Tagged: guns

New York and Connecticut have already enacted new gun laws in the wake of  December’s Newtown school shooting.  The Massachusetts legislature is expected to take up a bill before the end of the 2013 legislative session. 

The point person for gun issues in the Massachusetts House says he hopes to recommend a comprehensive bill by September.  Democratic State Representative Harold Naughton of Clinton , who co-chairs the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security said the goal is to update the state’s already strict gun ownership laws.

Unable to break the filibuster threshold, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday rejected an effort to expand federal background checks to include all transactions at gun shows and online.  In our region, gun control advocates say it will move their efforts to the state level.

Another lawsuit has been filed challenging New York’s new gun law, the NY SAFE Act. The court action was filed today in federal court in Buffalo by the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association along with a number of other organizations. A separate lawsuit filed earlier challenging how the law was passed was dismissed and is now being appealed. Tom King, president of the 45,000 member New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, tells WAMC's Brian Shields that the new lawsuit is focused on the U.S. Constitution.
 

Police in Springfield Massachusetts are expanding the use of gunshot detection technology.

   The area of Springfield now covered by the  gun shot detection system has been roughly doubled. The expansion was paid for by $120,000 in private donations collected by the New North Citizens Council as part of the civic organization’s safe neighborhood initiative. Springfield Police Commissioner William Fitchet said the technology can put police on a crime scene in time to make an arrest and seize a gun