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State House votes to amend ,expand gun rights
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
State House votes to amend landmark law, expand gun rights
By JENNIFER PETER
The Associated Press
7/11/02 2:56 AM
BOSTON (AP) -- The Massachusetts House has voted to amend the state's landmark gun control law, passing a bill that would let citizens convicted of most violent misdemeanors regain their right to carry concealed weapons.
The House adopted the change Wednesday, 114-32, after a heated debate fueled by a recent spate of shooting crimes, including the death of a 10-year-old girl in Boston last week. The bill would still have to pass the Senate and be signed by the governor to become law.
The existing 1998 gun control law is widely lauded as the nation's toughest. Under the law, people convicted of violent crimes -- including violent misdemeanors such as simple assault and minor drug crimes -- cannot apply for a license to carry a hand gun or assault weapon.
Champions of the bill passed Wednesday argued that the law unfairly bars relatively minor offenders from hunting in Massachusetts by too broadly defining "violent" crime.
"Someone driving unlicensed or uninsured would be ... excluded right along with the ax murderers," said Rep. James Fagan, D-Taunton.
The bill would allow people convicted of violent misdemeanors -- except for domestic assault on a family member -- to apply to the local police chief for a gun license seven years after completion of the sentence. Police chiefs could reject the request.
Opponents unsuccessfully tried to amend the bill to give those convicted of violent misdemeanors the right to hunt, but not to carry a concealed handgun or assault weapon.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0453_BC_MassachusettsGunLaw&&news&newsflash-national
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
By JENNIFER PETER
The Associated Press
7/11/02 2:56 AM
BOSTON (AP) -- The Massachusetts House has voted to amend the state's landmark gun control law, passing a bill that would let citizens convicted of most violent misdemeanors regain their right to carry concealed weapons.
The House adopted the change Wednesday, 114-32, after a heated debate fueled by a recent spate of shooting crimes, including the death of a 10-year-old girl in Boston last week. The bill would still have to pass the Senate and be signed by the governor to become law.
The existing 1998 gun control law is widely lauded as the nation's toughest. Under the law, people convicted of violent crimes -- including violent misdemeanors such as simple assault and minor drug crimes -- cannot apply for a license to carry a hand gun or assault weapon.
Champions of the bill passed Wednesday argued that the law unfairly bars relatively minor offenders from hunting in Massachusetts by too broadly defining "violent" crime.
"Someone driving unlicensed or uninsured would be ... excluded right along with the ax murderers," said Rep. James Fagan, D-Taunton.
The bill would allow people convicted of violent misdemeanors -- except for domestic assault on a family member -- to apply to the local police chief for a gun license seven years after completion of the sentence. Police chiefs could reject the request.
Opponents unsuccessfully tried to amend the bill to give those convicted of violent misdemeanors the right to hunt, but not to carry a concealed handgun or assault weapon.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/national/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0453_BC_MassachusettsGunLaw&&news&newsflash-national
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878