Massachusetts Has gun control

Please, put this sign on your lawn too. Be proud to be against gun violence. Don't just talk the talk. Walk the walk.



Strangely, though, my home has been burglarized more than any other house on the street. I'm still trying to figure that one out. Oh well.

Anyway, as this video proves, guns make good people do bad things. We are proudly unarmed and not afraid.



https://youtu.be/cj3v78UPK3A

This is great news

Since when? The newspaper is full of shootings, guns seized, guns found. A friend's son was 17 and shot at a housing project. Never found out who killed him. What's sad is in interviews she made him sound like a good kid. He was living in another city, a ward of the state juvenile detention system. He came home to visit and they got him. She paid $500 for the gun that killed him, but the seller would not say where he got it No prints but confirmation that it was the gun.

This town has very little crime usually but every so often, it's big news. I haven't seen a police car yet in nine months here. But I'm off the grid, on a small country road. Near the beach, I expect to hear cop sirens in the summer.

It's not gun control we need, it's people control. Stop giving short or suspended sentences. Get tough on gun control by being tough on offenders.

Pam, do you think the demographics of your town have anything to do with the crime rate?

You always seem to be so outraged and scream racism a lot around here but the town you live in has literally a 10th of a percent of blacks there.


A 10th of a percent lol


Not 1%


A tenth of 1%.


I mean, you figure someone who spearheads anti-racism campaigns here daily would live in a little more diverse area?

Parents are responsible for everything their offspring does. Shitty parents raise shitty kids that turn into shitty adults. I won't be surprised when the time comes that our government starts sterilizing the population, limiting the rights to have children, or decides to take them away at birth.

Check New Bedford Mass. I’ve only been here nine months. It’s definitely not a diverse town. Check Fall River too. It’s the city next to me. Factory city, immigrants, diversified.

New Bedford has about 15% Cape Verdean population which many consider black.

Um, you have had it for a while and you are in the state with lowest murder typically in the us as a % of population. Yes, you still have crime but at a much lower rate than the rest of the US.

So do nothing is your vote? You would still have a gun if you wanted one. And just a heads up burglary is down by 75% nationwide in my lifetime and less people have guns now then when I was born.

Btw I easily could have had that sign up my last house with no issues. My neighbors would not have run over to rob me. I now live in a downtown condo and could also have that sign up here.

Not sure if people know this but crime is really down - Massachusetts Crime Rates 1960 - 2016

Yeah but I'm not talking about surrounding towns and cities, I'm talking about where you choose to live. If I recall correctly I believe you said you used to live in Fairhaven? Not much diversity there either.

Westport is a tenth of 1% black.

Fairhaven has two-tenths of 1 percent black.

Not 1 percent

two-tenths of 1 percent lol

Massachusetts has the lowest gun death rate in the country.

gun control works

Yeah but if you look at Maine they have some of the most lax gun laws in the coutnry and are not far behind Mass when it comes to gun death rates.

Tell that to people in Roxbury, Dorchester or Mattapan.

I’ve not said we’re a gun-toting state. This law must have passed when I was in a coma.

I’m glad but would like to see comparative yearly stats since ‘05

New Bedford. Quite diverse with maybe three dozens Jews. 75% Portuguese immigrants, Cape Verdean immigrants, Central America immigrants and several dozen Native Americans.

A few Russian immigrants, and other assorted nationalities.

Fairhaven was not very diverse when I lived there. I was in Chelsea for a year. The year Charles Stuart jumped from the bridge. Almost no white people there. All Latino from other countries.

I grew up with every ethnic group, color and religion. I saw so much prejudice that I hate it.

feel free to look that up and post it here and prove the thread wrong. I can admit when I'm incorrect and prefer to embrace reality anyway.

But I'm confident knowing already that gun control works. The graphic I posted is a very straight forward illustration of that.

This may be an extreme example. But I'm simply demonstrating to you how the very lives of those who don't have guns, have always been the playthings of those who do. That's just the way its always been.

I don't believe any of you should have guns.

that's certainly an extreme example.

Do you believe you should be the one with the guns or?

If you are looking for minorities, its Hispanics who are likely the largest group. I lived in MA for a few years. There simply isn't a lot of black people there.

I don't know the reason why, but I will say black people you meet there are usually very much normal members of society and not the gang banging murdering thugs you are looking for. Usually it's the Hispanics that are the gang bangers there.

You would probably be hard pressed to find black people who walk around with their pants falling down for example. Maybe in some of the bigger cities but most of MA is small town rural areas. Hell many towns don't even have police departments.

You must have lived out in the Western part of the state. Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, Onset (mostly Cape Verdean) and the South/West End of New Bedford are mostly black.

If you’re talking places with Hispanics, try Lowell, Chelsea or can’t-think-of-the-name-of-neighborhood in Boston.

Lowell also has gang-bangers of Chinese descent. I’ve not read of many Hispanic gang-related shootings other than Lowell or Worcester (pronounced Woohster not Worchester).

Common sense gun laws are not here

No, I’m not saying you’re incorrect. I’m seriously interested in seeing stats before and after this went through.

Did some quick research on this. Quite shocking the commonwealth rate is so low. I’ll search for those stats since I’m still curious. I remember New Bedford had a “turn in a gun and get free McDonald’s gift cards” campaign a dozen or more years ago and over 100 weapons were turned in. I think it was $100 gift cards per gun or something substantial. My parents had a handgun in the house after my father closed his business. He wanted to sell it, unused, but Mom said to give it to the police. That’s where it went. I knew it was in the house but never found it.

Are Massachusetts Gun Laws a Model for the Country?

The state has the lowest gun death rate in the country. Congress is considering a bill that would incentivize other states to copy its firearm policies

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey introduced a bill this month that would incentivize other states to adopt his state's gun laws, which advocates say have helped make Massachusetts the home of the lowest gun death rate in the country.

In 2016, 3.4 people per 100,000 died of gun violence in Massachusetts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By comparison, in slightly less-populous Tennessee, the firearms death rate was nearly five times that, at 17.3 per 100,000.

The legislation comes in the wake of the Parkland, Fla., shooting, which killed 17 students and teachers and fueled nationwide calls for gun control. This past weekend, more than a million Americans participated in "March for Our Lives" protests around the country

Markey's bill would allocate $20 million in Department of Justice grants each year for the next five years to states that adopt laws like those in Massachusetts.

Most well-known is the state's ban on assault weapons, signed in 2004 by GOP Gov. Mitt Romney, who is currently running for U.S. Senate. The state also requires gun dealers to conduct background checks, mandates private sellers to verify that buyers have a valid gun license, bans “mentally defective” people from owning firearms, and requires weapons to be unloaded and locked away when not in use.

Those laws are far from common, but six states and D.C. ban assault weapons, as well as threaten criminal penalties for storing guns improperly around children. Five states let families and police remove guns from people determined to be at risk of harming themselves or others, going even further than Massachusetts' "mentally defective" statute.

Last year, Massachusetts became the first state to ban rapid-firing bump stocks after the Las Vegas shooting. At least 15 states are currently considering similar bans, and several others have tightened up restrictions already in place.

But the state's gun policy touted most by Markey is one not often mentioned in debates on gun control at the national level. It gives police chiefs the authority to deny, suspend or revoke licenses for handguns and long guns.

“The involvement of police chiefs in the licensing process is key. We can’t overstate that enough,” Markey said at a press conference about his bill earlier this month.

Gun policy experts say this part of the law has been instrumental in keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people.

“There are lots of cases where the police will go to a house multiple times for domestic violence, but there will be no charges or restraining order or anything,” says Jack McDevitt, who helped draft the state's gun laws as the former chair of the Massachusetts Committee to Reduce Gun Violence. “That person is not federally prohibited, but the police know this is a dangerous person. So they could turn his license application down.”

That doesn't mean police are rejecting gun applications left and right. McDevitt says 97 percent of gun license applicants in the state receive their license, suggesting that police aren't being overly restrictive about who can own a gun.

Still, gun rights groups have adamantly opposed the police-approval law in Massachusetts, arguing that it can result in law-abiding citizens losing their right to arm themselves.

Federal courts, however, struck down a challenge to the state law that claimed it violated the Second Amendment.

The law is a fairly unique one. Currently, only five other states and the District of Columbia have enacted a law allowing local law enforcement to approve or deny gun licenses -- California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois and New Jersey.

The bill introduced by Markey, a Democrat, doesn't have great chances for passage. The Republican-controlled Congress is unlikely to advance a bill that touts some of the strictest gun regulations in the country. The legislation will, however, bring light to Massachusetts' gun laws at a time when they are being debated in statehouses across the country.

But while Massachusetts' gun laws have had Republican support, it remains to be seen if many of these policies will be politically feasible in more conservative states. Republican politicians in Massachusetts have historically been more open to gun regulations. Charlie Baker, for instance, was the first Republican governor to join the States for Gun Safety, a multistate coalition meant to reduce gun violence and enact stricter gun regulations after the Parkland shooting. He has also come out in favor of a national ban on assault weapons.

Gun laws are not the only factor in Massachusetts’ low gun death rate. Gun ownership in the state, for instance, is low. And some states with even more restrictive gun laws -- like California -- have higher rates of gun death.

But McDevitt says the numbers speak for themselves.

“Massachusetts went from being the third-safest state to the safest state after the 2014 law,” he says. “We believe other states could benefit from this."

I was on the state line with CT, betwen Webster and Southbridge.. When I say state line I mean it as one driveway was in CT the other in MA.

nice find! interesting that romney was the gov who signed the assault style weapons ban.

i'm all for this bill too. good idea for a bill.

You do this to everyone who tells you where they currently live, as if their whole life history comes from the exact place they live right now today.

And you never tell us where you live Mr. Anonymous.

You're retarded (no offense) to make such a false equivalency based in someone's current residence

Living in Hong Kong, I don't know anyone that owns a gun, but everyone has a big can of bear mace and a samurai sword in their homes.

Don't you think it's hypocritical to be all for diversity yet live in a town/city that's only a one-tenth of ONE percent black?

Not if you didn’t have a choice of where to live. And, just because the town in nearly completely white doesn’t mean I don’t have the right to be for equality and against racism.

I lived in Provincetown but am straight. I lived in Seabrook but am against nukes.

Where I live doesn’t determine my thoughts.

I think if you espouse diversity you should live in a diverse place, and that certainly mean a place that has more than one-tenth of a percent blacks living in it.

And, again, i didn’t have many choices of where to live. Bad section of New Bedford, Fall River (slum), Taunton (too far and rundown) or here. I know this town, visited a farm (on weekends to collect eggs) at five years old to about ten years old that’s still here, love living near the ocean and I like the privacy of no close neighbors.

Diversity is here. Many are very wealthy, senior citizens, Christian, mobile and think they’re better than others— all things I’m NOT.

I’m not influenced by those around me. They can look down at people for race, color, creed, ethnicity, social standing, financial status, car model, weight or sexual orientation. I choose not to and if they don’t like it, they can ignore me or try and argue. No one wins such an argument so I don’t bother. A simple, “we have differing views. Trying to change an opinion is like trying to wrestle an alligator — waste of time.”

I’m sure people around the corner in multi—million dollar homes look down on smaller homes with only half-an-acre of land and landscaping. Do I care? Do I feel less of a person? Nope. Their opinion doesn’t matter to me. I’m open-minded, not prejudiced and hold my head up proudly. I can live with me happily.

I’m not conforming to my environment. Nor do I force them to conform to mine.

I'm familiar with all those cities, so all your choices were very diverse places...and you chose the lily whitest town in Massachusetts. Literally one-tenth of a one percent black.

You mean..diverse group of white people? lol sorry Pam, that's not considered "diversity."

I think Weston is whiter.

I chose familiarity, safety, and space in a new house. You can call it what you want, but you’re dead wrong. Considering I spent part of my day at the doctor accompanied by a nurse who is black, who often takes care of me, I’d say it’s not an issue. I don’t see her as a black nurse; I see her as a nurse who is black.

Hen asked who took me, I said “the nurse.” Which one? “Antoniette.” Never occurred to me to say “the black one” or “a black one” since three are black.

You want to paint me as a racist for choosing a wealthy, white neighborhood. You don’t consider it’s close to Horseneck Beach, quiet, private and the house was built this summer past.

You obviously can’t open your mind to people being accepting and not racist. Perhaps your own racist thoughts and beliefs cloud your judgment.

What is your problem with skin color oh my fucking god lol it's pathological dude all you care about is the race of people that surround the people you communicate with her it's really bizarre. You are pathological about race it's not healthy.

lol no i'm not. It has to do with the thread at hand dealing with hypocrites.

It's like all the anti-gun people refuse to put a sign saying their house is gun free and Pam is always promoting diversity yet chose to live in the most lily white town in Massachusetts, second only to mine

Weston is whiter. But I chose to live here due for the reasons I stated. I doubt you’re from Weston or remotely close. Given your opinions, you’re probably around Newton. I had relatives there so know the type.

You want to fight and argue like a schoolyard bully. You’re convinced I’m not for diversity or equality and lie about not being racist. It’s okay, pumpkin, you can admit you’re wrong and still hold your head up here. Your shiny crown is a little less shiny but no one is perfect, even if you think you are.

😘