Things the Commonwealth can do to get illegal guns out of the hands of kids

Thank you to everyone who submitted comments. Look for the final version of the report to be released on Thursday, April 12.

Gentle readers,

It's been quite a week in Boston, and with all the recent shootings, many have asked about the work of the Public Safety & Homeland Security Committee--particularly in light of our hearing on youth gun violence last November.  Earlier this week, I described some of the ideas we have been thinking about, and today I am posting the report I have written, with staff, including all recommended legislative actions.  I am also attaching a re-drafted version of a gun trafficking bill I have filed with Senator Montigny, Representative Canessa and Representative St. Fleur. 

This is my current "best" thinking on the subject and I am sure that there is still much more to be done at the federal level, and local level.  But if you have ideas for state action, please give feedback which--if it seems consistent with these objectives-- I may be able to include in the final report. I will be accepting comments until the end of the day Monday, April 9.

Jarrett

Comments

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Excellent thinking, Herr Barrios. First ve shall choke ze supply of veapons. Zen ve shall identify all veapon owners. Zen ve shall send our police to inspect ze veapons and account for zere vhereabouts. Veh shall justify zese actions vit unsubstantiated claims of veapons trafficking und abhorrent violence at zee hands of der gun owners!

[1iogetout]

Fluff a Nutter hahahahahaha

[1iogetout]

Fluff a nutter hahahahahahahahahahaha

[George Washington]

Ever heard of the constitution?
Looks like someone needs a history lesson!

George Washington: "A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."

Samual Adams: "The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms." (Convention of the Commonwealth of Mass., 86-87, date still being sought)

Samuel Adams of Massachusetts: "The said Constitution [shall] be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms." (U.S. Constitution ratification convention, 1788)

Thomas Jefferson: "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." (Proposed Virginia Constitution, 1776)

Thomas Jefferson: "Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."

"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike especially when young, how to use them." –Richard Henry Lee

[rk]

In 1998 we passed the strictest gun laws in the country. Since then, licensed gun ownership in the Commonwealth has dropped by more than 85% while violent crime rose more than 35%. During this time violent crime nationally dropped over 25%.

Yup, let's pass more laws that punish lawful gun owners.
Let's take our State Police off the streets and send them searching through the homes of licensed gunowners to look for illegal guns. That's definitely where all the illegal guns must be hiding.

Senator, please get a brain!

[A-H]

Excellent thinking, Herr Barrios. First ve shall choke ze supply of veapons. Zen ve shall identify all veapon owners. Zen ve shall send our police to inspect ze veapons and account for zere vhereabouts. Veh shall justify zese actions vit unsubstantiated claims of veapons trafficking und abhorrent violence at zee hands of der gun owners!

Zen it vill be kinderplay to take all ze veapons! Ze poeple vill applaud you, you are ze Government, und you are here to help zee Children!

[DN]

Your "best thinking" is an insult to everyone in this state, and a threat to civil rights. How could you even "think" such a thing? How can a gun be "illegal"? Isn't it the kid who is doing something illegal? Or the person who gave or allowed a kid a gun? Why would you even "think" to punish every single person in the state for the crimes of a few? You are going down the wrong road on this one.

[Mr. Weebles]

Jarrett, if this is your "best thinking," may I suggest a new career in janitorial engineering or perhaps behind the counter at Burger King?

Anyone who would suggest sending armed agents of the State to inspect legally owned firearms has no understanding of the 2nd or 4th Amendments and should not be serving as a State Senator.

You are an affront to Liberty and should resign your office.

[Ron Bokleman]

This report is an affront of such magnitude to every law abiding citizen of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and our Constitution that today I’m calling for your resignation from the Senate.

Speaking for the thousands of Sportsmen and Women in here in Massachusetts you’re an embarrassment to everything that this cradle of liberty is supposed to stand for. You think nothing of trampling upon our Second Amendment rights and are now proposing to trample on our Fourth Amendment rights as well.

We do not need your kind of "best thinking" and we certainly don't need the State doing our thinking for us...we can think for ourselves.

[An American Citizen]

Stick to Fluffernutters, Junior.

[Frank]

Your great idea:

"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."

U.S. Constitution: Fourth Amendment
Fourth Amendment - Search and Seizure

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

There's a little conflict here. You better have a REALLY good reason to send State Troopers into my house to make a check of my LEGALLY owned property.

Mr. Barrios, there's a Second Amendment that applies here too. There's some other important ones as well. Maybe you should read up on them.

[Bruce]

And, according to your own words, you claim to be LIBERTARIAN???????? I nearly drove off the road the morning you said that on the Scott Allen Miller Show last year.

Totalitarian, maybe.

Authoritarian, perhaps.

But, LIBERTARIAN???

Please.

[TM]

"Finally, state and local police should be explicitly empowered in statute with the ability to require persons for whom they have reasonable suspicion to suspect criminal wrongdoing to produce all weapons listed in their name. The failure to do so can be charged as an additional crime."

The last time I heard anything so revolting as the above quote, it came from an elderly Jewish man with a tatoo on his forearm who had survived the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp, describing the gun control enacted in Germany circa 1938. He explained how the Nazis went door to door, confiscating firearms from people who were on a registered list. Those who couldn't or wouldn't give up their guns were shot where they stood or imprisoned in a concentration camp only to die a horrible death by starvation, disease, firing squad or a gas chamber.

Are you trying to reenact history Mr. Barrios?

Hear this loud and clear Mr. Barrios,
I will not have my 2nd ammendment Rights, nor my 4th ammendment rights violated by you or any "gestapo" agency you plan to empower to carry out your unconstitutional NAZI scheme or laws.

[Bruce]

"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."

The last time I heard anything that scary, there were secret rooms and hidden Jews involved.

I see your trip to Cuba has really had an effect on you. This is mind-bogglingly scary stuff, even for a dyed-in-the-wool, leftist gun-grabber like you, Jarrett.

Let me see if I got this straight. The State Police simply don't have the resources to arrest illegal aliens, but now it's OK for them to enter the homes of those citizens who have proven themselves to be the single most law-abiding segment of society, and inspect their lawfully-purchased and possessed property???

What's next? Bedroom Police to ensure no one is engaging in any kind of immoral activity. I'm betting you'd see the absurdity in such a notion.

Moving out of Massachusetts was the best thing I ever did.

[stomv]

Rep Barrios:

Thanks for the blog post. I humbly request that you start posting documents in an open format such as .pdf. I don't actually use Word, and it's troubling that a user would have to (a) buy Windows or OS X, and then (b) buy Microsoft Word just to participate. You might be surprised how many computer users don't use Word -- but they do use pdfs. Perhaps you could save .doc files as .pdfs and post those too?