Monday, February 11, 2013
Some blame out-of-state guns brought from New Hampshire and Maine.
Despite it's relatively strong gun laws, Massachusetts has seen a rise in the number of firearm-related injuries over the past decade, according to the Boston Globe. In particular, murders involving guns have gone up (188 percent), but so have aggravated assaults (26.7 percent), armed robberies (20.7 percent) using guns. The leap in these types of crime has occurred even as Massachusetts tightened its gun laws in 1998, including a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons, tougher licensing requirements and stricter rules on how guns are stored. Some are attributing the rise to the high number of guns brought in from out of state, especially from New Hampshire and Maine, which don't require a permit to buy a gun. "Those states alone accounted…
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/articles/massachusetts-gun-violence-up-despite-tougher-laws-on-firearms-f55140a3
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Thursday, January 17, 2013
Medford mayor says the president "has put forth sensible solutions" to the nation's gun issues.
On Wednesday, Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn posted following statement on the city website in response to President Barack Obama's new proposals regarding gun control and reducing gun violence: Mayors Against Illegal Guns have been lobbying the United States Congress to help end our nation’s epidemic of gun violence. I am grateful that President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden stepped forward on this critical issue. As President Obama stated: 'I am charged with ensuring the safety of all American people'. I believe he has put forth sensible solutions that people on all sides of the gun debate can agree upon. President Obama has provided common sense proposals that will help save American lives and keep our children and …
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Medford City Hall
85 George P Hassett Dr, Medford, MA
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Gov. Deval Patrick unveiled legislation on Wednesday that would tighten gun control laws in Massachusetts while increasing funding for mental health services and enhance background checks. Is this sensible, or reactionary?
Are new proposed laws regarding guns in Massachusetts and mental health services sensible and pragmatic steps, or reactionary measures that won't increase safety? Gov. Deval Patrick introduced new legislation Wednesday along those lines in the wake of the school shootings in Newtown, CT. "I am encouraged by the palpable consensus in our Legislature that the time for action is now. All of us must pull in the same direction to bring about real change in this state and across the country," Patrick said in a press release. The bill would require gun purchasers to undergo background checks at gun shows, reduce access to high-powered rounds of ammunition, and limit licensed individuals to purchasing a maximum of one gun per month. Punishments …
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
What are your thoughts on President Obama's proposals to curb gun violence?
Today President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden unveiled a number of efforts aimed at curbing gun violence in the United States. Massachusetts is home to some of the toughest gun control laws in the country, with local members of Congress urging the federal government do more to prevent tragedies like that in Newtown, Conn. The state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security provided Patch with a summary of active firearms permits in Medford from 2008 through 2012. Here are the numbers for Medford: More information on the kinds of firearms permits available in Massachusetts can be found here. What are your thoughts on President Obama's proposals to curb gun violence? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.
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City of Medford Police Department
100 Main St, Medford, MA
/articles/see-medford-s-active-firearms-permits
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Friday, January 11, 2013
Congressman Ed Markey sent a letter to Vice President Joe Biden Wednesday calling for a new assault weapons ban and improved background checks, among other measures.
Congressman Ed Markey sent a letter to the vice president Wednesday with proposed recommendations for his task force on guns. In the letter (attached), the Malden Democrat asks Joe Biden to consider recommending “a new assault weapons ban that includes all semi-automatic weapons capable of accommodating an ammunition magazine greater than 10 rounds.” He also asks the vice president to consider “a ban on ‘drums’ or ‘magazines’ of ammunition that can carry more than 10 bullets, which were used to deadly effect in both the Newtown and Aurora kilings.” “These are weapons designed for war – not for hunting or protecting one’s home – and have no purpose except to kill as many people as possible without the need to reload,” Markey wrote. In the …
Friday, December 21, 2012
More than 750 mayors from around the country, including 22 from Massachusetts, are urging President Obama for stronger gun control in the wake of the Newtown, Ct. school shooting.
On Wednesday, Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn joined more than 750 mayors from around the country, who are part of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) coalition, signing a letter to call on President Barack Obama and Congress to pass stricter gun control legislation. The letter comes in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, when a 20-year-old man shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children, at a school in Newtown, Conn., his mother and himself. "With all the carnage from gun violence in our country, it's still almost impossible to believe that a mass shooting in a kindergarten class could happen," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement. Bloomberg is Co-Chair of MAIG. "We heard after Columbine …
Monday, December 10, 2012
A Massachusetts gun owners group is lobbying for passage of a bill that would confer lifetime gun licenses—no renewals necessary.
Way too much red tape. That's the complaint of the Gun Owners’ Action League of Massachusetts, a group that is urging passage of a law that would abolish the requirement of having to renew a gun permit every six years, according to the Boston Herald. For comparison, Massachusetts vehicle drivers' licenses need to be renewed every five years. But the league says local police cannot keep up with timely gun permit renewals, and legitimate gunowners go license-less until the cops get time to do the paperwork. The law now allows 40 days for turning around license applications. In Boston, almost 1,000 people have applied for gun permits so far this year, with waits running about 10 weeks, the Herald quotes police spokeswoman Cheryl Fiandaca as …
Wind Dummy 25
5:14 pm on Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Fatty that's the beauty of having an issue. If you don't have one make one . Look at the latest nut, the guy with the knife the other day on a campus in Texas. Unlike recent high-profile attacks where guns were used, Tuesday's incident likely won't lead to national debates on knife safety or tighter regulations on their sales, said James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in … more ›