My letter to my rep on HR 4102 and the CMRs

[Joe G]

Feel free to sample and use liberally (in the best sense of the word 'liberal')

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Dear Representative Gregoire,

Our Governor is attacking the civil rights of the citizens of Massachusetts both with new legislation and executive orders.

On Tuesday, your committee will hear House Bill 4102, the Governor's proposal to further restrict the rights of lawful gun-owning citizens. With every incident of gun violence it has been shown time and again that the 'gun problem' in MA is caused by illegal use of firearms by people already prohibited or otherwise unlicensed to own firearms. Creating more laws that restrict the use of firearms by lawful citizens is not only illogical and useless, it is one step closer to depriving the people of a right enumerated in the Bill of Rights in our national Constitution. This legislation is nothing more than granstanding by the Governor on a politically correct issue at my personal expense, and I urge you, as would your predecessor Rep. LeDuc, to slap it down with all possible speed.

In addition to this proposed legislation, Governor Patrick has directed the Public Safety department to promulgate a series of CMRs to further restrict the rights of gun owning citizens. Specifically, I am referencing 501 CMR 15.00 FIREARMS EXHIBITIONS, and 501 CMR 6.00 MACHINE GUN LICENSE BONA FIDE COLLECTORS OF FIREARMS. Not only would these regulations restrict the exercise of my current rights, they make training new shooters impossible, thus ending gun ownership in MA within a generation. You can find more information on these proposed regulations at the Gun Owners Action League web site (http://www.goal.org/legislation/legislation.html). The governor is clearly overstepping the bounds of the Executive office and infringing on the authority of the Legislative branch of our government. I would urge you to apply any and all influence possible to prevent these CMRs from becoming enacted.

Thank you in advance for your support. I look forward to hearing from you in response to my request.

Sincerely,

 

[Joe G]

The response I got:

Dear Joe G

Thank you for contacting me on this issue. I have heard from many concerned residents of Massachusetts voicing their disappointment with the Governor’s proposed legislation. I recognize the fact that the bill in question attempts to address a very broad range of issues. Due to the comprehensive nature of the bill, it requires careful and comprehensive scrutiny. During my campaign, I made clear to the voters that I believe Massachusetts already has some of the broadest and strongest gun control laws in the country. My priority is ensuring the proper enforcement of existing laws. At this point I am hesitant to place any additional burden upon the law-abiding gun owners of this state.

Thank you again for contacting me, and please let me know if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Danielle Werner Gregoire
State Representative
4th Middlesex District
617-722-2080

I'm disappointed. The response is lukewarm at best -- "hesitant to place... " I would have preferred something like "will not place..." I don't know if it's because she's new and not ready to make waves, or because she's less pro-gun than LeDuc was. I guess in the end it's how she votes that matters most.

 

[Len-2A Training]

Joe, maybe it's because she realizes that the legislature does NOT get to vote on CMRs. The only influence they have is political pressure, e.g. threatening to cut the EOPS budget, etc.

It's a tough position, and no doubt why Patrick and the Sec. of Pub. Safety chose this avenue to accomplish their goals.

 

[Joe G]

I'm hoping, but I wrote both about the CMRs and HR 4102. I would have liked a commitment to vote no on that.

 

[JimB]

as well

i wrote a similar letter but only in regards to 4102, i got the same response.

I'm looking on the positive side, she not in favor of anymore burdensome
gun laws and wants the existing ones enforced.

she a first time rep, i'll take it as positive for now.

JimB

 

[MA_Shooter]

Here's the response from my rep:
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Dear Mr. Shooter,

Thank you for contacting me with your opposition to House Bill 4102, An Act to Reduce Firearm Violence filed by Governor Deval Patrick. I appreciate the information and statistics on an increase in crime as the gun laws become more restrictive.

As of now, H.4102 has not yet been moved out of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. Committee members, including myself, heard testimony on the bill during the public hearing on Tuesday, July 14. I will keep your opinions in mind as I weight the merits of the bill.

Thank you again for contacting me on this important issue. Please do not hesitate to do so again with any other questions or concerns you may have.

Sincerely,

Katherine Clark

===========

Sounds like she won't be opposing the legislation.

 

[MA_Shooter]

Response from Joanne O'Brien, M. Coakley's office, regarding my email opposing the CMR's:
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Dear Mr. Shooter,

Thank you for contacting the office of Attorney General Martha Coakley. Your email has been forwarded to me for response.

On behalf of Attorney General Coakley, we welcome your point of view, and we thank you for sharing it with us. This office is pleased to hear from all concerned parties on important issues like this one, and we appreciate that you took the time to contact us.

Again, thank you for making us aware of your concerns.

Sincerely,

Community Information and Education Division

 

[Lynne]

Response from Joanne O'Brien, M. Coakley's office, regarding my email opposing the CMR's:
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Dear Mr. Shooter,

Thank you for contacting the office of Attorney General Martha Coakley. Your email has been forwarded to me for response.

On behalf of Attorney General Coakley, we welcome your point of view, and we thank you for sharing it with us. This office is pleased to hear from all concerned parties on important issues like this one, and we appreciate that you took the time to contact us.

Again, thank you for making us aware of your concerns.

Sincerely,

Community Information and Education Division

Which is basically a nice way of saying "We'll do what we want, a-hole, so eff off."

 

[Joe G]

I got a follow-up

I had an exchange with Rep Gregoire's assistant Jason Baur. I asked permission to post our exchange here and received it with the condition that I edit out any references to the opinions of her colleagues. Here's an edited version of our conversation:

Mr. Joe G,

Representative Gregoire is not in favor of either the Governor's gun legislation, H4102, or his proposed regulations 501 CMR 15. She believes Massachusetts already has the strongest gun control laws in the nation, and we should focus on enforcing these current laws and regulations. Due to the scope and complexity of H4102 [edited] expressed a great deal of hesitancy about supporting the bill in its current form. We suspect the bill will not find the support it needs to pass as currently drafted.

Thank you for getting back in touch, and please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

My reply:

Jason, thanks for getting back to me quickly. I am glad to see that Rep Gregoire thinks we have enough gun laws already. I would hope that over time she would begin to see that we have perhaps too many and contradictory laws. I would hope that she would support GOAL's proposed legislation to simplify and clarify the laws we have and to reduce the unreasonable burden on the law-abiding gun owner.

I post regularly to NortheastShooters, an online forum for gun owners. Would you or Rep Gregoire mind if I posted the conversation below? I know there are several of her constituents that regularly read the group.

Thanks,

- Joe

And the final reply:

Mr. Joe G,

The Representative does not mind if you reproduce her opinion. However, she does request that you edit out any references to the opinions of her colleagues. She does not want to speak for them in a public forum. Thank you for your understanding in this regard.

So it looks like we did not lose a seat to the anti's when Rep LeDuc retired from the house. I can only hope that she'll have an open mind when presented with GOAL's proposed legislation.