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Related: About this forumCompromise Massachusetts gun bill heads to Legislature with tentative agreement on both sides
http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/07/compromise_massachusetts_gun_b.htmlCompromise Massachusetts gun bill heads to Legislature with tentative agreement on both sides
Shira Schoenberg | sschoenberg@repub.com By Shira Schoenberg | sschoenberg@repub.com
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on July 31, 2014 at 12:58 PM, updated July 31, 2014 at 2:18 PM
Update, 1:50 p.m.: The Gun Owners' Action League officially came out in support of the bill on Thursday afternoon.
BOSTON House and Senate negotiators may have done the near-impossible on a bill reforming Massachusetts' gun laws: reached a compromise that pleases both advocates of gun rights and of gun control.
The main sticking point as the committee of conference was negotiating the bill, H. 4376 (read the full text of the bill at the end of this article), was whether to give local police chiefs discretion on whether to issue firearms identification cards, which are required to buy a shotgun or rifle....
...House Speaker Robert DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat, in the gun bill he proposed, would have given police chiefs the same discretion for a shotgun license as for a handgun license. Pro-gun advocates objected, saying the provision gave too much power to local police chiefs to deny a gun license for no reason. The Senate stripped that provision from their bill, angering gun control advocates.
Late Wednesday night, a committee of conference released its final bill. The bill says that if a person meets the qualifications for a firearms identification card, but a police chief thinks the person is unsuitable for a license, the police chief has 90 days to petition the District Court, and a judge must sign off on the designation. The compromise essentially gives the police chiefs discretion, but shifts the burden of proof by requiring the police chiefs to prove a person is unsuitable.
Shira Schoenberg | sschoenberg@repub.com By Shira Schoenberg | sschoenberg@repub.com
Follow on Twitter
on July 31, 2014 at 12:58 PM, updated July 31, 2014 at 2:18 PM
Update, 1:50 p.m.: The Gun Owners' Action League officially came out in support of the bill on Thursday afternoon.
BOSTON House and Senate negotiators may have done the near-impossible on a bill reforming Massachusetts' gun laws: reached a compromise that pleases both advocates of gun rights and of gun control.
The main sticking point as the committee of conference was negotiating the bill, H. 4376 (read the full text of the bill at the end of this article), was whether to give local police chiefs discretion on whether to issue firearms identification cards, which are required to buy a shotgun or rifle....
...House Speaker Robert DeLeo, a Winthrop Democrat, in the gun bill he proposed, would have given police chiefs the same discretion for a shotgun license as for a handgun license. Pro-gun advocates objected, saying the provision gave too much power to local police chiefs to deny a gun license for no reason. The Senate stripped that provision from their bill, angering gun control advocates.
Late Wednesday night, a committee of conference released its final bill. The bill says that if a person meets the qualifications for a firearms identification card, but a police chief thinks the person is unsuitable for a license, the police chief has 90 days to petition the District Court, and a judge must sign off on the designation. The compromise essentially gives the police chiefs discretion, but shifts the burden of proof by requiring the police chiefs to prove a person is unsuitable.
And that will disappear once the first lawsuit is lost. As one commenter put it:
"The bill says that if a person meets the qualifications for a firearms identification card, but a police chief thinks the person is unsuitable for a license..."
USSC + Heller and Mcdonald = Whats the point? That will come crashing down as soon as the first lawsuit flies. Just a waste of taxpayers money trying to defend it. Do these people even take a millisecond to think about the bigger picture?
USSC + Heller and Mcdonald = Whats the point? That will come crashing down as soon as the first lawsuit flies. Just a waste of taxpayers money trying to defend it. Do these people even take a millisecond to think about the bigger picture?
Why do you think the Gun Owners' Action League endorsed it? They know the denial
process won't withstand a challenge in Federal court.
Anyway, this bill has a lot of good points, including opening up the background check
system to private sellers and strengthening reporting requirements, and needs to become law.
Thankfully the Democratic Senate leadership told the prohibitionists/authority lovers
to sit down and STFU:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1172149363
Attempt to broaden "may-issue" gets it in the slats in Massachusetts
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Compromise Massachusetts gun bill heads to Legislature with tentative agreement on both sides (Original Post)
friendly_iconoclast
Jul 2014
OP
Nuclear Unicorn
(19,497 posts)1. Good win on private sales BGC
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)2. This bill seems like a good one.
clffrdjk
(905 posts)3. I can't wait to see the check they will have to write
90 days before the police even has to make a desision. That is unacceptable, how about a 90 day wait time on political protest, voting, or hell just posting a news story to your blog.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)4. I don't like that provision either, and I don't think
it will stand scrutiny, hence my positive view of the legislation.