Thursday, January 17, 2013

An Open Letter to the Mass Legislature

Here is a copy of what I just sent to my reps on Beacon Hill


I am sorry, it feels like I am filling your inbox with email but I don’t know how else to express my frustration with how gun control is being handled and it just grows with each new news report.

I am a law abiding gun owner with a home, wife and three kids.  I have lived in this state all my live but I feel like I am a second class citizen.   I hold a Masters degree and am employed.  I have to pass a background check every six years to renew my permit.  I have to pass a check every time I purchase a gun.  My permit requires that I state if I have been hospitalized for any mental illness.  I am fingerprinted and that is sent to the state and Fed. . .

Yet after all this I am treated like a criminal for wanting to exercise my right to own a gun and I feel like Beacon Hill will keep piling it on until I have the right but can’t use it because of the cost.  I pay $100 for my permit every six years now they want me to buy insurance?  Why?  I have never hurt anyone.  How does this stop crime?  Buy one gun a month to stop folks from buying guns for the bad guys. . .  Why?  If I buy a gun with my clean record so I can see it to someone else that is a straw purchase and already illegal on the Federal Level – can’t we just enforce that law?

We currently can only get low capacity 10 round magazines in our state but now they want us to go to seven round?  Why?  Do you really think criminals will go to seven round mags?  Neither do I.  The most basic and most popular standard .22 rifle the Remington 10-22 is a 10 round mag/10 shot will that now be illegal in the state?

Please – we need to look at passing mental health laws, dealing with gang violence, and increasing the penalties for using ANY weapon (not just guns) in a crime if we want to fix things.  We need to fix our economy so kids have jobs and don’t get into gangs – they need a future that they can see. . .  Fixing these issues is a huge undertaking I agree, and we all need to work on it.  More restrictions on lawful gun owners won’t do any of that.

We need to admit we already have some of the strictest gun laws in the country and if we would just enforce them we would be fine.  We do not need new laws.  The good guys follow the laws, the criminals don’t.  Why are we treated as criminals when we follow the law?

I look forward to hearing from you and where you stand on these new gun laws being proposed.

Thank you for your time

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