Legislation to change Massachusetts gun laws would have far-reaching impact

The members of the Westminster Rod & Gun Club attending the most recent monthly meeting were unanimous in their vote to accept Adam Smith’s application for membership.

His is a familiar story: He’s been shooting firearms since he was 11 and was taught by his older relatives. Both of his grandfathers have military backgrounds, as do several of his friends. Now Smith, of Gardner, is looking for a quiet club where he can practice.

“I’m a recreational shooter,” Smith said, explaining that he shoots both rifles and pistols.

During the tour of the grounds, a small outdoor firing range and a small archery range, club President Matthew Pearson stresses the safety rules.

“We’re a small club, about 110 members,” Pearson said. The tour included an explanation of the log-in procedures, the times the range is open and member responsibilities - no glass targets, no shooting trash, no drinking, no drug use, guests coming with members must also hold a firearms license. Eye and ear protections are definitely a must.

Safety always front and center

Hanging on every wall in the small clubhouse, and at the range, are signs that reinforce the safety aspect:

• Always point a weapon away from people.

• Never touch the trigger until ready to fire.

• Keep the firearm unloaded until ready to use.

But even as they discussed club issues, including the increasing number of reported bear sightings in Massachusetts, members also discussed the bill filed June 2, An Act Modernizing Firearm Laws.

The legislation, which has yet to be assigned to a specific committee for hearings, would change gun ownership in the state in many far-reaching and fundamental ways. Right now it sits between the Joint Judiciary Committee, chaired by the bill’s author, Rep. Michael Day, D-Stoneham, and the Joint Committee on Public Safety.

“One of the most important duties we have as lawmakers is to ensure the health and safety of our residents, and neither a rogue Supreme Court nor increasingly sophisticated criminal activity will stop this Legislature from meeting those duties,” said Day. “Massachusetts has the lowest rate of gun-related deaths in the continental United States because our firearms laws work. This proposal will modernize our laws to continue to promote and encourage responsible gun ownership and will provide our communities with the tools they need to combat gun violence in our streets."

After reading through the bill and a synopsis prepared by the state Gun Owners Action League, Pearson came to the conclusion that “this is a dangerous bill for gun owners.”

On its website, GOAL renamed the bill as the Lawful Citizen’s Imprisonment Act.

The bill was commissioned by legislative leaders who requested a review of existing state firearms laws. Day also embarked on a “listening tour,” stopping at about 12 locations around the state to hold hearings.

The end result fills 140 pages and addresses issues ranging from the prohibition of untraceable ghost or kit guns to the storage and transportation of firearms, age restrictions and even whether police officers are allowed to carry weapons when not on duty.

The bill includes a requirement that all firearm components to be microetched with unique serial numbers. It also would require all license holders to take a firearms safety and training courses that includes live fire, deescalation training measures and even how to react in active shooter incidents.

Bill proposes to restrict youth access to firearms

Under the bill, teenagers can start to apply for a firearms ID card at 14 with parental permission, but only for a “long gun.” However, they will not receive the card until they turn 15 and can only purchase a firearm at 21.

One club member said that it seemed as if the state’s aim is to prevent younger people from becoming involved in shooting.

The changes could also adversely impact the Boy Scouts of America and its firearm safety courses. The rifle course and shotgun merit badges course are Scouting's two most popular badge courses.

“We teach gun safety,” said Mark Barbernitz, executive director of the Heart of New England Council, which has a camping facility at Treasure Valley in Rutland and a second campsite in New Hampshire. Scouts as young as 11 are allowed to participate in the rifle course. The shotgun course is offered subsequent to the rifle course and is open to Scouts 14 and older.

“We will, of course, comply with state laws,” Barbernitz said. More than 100 Scouts participate weekly in the rifle merit badge and shotgun merit badge course at Treasure Valley. Another 100 Scouts participate weekly at the New Hampshire location.

“Our gun-safety record is impeccable,” Barbernitz said, adding that the progressive courses are taught by National Rifle Association-certified instructors, one-on-one with an adult and in controlled and safe environments.

The Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, a consortium of more than 100 organizations, dedicated to eradicating gun violence in the state, wants to see the bill move into committee for a hearing.

Legislation on ghost guns, data hailed

“We’re happy to see a comprehensive, complex response to gun violence in Massachusetts,” said Ruth Zakarin, executive director of the organization, adding that gun violence is a complex issue. The Legislature has taken to heart some of the priorities championed by the organization, particularly ghost guns.

“These are showing up in our communities with increased frequency,” Zakarin said. Ghost guns are those that come as kits or that can be created on 3D printers. These firearms have no serial number and can be untraceable.

Zakarin also welcomed language that would shore up the collection and analysis of data pertaining to guns retrieved after a shooting incident, as well as language that supports investment in community-based solutions to gun violence.

“We need to fund gun-violence prevention,” Zakarin said. “Our core value is upholding community safety and preventing the trauma of gun violence. People have a right to be safe, children have a right to be safe, in their schools, walking home, playing in their neighborhoods after school.”

The organization is not targeting hunters or sports shooters.

“That’s not what’s making humans unsafe,” Zakarin said. Regulations that take firearms out of the equation in volatile situations is a part of the focus of the coalition.

Gun legislation tracker gives Mass. A-

“Right now, our advocacy is to move the bill forward for a hearing,” Zakarin said.

According to the Gifford website, an organization that tracks gun laws and fights the prevalence of gun violence, Massachusetts gun laws rate an A-, on par with Connecticut. Other New England neighbors rank lower: Rhode Island gets a B+, New Hampshire and Maine get an F and Vermont gets a C-. Only California and New Jersey have earned an A.

The organization suggests two big steps Massachusetts could take to better its score is to enact legislation banning ghost guns and strengthening legislation regulating “assault-style” firearms and magazines.

The Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association is reviewing the proposed legislation.

“We met with Representative Day (July 11) to discuss the language that puts restrictions on carrying weapons in public places,” said Chief Thomas Fowler, the president of the organization and chief in Salisbury. “There are no exemptions made for off-duty police officers.”

While some state require off-duty officers to be armed, Massachusetts only requires that they act if they are witness to a felony.

The legislation also outlines “prohibited areas,” where carrying weapons, either loaded or unloaded, is not allowed. These areas include governmental buildings, including municipal structures, all primary, secondary and postsecondary schools, courts or judicial buildings, voting areas and privately owned buildings.

The only exceptions is for law enforcement officers (or private security) while in the performance of their official duties. All others must seek permission.

Requiring all firearms, components have serial numbers

The measure that requires all firearms and ancillary devices like grips, muzzles and magazines, clips or other feeder devices to be etched with unique serial numbers adds a huge burden to law enforcement, Fowler said.

Etching serial numbers on police firearms would be time-consuming. Added to that would be the task of ensuring all gun owners complied with the mandate and then collecting those numbers.

“How will we collect that information, who will maintain the database?” Fowler asked. And collectors of firearms, especially antique arms, could be loathe to etch their guns, anticipating a decline in value if the weapon is defaced.

As he discussed the proposed new laws, Fowler also noted that certain laws already on the books could be enforced to mitigate gun violence.

“Not all district attorneys enforce the law the same way,” Fowler said, explaining that the mandatory yearlong sentence for an individual arrested for carrying a firearm without a license is not always adhered to.

“We do support strong legislation around ghost guns,” Fowler said. He expects the association will work closely with the Legislature to find common ground on all the concerns mentioned.

However, Mark Leahy, the association’s executive director, said he doesn’t believe the bill makes anyone any safer.

“So frequently the underlying problem with gun violence is related to mental health issues,” Leahy said. In his years in law enforcement, he has seen a marked increase in mental health issues, and the lack of treatment options and facilities needed to address the problem.

Treating mental health issues and investing in options, Leahy believes, will go a long way to reduce random gun violence.

Office suggests Mass. address mental health issues

“You can take people to St. Vincent’s or Marlboro Hospital and dump them into already overcrowded emergency rooms,” Leahy said. However, few treatment options exist for people in Massachusetts suffering from mental health crisis. Changing the state’s already strong gun laws, Leahy said, will not make people any safer.

Frank Fredrickson, the director of governmental affairs for the Massachusetts Fraternal Order of Police, expects the bill to be fully vetted before legislators take any action on the 140-page proposal.

“It needs more discussion, more debate, more follow-through,” Fredrickson said.

He pointed to the measure that addresses firearm storage and transportation - firearms must be secured in a locked container that deter “all but the most persistent,” from gaining access.

“What does that mean?” Fredrickson asked. He wondered whether delivery services like the U.S. Postal Service, UPS and others will have to retrofit their delivery vans to accommodate new Massachusetts laws that seem to require armored-car type vehicles to transport firearms. How will that impact gun sellers?

James Wallace, a spokesman for GOAL, said that the legislation de facto makes it almost impossible to own a gun in Massachusetts.

Law-abiding gun owners into outlaws?

“If you own a gun, you won’t be able to leave your house with it,” Wallace said. In discussing the touted “listening tour,” Wallace accused Day of lying to gun owners who attended the meetings. He promised us that lawful gun owners were not being targeted but rather that the bill would streamline the state’s laws and mostly took aim mostly at ghost guns and requirements that all new gun owners participate in gun safety and a live fire class.

While Wallace agreed that requiring newly licensed gun owners to take a live fire class is commendable, the curriculum for training deescalation techniques and active shooter responses does not exist. “That would be a $1,000 course.”

At the Marlborough Fish & Game Association, a larger club with 43 acres, indoor and outdoor firing ranges and some 600 members, club leaders are still wading through the proposed bill.

The age restrictions outlined in the bill could curtail its Junior Rifle Program, which has been instructing youngsters between 10 and 18 for the last 70 years in firearms safety. Youngsters come from throughout Central Massachusetts to participate in the course. It meets Thursday nights and is open to all.

Course instructor Vinny Amatucci learned to shoot when he was 5 from his father, the instructor before him. He is a great believer in education and teaching youngsters about firearms safety and the right way to handle a weapon.

“We teach them how to handle a firearm, what to do if they find a firearm, and what not to do,” Amatucci said. While all youngsters are welcome, those that lack the maturity to handle a firearm correctly are asked to leave, not a very common occurrence.

Safety first, then fun

For Amatucci, safety is the first order, but a close second is having fun.

“If you’re not having fun, don’t do it,” Amatucci said. During his tenure, he has graduated nine distinguished expert shooters, as determined by the NRA. The club promotes camaraderie, self-confidence and skill.

Association President Tim Drummey said he started shooting, “plinking,” as a kid. He stayed with shooting as a sport because it accommodates all people, regardless of their background or physical challenges.

“It’s just you and the target,” Drummey said. The new measure, Drummey believes, and club executive Ed Shead agrees, will take the sport part out of shooting.

Criminals will disregard the new laws, which, they believe, will only impact law-abiding gun owners, making them outlaws in the state.

“The bill is impossible to understand in the first place,” Drummey said.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Massachusetts proposed law targets ghost guns, but so much more