Massachusetts - Line in the sand, or more muttering?

Many thanks to the AG of MA. I think we can see the next front opening up on the Second Amendment. It took at lot of capitulation to get to this point and it will not be reversed with a demonstration. It will take time and many battles at the ballot box. These people will have to be defeat....them and anyone who supports them. Did I see the AG of MA wants to go for Gov. in 2002? Cut him off at the knees at the ballot box.

I'm not a single issue kinda guy, but I am now. I will NOT vote for anyone who takes a stand that is contrary to the Constitution of the United States or the Bill of Right, PERIOD. What we are looking at is much larger than just the Second Amendment, the entire concept of self-government is under attack. What we see with the second is merely the start.

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Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Barry Goldwater--1964
 
And now the Law of Unintended Consequences...

Today I drove to one of the bigger gun shops in the state. They had their lawyer read the AG's "consumer safety" rules, and his opinion is that they do not cover any gun made before 1998. Consequently, they have just had their biggest week ever selling used pistols. Hundreds of people have come in who never before considered buying a pistol -- just to get one before they become unavailable. When I got there I counted 14 people looking at used pistols. On a Sunday. This shop has sold several hundred more used pistols this past week than expected. Multiply this by the number of gun shops in the state, and we have between 5,000 and 50,000 more pistols being sold in the wake of the AG rules than would have been the case. Up to _50,000 more hand guns_ on the street in Massachusetts than if the AG had kept his nose out of other peoples' private business. I find this wonderfully ironic.
And people are _pissed!_ Perhaps this will make a difference in November.
 
Perhaps waiting a few weeks to post this might be better, but I'm not very good at taking advice, even my own.

So, for what it's worth:

In bumping about the web, I ran across this site which carries a lot of anti-gun articles: http://www.pcvp.org/pcvp/firearms/pub5.shtml

One of the articles is about why the ACLU is not supporting gun owners. Here is a direct link to it: http://www.aclu.org/library/aaguns.html

Also, you may not know it, but the ATF and the Federal Trade Commission do not deal with the issue of consumer safety and guns.

And the Consumer Products Safety Commission, by its charter, is exempted from regulating firearms. That is left to the Congress, the States, and Localities.

So the answer is, what did you expect to happen some day???

Even firecrackers are regulated. You can't carry guns on planes. Etc..

Also, why isn't the name of the NRA, the NHA? Is that an omen? Who will be offered up in defending whom?

When did the NRA learn about the regs, and what did they do about it? I understand that this situation did not come about overnight.

Get armed with information so you don't get taken by surprise.

I admit that I am slow to learn and woefully ignorant on pro and con gun issues, but I'm reading and learning. I'm also "Swiss" in regard to guns, and hope that I won''t become Swiss cheese.

In terms of dealing with what-is is, which handguns of which gun makers meet the new Mass. regs?

The gun industry associations or gun makers should be able to provide that info, and someone could start a thread on that to inform the rest. Glock and Ruger and Beretta don't do e-mail, but S&W does, so maybe one could start there.

Here is another thought. With the move of some police agencies to DAO only guns, and with the Mass regulation requirement of 10 lbs trigger pull, looks like the P&S shooting method and using the middle or left index finger to pull the trigger, will make more and more sense as time goes by.

I am for improved handgun shooting methods like P&S, and handguns with modified frames or grips with P&S Index Finger Rests. The finger rest is an adjunct to the P&S method of shooting. It makes guns easier to aim and safer to use. With one you will be much more likely to hit or kill the person you are trying to kill in a CQ situation. I have a patent on the P&S Index Finger Rest, so I am not perfectly impartial in regard to it. More info on P&S is available on my web page if you are interested: http://members.aol.com/okjoe/ps.htm

Lastly, getting pissed off is better than getting pissed on, but it is not very productive.

Get informed.
 
It would seem that a majority of SW's line is not eligible to be sold in their home state.

I think I will ask them their opinion of this move and whether they intend to move out of state to support the RKBA.

That would be an interesting question for Ed.
 
Here is my letter to Ed: :)

Dear Sir:

I wonder what is your opinion of the latest regulations announced by the MA AG?
I would seem that many of your handguns now can no longer be sold in your own state.

Do you feel that this is an attempt by executive decree to short circuit the legislative process
and deprive MA residents of many of your fine products?

I cannot believe that you would accept such regulations lying down.

Perhaps you could join with other gun makes in some joint united action that
might challenge this atrocity aimed at the RKBA and your fine company?

As an owner of 4 SW handguns, I urge to take action against such unethical pressure.

Perhaps, you might suggest to the owners that SW move, lock, stock and barrel, to
another gun friendly state - Nearby VT, NH or Maine would welcome you.
Or Texas might.

Thank you for your consideration.

Glenn E. Meyer, Ph.D.

ha ha!!
 
Here is waht i found out this weekend:

The only autos that are valid for sale are '3rd generation' S$W's

Most Revolvers are still valid for sale (i think.)

One gun shop owner said, "This is no big deal, it'll be business as usual in 6 weeks." I almost stopped breathing right then and there. A$$hole.

One gun shop owner told my dad that he was, "making arraingments to move his business west of the Mississippi."

I wrote today to the Governor, Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, and my Rep and Senator; i don't expect it to make much difference. I will write to them once a week, until i get a better idea of what to do.

I suspect suing the AG will have no effect because these regulations have already gone to the Supreme Judiciary Court in MA and the AG won.

I don't know what to do, i am going to call GOAL, and my Rep tomorrow.

[shrug]

I will buy another 100rnds of 45ACP every week from now on.

~USP45

Serf of the Peoples Republick of Massachusetts
 
The mass firearms industry had been in court
with the Mass. attourney general over this
law since 1997. Believe it or not, Smith & Wesson was one of the chief backers of the suit against the Mass. A.G.

The suit was lost in the lower court and was to be appealed but S&W did not appeal by the closing date for the appeal and so the law went through.

And just guess why S&W did not bother to file for the appeal? Do you think it might just have had something to do with S&W being sued by all those anti gun cities and the fact that S&W did not have any more money available for attournies fees?

I'll just bet this was the case.

I wonder where all the out rage was from the gun buying public and TFL members and the NRA & GOA

Why were we not there to help in the past 3 years as this court case was being decieded?

Did we feel that this was purely a Mass problem ,so let the shooters of Mass take care of it.

And we see how well the Mass. shooters took care of second ammendment business.

We are all partly at fault for not helping Mass in 1997,1998, 1999 and 2000.

This shows that we, NRA,GOA, and Mass
shooters were asleep at the switch and just did not care enough to be involved, me included.

I was vaguely aware of the law suit against the Mass. AG ,but like all of you,
I felt that I had enough problems defending the second right here at home in Conn.as indeed,I did!

I figured Mass. could take care of itself.
Ovbiously , Mass could not.

WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN THAT DIVIDED WE FALL.

HOW MANY MORE TIMED WILL WE BE DIVIDED ,YET AGAIN,ALL FALL SOME MORE?

WILL WE EVER BECOME UNITED AND STAND?

I have been waiting since 1968 for us to truely unite and I yet still wait.

You reap what you sew and you guys are terrible seamsters.

If this is the best we can do , we all better start burying guns in plastic drain pipes.

Now, let us all rush to close the barn door, after the barn has already burned down.

Maybe, I pray ,we can get it right for next time but I wouldn't bet on it.

We somehow do the same wrong thing over and over and keep getting the same bad results.
The wrong thing we do is not getting involved and doing nothing.

And so, our second ammendment salami
gets yet another slice caved off it by the gun grabbers and becomes smaller still.

MASS, LINE IN THE SAND OR MORE MUTTERING?

And the answer is , behind door number two,
JUST MORE MUTTERING. :o :( :eek:

[This message has been edited by ernest2 (edited April 10, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by ernest2 (edited April 10, 2000).]
 
I have to agree that we in MA have gotten just what we deserve. In the past few years, when the legislature was considering the assault weapons ban (which morphed into CH. 180), and when the former AG Harshbarger first proposed these regulations, most gun owners were in condition white. When I told them what was going on, they were too busy to help. They were too busy to hold signs for pro-gun politicians.

Now that the fecal matter has hit the rotating device, most of them still don't even know it. And if they do, then they start blaming the NRA and GOAL for not doing their job. Of course, they wouldn't even get off their fat behind to call up their state rep and complain (if they even knew who their state rep was).

GOAL is having a rally at the state house on April 24. If hundreds of thousands of gun owners show up, then we'll have an impact. But realistically, we'll only get a few thousand and the AG and all the anti-gun politicians will just laugh in our faces.

For all of you who are now complaining about this, I ask the following:

1) in the previous two election cycles, did you volunteer to help out on campaigns.

2) in the previous two election cycles, did you donate money to pro-gun candidates.

3) in the previous two election cycles, did you even vote?

4) have you donated to GOAL's legal defense fund.

If you haven't, then I don't much care to listen to you, because you're part of the problem. While I was out busting my butt and spending my hard earned money to try to stop this nonsense, too many gun owners were sitting on their wallet in front of the TV.

Jared
 
Are all handguns effected by this new law? Including LEO Guns. Someone should look into how many unsafe/illegal guns the cops are carrying around. Especially those bodyguards. We cant have people trying to do their jobs with unsafe equipment now can we???

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"Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes."
-R.A. Heinlein
 
Well Taz & M1911, it seems they have finally created the Utopia they so desparately desired. Firearms manufactured for the police are exempt, so they can be armed with the best available, but you cannot.

I'm sure in just a matter of a few years MA will become a perfectly peaceful island in the middle of all this insanity - a peaceful place where everyone gets along, there is no crime, the streets are clean enough to eat off of, nobody beats their wife & kids, and the neighbor's dog doesn't crap on your lawn.

Yeah, right. A friend of mine lived in Mass., along with her ex-husband. While he was there he was arrested for:
1) Multiple DUI's
2) Fighting - multiple counts
3) Assault - multiple counts, including stabbing a woman
4) Drug-related offenses
5) Beating his wife (hospitalized her) in the front yard in front of witnesses
6) Etc., etc.

Want to know how many nights he spent in jail?
1 year? Nope.
90 days? Nope.
30 days? Nope.

Did you guess zero? If so, you win the cigar. Not one single night in jail. But at least he never killed anybody by driving them into the bay while he was drunk, either.

That's how serious they are about controlling criminals. But relax - they're just doing all this to make you safer, right?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by M1911:

For all of you who are now complaining about this, I ask the following:

1) in the previous two election cycles, did you volunteer to help out on campaigns.

2) in the previous two election cycles, did you donate money to pro-gun candidates.

3) in the previous two election cycles, did you even vote?

4) have you donated to GOAL's legal defense fund.

Jared

[/quote]

The only one I -didn't- do was volunteer; i'll rectify that mistake this fall.

~USP
 
Probably one of the most effective avenues you could take is to get involved at the precinct caucus level.

There, you're the one setting the stage for who even gets to be on the ballot, set the stage for the party platforms/form party "opinion," etc.

It's the "vote early/vote often" scenario. Just a coupla votes at this level can determine the whole set of the race & stage it in your (our) favor for the whole election.
 
Just to make you feel better, I just remembered reading in last years version of the House Budget there was language inserted which allowed the state to lease commercial space to store firearms. I forgot about it until now, I wonder if that was intended for gun confiscation? Hmmm. I'll have to look into that.

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In the shadow of Bunker Hill from the People's Republic of Massachusetts
 
It will take a revolution wherein the citizens of this Republic re-take their country from the hands of the purchased polititions.

Hopefully this will be a peaceful revolution, the weapons used being the balott and the public forums. This failing, it will indeed be a bloody one.

The revolution is many years overdue.

May we have the strength to put the SERVANT back in the title " Public Servant "



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Sam I am, grn egs n packin

Nikita Khrushchev!." We cannot expect the Americans to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving Americans small doses of socialism, until they suddenly awake to find they have communism."
 
"the weapons used being the balott and the public forums"

Yes re the ballot, but only if there is someone worthwhile to vote for. That's where the caucus bit comes in. You can actually have a "vote for" scenario rather than the usual "hold your nose" and moreso vote against the worst of the lot.

Forums. Yeah, maybe. Some have been won over through rational discussion. Some, which is better than none. But, I'd suspect that most (vast majority) is only preaching to the choir.

If we had even half of the energy I see in TFL, etc. put to real use, we'd not be in this fix.
 
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