Gun Owners Rally In Boston

Yesterday Fox News Boston and GOAL (Gun Owners’ Action League).org reported on a rally held at the statehouse in Boston by gun owners protesting the new laws being discussed in the state and in Washington.

Fox News reports:

Gov. Patrick unveiled a bill on Wednesday that would tighten access to high-powered rounds of ammunition, create four new types of firearms-related crimes and mandate buyers to undergo background checks before purchasing weapons at gun shows. It would also restrict gun owners to purchasing one firearm a month.

The bill would also allow Mass. courts to send all relevant mental health records to the state’s criminal justice information system so the federal government could include this information in a national gun license registry. Patrick said that would bring Massachusetts into compliance with the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

The bill includes $5 million for Department of Mental Health programs, including training teachers to recognize symptoms of mental illness in students.

The only part of this proposed legislation that would have any impact on recent mass murders in America is the mental illness aspect of this. I have no problem with criminal background checks for gun owners, but I have a major problem with a national gun license registry. No one needs to know who has a gun and who does not.

The article at GOAL.org reports:

For years Massachusetts residents who lawfully own firearms have endured abusive restrictions and regulation which do nothing to lower crime and in fact have had the opposite effect.

Today, in the shadow of more legislation introduced over the last week by Governor Patrick and Rep. Linsky, many concerened citizens said “enough” and stepped out into the light to make their voice heard and to say “no more”.

All who attended were concerned about this new legislation, having witnessed the failure of the acts of 1998, and knowing that this increased scrutiny will only lead to the criminalization of the law abiding.

We need to remember as we listen to this debate that new laws will not impact criminals–they don’t follow the laws to begin with. New laws will only impact law abiding citizens. Is that really our intention?

Enhanced by Zemanta