While Massachusetts lawmakers are back to plotting behind closed doors after their first attempt at rushing “carry killer” legislation into law hit a brick wall of opposition, gun owners aren’t letting their guard down. As Gun Owners Action League executive director Jim Wallace shares on today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co, the group is getting ready for a major rally on Boston Common to “Bring Bruen to Boston” and defend their right to bear arms from the civil rights abuses heading their way.
We haven’t heard much at all from the anti-gunners in the state legislature since House leadership abandoned its effort to rush HD 4420 into law before heading home for the August recess. Lawmakers are back at work now, but neither the House nor the Senate (which is crafting its own gun control bill) have unveiled their re-tooled legislation nor scheduled a hearing on any gun control bill. Wallace, however, believes that the Democratic majority would like to cross gun control off their legislative to-do list by the end of the year, and is warning that now’s not the time for gun owners to let their guard down.
To that end, the group is hosting a Second Amendment rally on the Boston Common next Wednesday, September 27th, at 11 a.m. local time. Titled “Bring Bruen to Boston,” the rally is meant to raise attention to the dangers of HD 4420 as well as the unwillingness of the Massachusetts legislature to treat the right to keep and bear arms as the fundamental civil right that it is.
The 2A community has responded in historic fashion that resembles the patriots of old. Your quick and decisive response stopped (even if only temporarily) Speaker Mariano in his tracks. If not for your response to our call to action, HD.4420 would already be law.
With more and more members of the 2A community taking action, it is time we we brought our message directly to the State House. For 25 years, our State Government has demanded that we comply with their draconian, anti-civil rights laws. More than a year ago, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that their laws were unconstitutional!
“The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not “a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees.”
HD 4420 is undergoing “revision” at the moment, but Wallace has no expectations that the bill will do a better job of respecting the Second Amendment rights of residents than the original version that created an outpouring of opposition from gun owners and many law enforcement groups across the state. The same holds true for the package that the Senate is putting together via a “working group”. As Wallace shared with Bearing Arms, one recent conversation he had with a state senator revolved around the Democrats’ desire to mandate live-fire training before anyone issued a license to carry. Keep in mind that an LTC is required for all handgun owners in the state, so virtually every Massachusetts resident who wants to keep or bear the most commonly-sold guns in the country has to comply with the training mandates before they can do so. As Wallace explains, there simply aren’t enough ranges to make that feasible, and the net result would be artificially extended waiting periods before folks could simply apply for their license.
Wallace suggested to that unnamed state senator that if lawmakers are intent on mandating live-fire training, perhaps the state should start funding the establishment of public shooting ranges. Wallace wasn’t laughed out of the room, but in his telling its clear that the Democratic majority isn’t interested in actually providing more opportunities for gun owners to get training. Instead, they’re using the training mandate as yet another burden on those trying to exercise their Second Amendment rights in an incredibly hostile political environment.
You can check out the entire conversation with Jim Wallace in the video window below, and if you can make it to Boston next Wednesday I strongly encourage you to show up on the Boston Common and add to the numbers of 2A advocates who are standing up to be counted. Anti-gunners have unexpectedly found themselves on the defensive over HD 4420, and now’s the time to demand that legislators quit playing games with the fundamental right to armed self-defense and instead respect the Bruen decision… in Boston and beyond.