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Gun violence cited in call to revisit Massachusetts laws
By Alison Kuznitz
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 22, 2023…..Resolving to “show up” for youth and bolster safety for all Massachusetts communities, about two dozen gun violence prevention activists gathered outside the State House Thursday demanding that elected leaders pass stronger gun control laws to crack down on what they described as a public health crisis.
Not one more life should be lost to gun violence, Ruth Zakarin, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, said at a press conference that also included representatives from Stop Handgun Violence, Moms Demand Action, and the Giffords and Brady groups.
Zakarin said there have been fatal shootings so far this year in Boston, Springfield, Fall River, Waltham, Mansfield, Brockton, Randolph, Holyoke, Lawrence, Worcester, Rochester, New Bedford, Andover and Methuen.
“For far too many neighborhoods in Massachusetts and communities right here in Boston, the sound of gunfire is way too common,” she said.
Invoking the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, which overturned New York’s concealed carry law, Zakarin urged state lawmakers to pass an omnibus bill that ensures people who are licensed to carry don’t have dangerous histories and that they receive training on gun ownership. Zakarin said the bill should also hold bad actors in the gun industry accountable, prevent the distribution of ghost guns and other illegal firearms, increase the collection and analysis of guns recovered after traumatic incidents, and continue to support community-based solutions to prevent gun violence.
“We will be calling on each and every one of you to join with us and make this strong bill a reality,” Zakarin said at the press conference.
Zakarin also held up a proclamation from Gov. Maura Healey that declared June 2 as Gun Violence Awareness Day.
House Speaker Ron Mariano last July tasked Rep. Michael Day, the House chair of the Judiciary Committee, to work on an omnibus gun safety bill that addresses firearm licensing and training, technology that can circumvent safety laws, and tools to identify people who pose a danger to themselves and others. In a tweet last summer, Mariano said lawmakers “look forward to passing this legislation in the next legislative session.”
Day and other lawmakers earlier this month finished their statewide “firearm safety listening tour,” which involved 11 sessions designed to seek input from residents and stakeholders, a spokesperson for the chairman said Thursday.
More than 130 gun violence incidents have occurred in Massachusetts so far this year, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archives.
Lavell Fulks, a board member of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, lamented the cycle of violence is “seemingly continuous” regardless of who’s serving in public office or law enforcement.
“This is a commonwealth, so where’s the commonality for people in the western side of the state with the metropolitan sides of the state to try to find common ground when it comes to gun violence and gun solutions?” said Fulks, associate director of the Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative at the Boston Public Health Commission. “The common ground is there, and it’s death. We sit on our laurels in Massachusetts because we’re one of the more progressive states when it comes to gun violence prevention, except so many of the guns that cause harm in the state come from this state.”
Public schools in Massachusetts haven’t experienced deadly violence, though fear spurred by mass shootings across the country “feeds a mental health crisis,” said Deb McCarthy, vice president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. McCarthy said it’s also maintained a school-to-prison pipeline, as heightened police presence and security measures in schools leads to more “negative behaviors” becoming criminalized.
“It affects our students of color, derailing their education and sealing them off from opportunities,” McCarthy said.
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Fed Up
June 22, 2023 at 8:43 pm
Here’s a f*cking solution STOP releasing people who were arrested with multiple firearm charges to reoffend. ” To stop drunk drivers from killing sober drivers, Just prevent sober drivers from driving. That’s how gun control works. “
SheriffJohnBrown
June 22, 2023 at 9:02 pm
No one has the power to legislate murder away. More of the same lies and rhetoric from the controlled leftist sociopaths of the Massachusetts Democrat Party. Criminals have no concern for the current gun laws, what would make one think any new laws would be effective? A disarmed population are called slaves. The current gun law of the land states that; The Right to Keep and Bear arms, shall not be infringed.
PeaceUnderLiberty
June 23, 2023 at 7:50 am
“Zakarin urged state lawmakers to pass an omnibus bill that ensures people who are licensed to carry don’t have dangerous histories and that they receive training on gun ownership.”
If you’re going to be so rabidly against liberty, at least have a basic idea what the laws currently are.
hughegg
June 23, 2023 at 10:29 am
This is basically their argument
“to stop criminals who do not follow laws, we want more strict laws that encumber law abiding citizens who would be the first to protect us”
I wonder if they even know the statistics of lawfully purchased firearm crime vs unregistered illegal firearm crimes.
I’m sure their all for bussing in more 3rd worlders and releasing criminals from prison.
More rights for them… how noble.
Steve
June 23, 2023 at 2:10 pm
Because whenever there are gang shootings, carjackings, violent home invasions, drug crime, and drive-by’s, they’re always committed by background-checked, LTC-carrying, curved visor Patriots hat wearing, overweight, bearded middle-aged white guys driving registered and insured late model crew cab pickup trucks with Gadsden flag bumper stickers.
Damn you NRA and your “gun culture!”
What these people fail to realize is, laws were never intended to control people, behavior or crime! Laws were intended to give the Judicial system a means to punish people who violate the Rights and Freedoms of others! No law will ever prevent a crime or stop a criminal.
When they start trying to write laws that control people or prevent crimes the only thing they accomplish is violating the Rights and Freedoms of the law abiding, the very people that would have never committed the crime in the first place!
If laws prevented crime, the one banning assault is all we’d ever need.
John O'Brien
June 28, 2023 at 2:33 pm
“Zakarin urged state lawmakers to pass an omnibus bill that ensures people who are licensed to carry don’t have dangerous histories and that they receive training on gun ownership”
the state already mandates background checks, and people with “violent histories” are already banned from LEGALLY owning/possessing firearms. Clearly Zakarin’s ignorance knows no bounds, if she’s going to have an opinion on a subject, she should at least be made to prove she has BASIC KNOWLEDGE of the subject before any media outlets take her seriously.
Emilia
July 10, 2023 at 9:22 am
Why not ban any car that can go 30 mph over the speed limit. Speed causes deaths and there’s no need for a car to go that fast. Just because we already have laws against speeding and that it would make all current car owners criminals is no reason to miss the opportunity to save lives.