North Attleboro, Ma "gun violence listening tour

[Mike S]

Anyone else notice how the legislators talk in circles in regards to the mentally ill?

They try hard as they can to say "we know it's not them and they're not prone to violence" then do all they can to make it more difficult for them to own firearms - follow the law.

Which is it?

It's a shame that mental health advocates all side with them, they should be jumping ugly on them.

Same goes with us I guess, they say "we know it's not the law abiding", then do everything in their power to make being law abiding difficult.

 

[Permanent Waves]

Couple other after thoughts -

Senator Ross did comment to me that it was great to see that many local folks show up and spoke from their personal experiences, rather than the bussed in groups that repeatedly showed at the Hearing and had the same message over and over. I was really glad to hear that was noticed.

Attleboro Rep Paul Heroux was also at the meeting. Sorry, but the Foxboro meeting this past summer, where he and Linsky went on and on about the horrors of mental health, left a really bad taste in my mouth. Heroux once again had to comment how 45% of the population will, at some point in their lives, experience depression. Whether it was post-pardum or PTSD, it still was depression. Not sure what he was getting at there, but it had hints of being intrusive to Doctor / Patient relationships and going down a rabbit hole. He did make a side comment about how folks coming back from war, had to be checked up on to see if they were okay to possess firearms as civilians... That lovely slippery slope... our brave men and women go off to war and then come home to see their Rights being lost... thats pretty messed up... and how is that eval conducted and who makes those decisions...
Paul is a younger Rep that seems like he is trying to find his way amongst his senior reps. I would advise him to be his own man, just listen to his constituents and make informed decisions from there - never mind trying to cozy up to "the machine". OR, maybe he has already shown who he is by the allegiances he has made so far.

Mike - At the Frankllin meeting during the summer, the 2 professors that spoke, did advise to the dismay of the rest of the panel, that digging into the mental health areas would not please the Doctors looking to help people, and people that needed help would refrain from getting it. Not sure how the mental health angle is going to play out.

Will every firearms application come with a rorschach test kit? /s

 

[tpm]

I went to last nights meeting and heard what Rep Paul Heroux said at at the end of the meeting and what he had to say when people were leaving. He made it clear that he thought just because somebody experiences problems at some point in their life doesn't mean they should always be banned/excluded from exercising their 2A rights. He stated that he didn't want the blanket statement of "Mental Illness" to be too broad in its definition. The examples he gave were is you have/had ADHD which is defined as a "mental illness" shouldn't bar you from owning a gun or if you had PTSD and were treated you should be able to have your gun rights intact. I agree that there needs to be a hard definition on what "mental illness" is and what would bar somebody from possessing a gun.

Does anybody know the number of the bill that he put forth? I would like to read it so I know if he was just bloviating or if the Bill has a similar tone to it.

Anyway that was my first listening tour or town hall type meeting. Are they all like that?

 

[Len-2A Training]

tpm, someone mentioned H3501. Is that it? Haven't looked yet.

 

[apander]

I assume by the rat you mean an un-named local (N.A. gun store owner), I was sitting across from him. After hearing the "feedback" we ran out of time, before I could add anything. I too felt the panel was just going thru the meeting to be polite, and I think the "laws" are already decided, and I think the Moon-bats and the the MOMS will be happy. I wanted to ask how many NES'ers were there.

 

[tpm]

tpm, someone mentioned H3501. Is that it? Haven't looked yet.

I'll look it up to see if that is it when I get a minute.

 

[falcon123]

Do we have to sign up to go? Or just first come first serve?

Can we OC?

 

[Permanent Waves]

Paul Heroux has recently co-sponsored a firearm licensing renewal Bill with George Peterson of Grafton - may have been HD3882.

Also noticed HD3579 - a petition (subject to Joint Rule 12) of Paul R. Heroux and others relative to creating a violent video game and violent music surcharge fee. Revenue.

3501 is - By Mr. Heroux of Attleboro, a petition (subject to Joint Rule 12) of Paul R. Heroux and others for legislation to establish and award grants for the reduction of violence in municipalities. Public Safety and Homeland Security

 

[Permanent Waves]

Oh and LOL, not all town meetings were as good as that one. I've been to at least ten of those listening type meetings... the first few this year were a bit rough. Many, many Anti's there to tell "us" how evil we are and that "we" were disgusting. I took offense to one woman I overheard whisper to her friend that we were "f'ing baby-killers, I leaned in and whispered to them that I hadn't killed any yet and gave them a wink. They were horrified that I was a gun owner.

Also, the cue card question meetings - where we could only ask the Reps questions on cue cards, that were sorted out through and all the "hard" questions were not asked. Linsky got off really easy in a few of these. I turned in almost 30 questions in one meeting to see if any would get through - not a one.

This was by far the best meeting I've seen attended, although both Holliston Meetings were pretty good. The 2A speakers have been very good at all these meetings, we speak from the heart, and all want to live peacefully within our Rights.

 

[tpm]

So I looked up 3501 https://malegislature.gov/Bills/188/House/H3501 and it just talks about trying to get grants for programs that try to reduce violence.

 

[pastera]

I spoke with Heroux about his bill (3501) - He did not let slip that the grants were only for police training even though the conversation was on intervention and prevention measures.
He seems like he really wants to make changes but if his changes are toward a stronger state, he can keep them

Also love how we keep hearing how the committee has done so much with the pepper spray issue - yeah, they passed it off to die in another committee

 

[Len-2A Training]

I spoke with Heroux about his bill (3501) - He did not let slip that the grants were only for police training even though the conversation was on intervention and prevention measures.
He seems like he really wants to make changes but if his changes are toward a stronger state, he can keep them

Also love how we keep hearing how the committee has done so much with the pepper spray issue - yeah, they passed it off to die in another committee

Anything involving specific activity also has to go thru affected committees. Since revenue is impacted (no FID required), Ways & Means committee has to hear and vote on it, I think Judiciary committee too (as no prosecutions for possession w/o permit). Sen. Timilty told me on the side that each year the OC bill gets reported out of his committee "ought to pass" but merely dies in the next committee! He seemed frustrated on this particular topic, I truly think he's on our side for this bill.

 

[pastera]

Anything involving specific activity also has to go thru affected committees. Since revenue is impacted (no FID required), Ways & Means committee has to hear and vote on it, I think Judiciary committee too (as no prosecutions for possession w/o permit). Sen. Timilty told me on the side that each year the OC bill gets reported out of his committee "ought to pass" but merely dies in the next committee! He seemed frustrated on this particular topic, I truly think he's on our side for this bill.

The bill in the current form shouldn't pass as it only allows carry 18 and over. I guess it's not legitimate rape if you are a minor!

As far as effecting revenue - My guess is that very few if any restricted FIDs are issued at all so there would be no impact (or a positive one)

 

[Jefff]

Angle Tree RGC has a new forum where it would be great to discuss topics like this too.
http://angletreergc.org/phpbb/ check it out if you want information and give your feedback.

 

[Len-2A Training]

Angle Tree RGC has a new forum where it would be great to discuss topics like this too.
http://angletreergc.org/phpbb/ check it out if you want information and give your feedback.

Really has nothing to do with this thread.

However, the AngleTree forum doesn't have a laws or politics sub-forum, so I'm not even certain where such things would even be posted there. Also unclear if it is a members-only forum or if they are open to non-members posting as well. Not making recommendations here, just reflecting on what I saw there.

 

[tpm]

I am a member and I'm told it is open to the public.