for an individual with multiple prior convictions, including armed robbery). Yeah, maybe forcing a woman to wait 30 days to buy a handgun to defend herself against a violent ex-husband would help.

You could shut down every gun shop in the country, enact every one of the gun laws on your dream list (ballistic fingerprinting, smart guns, ban on private transfers, ammunition taxes, etc.), and the criminal class in Boston would carry on as if nothing happened.

This notion that one can legislate morality, or eliminate the black market on illegal guns and drugs, with the stroke of a pen is utter foolishness. In other words, business as usual in Massachusetts.

[Sean Caron]

I applaud the effort to bolster the way we enforce gun regulations. Utilizing 21st century information technology and closing loopholes to enforce our gun laws are common sense ways to ensure that police and prosecutors have the tools they need to do thier jobs. Smarter policing and prosecution can take us a long way, but the best way to stop gun violence is to create an environment where crime, drugs and guns are not a way of life for many of our young people. We need to increase social opportunities for youth to divert them from that path early in life. After-school programs, youth development programs and mentoring opportunities are cost-effective strategies to prevent gun violence long before that becomes an option for a young person by creating a sense of hope and community. The Shannon Community Safety Initiative balances the need for enhanced targeted law enforcement and increased social opportunities. It is a valuable tool to prevent crime before it happens and I hope its refunded and expanded soon.