Dark Avenger
New member
. . . and I will be arming myself with more Pepto for my churning stomach and homorebrew to keep my blood pressure down. 
Read the last paragraph first to get a good feel for her position. Also, her website is available at
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/member/caj0.htm
http://www.townonline.com/needham/n...l/989895_0_gun-control_010401_3f0d2349f8.html
Add your $.02 on this topic on the discussion forum on the newspaper's site:
http://www.townonline.com/cgi-bin/WebX?230@^111617@.ee6ec4b
January 4, 2001
Gun-control advocates gearing up: Jacques
pressing ahead with new legislation
By WILLIAM BAKER
CNC STAFF WRITER
Following the tragedy at Edgewater Technology in
Wakefield, in which seven people were shot and killed,
allegedly by their co-worker, Michael McDermott, Sen.
Cheryl Jacques, D-Needham, is planning to introduce
legislation which seeks to ban the sale of all
assault-style weapons within the state of Massachusetts.
Police say McDermott was carrying an AK-47 assault rifle
and a shotgun when he was apprehended.
Jacques was chief sponsor of the 1998 bill that gave
Massachusetts one of the toughest gun-control laws in
the nation.
That law, in part, made gun owners responsible for safe
storage of their guns, stiffened penalties for improper
sales, changed licensing regulations, created a new
category of high-capacity weapons - capable of holding
10 rounds - and reinforced the federal ban on the sale or
possession of assault-style weapons made after Sept.
13, 1994.
Jacques' next bill looks to criminalize the sale of an
assault weapons made before Sept. 13, 1994.
People who already own assault weapons will be
grandfathered and allowed to own the guns, Jacques
said.
"We owe it to [the victims' families] to really dissect this
crime, find out what went wrong, and see how we can
prevent this from happening again," Jacques said.
"My hope is that no other family will have to suffer the
enormous tragedy that these families are suffering."
While Jacques believes that gun legislation passed on
the state level can "curb the level of violence," she
remains pessimistic about preventing such violent
outbursts as the Wakefield shootings until there is
national gun-control legislation.
"While we're number one, we're surrounded by states
that have among the most lenient laws in the country,"
Jacques said. "Guns have no borders."
Jacques doesn't see a bright future for federal gun-control
legislation with a Republican-controlled Congress and a
Republican president-elect.
"There is no magic solution, but we've got to try,"
Jacques said. "We can't just throw up our hands and give
up.
"I certainly will commit myself to trying to ensure that we
take all steps possible to prevent any families from going
through the type of pain that these families are going
through."
In addition to the proposal to close the assault weapons
loophole, Jacques is sponsoring the Ballistic
Fingerprinting Bill, and co-sponsoring with Sen. Cynthia
Creem, D-Newton, the Anti-Gun Trafficking Bill.
Both bills were proposed before the Dec. 26 Wakefield
massacre.
The Ballistic Fingerprinting Bill, which Jacques described
as the ballistic equivalent of DNA, will require all gun
manufacturers to provide both a discharged bullet and a
spent shell casing for every gun distributed for sale in
Massachusetts.
According to Jacques, every time a bullet is fired, the
gun's firing pin and barrel make unique marks on both the
bullet and the shell casing.
These unique markings are what is referred to as a
ballistic fingerprint.
The bill proposes to establish a databank with images of
a spent bullet and shell casing from every gun sold in the
state, aiding investigators in solving crimes involving gun
violence by allowing for the matching of crime scene
evidence - spent casings and bullets - against the
databank.
"If [the investigators] get a hit, it will help them by
telling them where that gun started," Jacques said.
Such a bill might, Jacques said, be useful in solving such
crimes as the recent murder of a Springfield police officer.
The Anti-Gun Trafficking Bill is a proposal to prohibit any
non-exempt individual from purchasing more than one
firearm or large-capacity weapon during any 30-day
period.
"This is targeting the illegal flow of guns on the black
market," Jacques said. "Every gun that is sold on the
black market starts out lawful."
Jacques hopes that the bill will eliminate what she called
"straw purchasers," licensed individuals who legally
purchase firearms then sell them to unlicensed
individuals at inflated prices.
The proposal is modeled on a similar law in the state of
Virginia.
Although Jacques has repeatedly voted for the
establishment of a death penalty in Massachusetts, she
remains critical of Gov. Paul Cellucci's insistence that the
death penalty will act as a crime deterrent.
"I think there isn't a person out there who believes that if
Massachusetts had the death penalty on the books that
Michael McDermott wouldn't have done what he did,"
Jacques said.
"I think the governor does a great disservice to the
people of Massachusetts by insisting otherwise. The
death penalty is a punishment, and that is all it is. You
shouldn't try to convince people that it is a solution for
stopping crime."
Jacques supports remarks made by Cardinal Bernard Law
during a prayer service for the family and friends of the
victims of the Wakefield shootings, in which he said: "we
must review laws restricting firearms and explosives, and
we must study the use of the Internet for clearly
antisocial purposes."
Cardinal Law referred to the Internet because McDermott
was reportedly trading bomb-making recipes in a usernet
chatroom.
"I applaud him," Jacques said. "I think that anything that
motivates people to do hateful acts, we should try to
curb that method. And when I say we, I mean that as a
human being, not as a lawmaker."
Jacques hopes that the awareness raised by the recent
tragedy will finally allow her to close the assault
weapons loophole, a concession that she was forced to
make in order to get her 1998 gun law legislation passed.
"I think people will now understand that assault weapons
have no place in a civilized society," Jacques said. "These
are high-powered, rapid-fire killing machines."
"I think people in the wake of a tragedy like Wakefield
will finally get that. We should ban all assault rifles, not
just set up some arbitrary date."
[Edited by Dark Avenger on 01-04-2001 at 02:22 PM]
Read the last paragraph first to get a good feel for her position. Also, her website is available at
http://www.state.ma.us/legis/member/caj0.htm
http://www.townonline.com/needham/n...l/989895_0_gun-control_010401_3f0d2349f8.html
Add your $.02 on this topic on the discussion forum on the newspaper's site:
http://www.townonline.com/cgi-bin/WebX?230@^111617@.ee6ec4b
January 4, 2001
Gun-control advocates gearing up: Jacques
pressing ahead with new legislation
By WILLIAM BAKER
CNC STAFF WRITER
Following the tragedy at Edgewater Technology in
Wakefield, in which seven people were shot and killed,
allegedly by their co-worker, Michael McDermott, Sen.
Cheryl Jacques, D-Needham, is planning to introduce
legislation which seeks to ban the sale of all
assault-style weapons within the state of Massachusetts.
Police say McDermott was carrying an AK-47 assault rifle
and a shotgun when he was apprehended.
Jacques was chief sponsor of the 1998 bill that gave
Massachusetts one of the toughest gun-control laws in
the nation.
That law, in part, made gun owners responsible for safe
storage of their guns, stiffened penalties for improper
sales, changed licensing regulations, created a new
category of high-capacity weapons - capable of holding
10 rounds - and reinforced the federal ban on the sale or
possession of assault-style weapons made after Sept.
13, 1994.
Jacques' next bill looks to criminalize the sale of an
assault weapons made before Sept. 13, 1994.
People who already own assault weapons will be
grandfathered and allowed to own the guns, Jacques
said.
"We owe it to [the victims' families] to really dissect this
crime, find out what went wrong, and see how we can
prevent this from happening again," Jacques said.
"My hope is that no other family will have to suffer the
enormous tragedy that these families are suffering."
While Jacques believes that gun legislation passed on
the state level can "curb the level of violence," she
remains pessimistic about preventing such violent
outbursts as the Wakefield shootings until there is
national gun-control legislation.
"While we're number one, we're surrounded by states
that have among the most lenient laws in the country,"
Jacques said. "Guns have no borders."
Jacques doesn't see a bright future for federal gun-control
legislation with a Republican-controlled Congress and a
Republican president-elect.
"There is no magic solution, but we've got to try,"
Jacques said. "We can't just throw up our hands and give
up.
"I certainly will commit myself to trying to ensure that we
take all steps possible to prevent any families from going
through the type of pain that these families are going
through."
In addition to the proposal to close the assault weapons
loophole, Jacques is sponsoring the Ballistic
Fingerprinting Bill, and co-sponsoring with Sen. Cynthia
Creem, D-Newton, the Anti-Gun Trafficking Bill.
Both bills were proposed before the Dec. 26 Wakefield
massacre.
The Ballistic Fingerprinting Bill, which Jacques described
as the ballistic equivalent of DNA, will require all gun
manufacturers to provide both a discharged bullet and a
spent shell casing for every gun distributed for sale in
Massachusetts.
According to Jacques, every time a bullet is fired, the
gun's firing pin and barrel make unique marks on both the
bullet and the shell casing.
These unique markings are what is referred to as a
ballistic fingerprint.
The bill proposes to establish a databank with images of
a spent bullet and shell casing from every gun sold in the
state, aiding investigators in solving crimes involving gun
violence by allowing for the matching of crime scene
evidence - spent casings and bullets - against the
databank.
"If [the investigators] get a hit, it will help them by
telling them where that gun started," Jacques said.
Such a bill might, Jacques said, be useful in solving such
crimes as the recent murder of a Springfield police officer.
The Anti-Gun Trafficking Bill is a proposal to prohibit any
non-exempt individual from purchasing more than one
firearm or large-capacity weapon during any 30-day
period.
"This is targeting the illegal flow of guns on the black
market," Jacques said. "Every gun that is sold on the
black market starts out lawful."
Jacques hopes that the bill will eliminate what she called
"straw purchasers," licensed individuals who legally
purchase firearms then sell them to unlicensed
individuals at inflated prices.
The proposal is modeled on a similar law in the state of
Virginia.
Although Jacques has repeatedly voted for the
establishment of a death penalty in Massachusetts, she
remains critical of Gov. Paul Cellucci's insistence that the
death penalty will act as a crime deterrent.
"I think there isn't a person out there who believes that if
Massachusetts had the death penalty on the books that
Michael McDermott wouldn't have done what he did,"
Jacques said.
"I think the governor does a great disservice to the
people of Massachusetts by insisting otherwise. The
death penalty is a punishment, and that is all it is. You
shouldn't try to convince people that it is a solution for
stopping crime."
Jacques supports remarks made by Cardinal Bernard Law
during a prayer service for the family and friends of the
victims of the Wakefield shootings, in which he said: "we
must review laws restricting firearms and explosives, and
we must study the use of the Internet for clearly
antisocial purposes."
Cardinal Law referred to the Internet because McDermott
was reportedly trading bomb-making recipes in a usernet
chatroom.
"I applaud him," Jacques said. "I think that anything that
motivates people to do hateful acts, we should try to
curb that method. And when I say we, I mean that as a
human being, not as a lawmaker."
Jacques hopes that the awareness raised by the recent
tragedy will finally allow her to close the assault
weapons loophole, a concession that she was forced to
make in order to get her 1998 gun law legislation passed.
"I think people will now understand that assault weapons
have no place in a civilized society," Jacques said. "These
are high-powered, rapid-fire killing machines."
"I think people in the wake of a tragedy like Wakefield
will finally get that. We should ban all assault rifles, not
just set up some arbitrary date."
[Edited by Dark Avenger on 01-04-2001 at 02:22 PM]