It’s a shame I can’t republish this whole editorial. It is a masterpiece of misdirection; long on emotion, ludicrously lacking in anything even remotely resembling facts. And needlessly neglectful of perspective; what is the cost – benefit ratio of this feel-good measure? Suffice it to say, you can click here for the whole smear. I mean, schmeer. And Cheetos? Really Yvonne Abraham? Cheetos?
Will it really kill legal gun owners if we restrict them to one gun purchase a month? It may kill children if we don’t.
In some neighborhoods, it’s as easy to get your hands on a pistol as on a bag of Cheetos. We’re battling an epidemic of gun violence in this state, with 14-year-olds dying. We have to do something about gangs. But we also have to do something about guns.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives traced 1,000 of the illegal guns recovered from criminals and crime scenes in Massachusetts last year and found that more than a third were originally bought — legally — right here.
How did they get into the bad guys’ hands? Some were stolen. And some were acquired through straw purchases: That’s where legitimate buyers purchase multiple weapons, then sell them illegally on the street.
Legislation being considered on Beacon Hill would limit gun buys to one every 30 days, making it impossible for traffickers to buy in bulk in Massachusetts. It wouldn’t solve all our gun problems — not even close — but it would certainly help limit the local supply line . . .
“I call it the lawful citizens imprisonment act,’’ James Wallace, executive director of the gun owners’ league, told me at the State House this week. He says it’s outrageous that his law-abiding wife won’t be allowed to buy two shotguns at a gun-shop sale any more.
“Where are the straw purchases?’’ he asked. “Nobody has come to us with any evidence.’’
Wallace is being cute here. For years, it has been almost impossible to trace patterns of gun sales, and resales, because of federal rules his NRA helped put in place: Those rules prohibit the ATF from releasing information about how a gun made its way from factory to crime scene, shielding manufacturers from lawsuits.
Gun advocates like Wallace are Second Amendment absolutists . . . Suggest that the Second Amendment might not mean completely untrammeled access to guns, and talk turns to camels and tents. Question any of the freedoms enjoyed by gun owners and you’re only inches away from the government coming into our homes, confiscating our weapons, and subjecting us to a dictatorship . . .
This is crazy. By failing to give even a fraction of an inch on their reading of the Second Amendment, the NRA imperils the safety of all of us.
The same is true in Massachusetts. Some gun enthusiasts feel they need to buy more than 12 guns a year. Some parents in our besieged cities know they need fewer guns on the street. We live in a world where we have to find a reasonable balance between those needs.
This bill is it.
The strangest thing is,since Virginia enacted the one-gun-a-month anti-gun law,many of the politicians who supported it have been put out of office,never to feed again at the public trough.Violent crimes have not decreased in the years since,and the fascist mayor of New Yawk is still attacking gun dealers claiming that 'lax' gun laws contribute to his failure to stop the rotten apple's violence.If only he paid more attention to how often NY's criminal class is the cause of violence all over the east coast.If only the anti-gun crowd had the integrity to admit that rationing schemes haven't solved any problems except the excess of anti-gun politicians where such stupidity is enacted.
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