If you let the Bay State serve for example, the reply to gun violence could also be stricter controls on who can maintain and carry firearms, in keeping with the pinnacle of a statewide legislation enforcement group.
“Here in Mass., obviously we have some of the most strict gun laws in the country. We also have a great track record when it comes to school shootings,” Mark Leahy, govt director of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, advised the Herald. “One is too many, but when you compare us to some states that haven’t been as lucky, there is a big difference.”
His feedback come within the wake of the bloodbath of 19 college students and two lecturers in Uvalde, Texas, the place the 18-year-old gunman apparently bought a whole bunch of rounds of ammunition and a number of other semiautomatic weapons simply days after his birthday.
According to Leahy, now retired from the Northboro Police Department, legal guidelines in Massachusetts have so far coincided with a really low charge of gun deaths among the many state’s youth.
“Since Columbine we’ve had two kids killed in school shootings in Massachusetts,” he mentioned. “Do strict gun laws work? Yeah, I would say they do.”
The state has a minimum of some coaching necessities earlier than folks can possess a weapon, he mentioned. According to state legislation, residents should reveal they’ve handed a firearms security course earlier than making use of for his or her license to hold a firearm of any sort.
A hunter can obtain a firearm identification card as younger as age 15 with parental consent. A 15- to 17-year-old can carry however not buy rifles, shotguns or ammunition, however these 18 to twenty can purchase.
Bay Staters should be 21 to own a handgun or semiautomatic weapon able to carrying greater than 10 rounds, equivalent to an AR-15-style rifle, although journal dimension is restricted to 10 rounds.
Concealed carry licenses and firearm ID playing cards are usually issued by native police departments through a course of designed by the chief, and residents should notify the state once they buy or switch a firearm — so native police are saved abreast of who’s licensed to hold and who has not too long ago purchased a gun.
The state additionally has pink flag legal guidelines, Leahy mentioned, which means a choose can order that weapons are taken away from an individual who’s displaying indicators they might be a hazard.
“We have the extreme risk protection orders, when we have people we are concerned about and we know they have guns we can actually do something. So that’s another layer of protection for people in the commonwealth,” he mentioned.
Still, Leahy famous the legal guidelines in Massachusetts don’t forestall individuals who shouldn’t have weapons from bringing them in.
“The gun laws in this country are like a checkerboard square. All you gotta do is leave Massachusetts and go to Vermont, or New Hampshire, or Maine … it’s a whole different world when it comes to gun laws,” he mentioned.
Leahy did be aware that each one three New England states to the north, regardless of having a lot much less restrictive gun legal guidelines, additionally confirmed little or no gun violence in colleges.
“Those states have great track records also — the only New England state with a blemish is Connecticut because of Sandy Hook. Hard to say why all of New England, with all the different laws, has so few incidents. I can’t explain it,” he mentioned.
There could lie the answer, he mentioned.
Leahy mentioned, “Would it be easier if all 50 states had the same gun laws? It probably would.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”