TELL US: Should Massachusetts Gun Control Laws be Loosened?
A Massachusetts gun owners group is lobbying for passage of a bill that would confer lifetime gun licenses — no renewals necessary.
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Way too much red tape.
That's the complaint of the Gun Owners’ Action League of Massachusetts, a group that is urging passage of a law that would abolish the requirement of having to renew a gun permit every six years, according to the Boston Herald.
For comparison, Massachusetts vehicle drivers' licenses need to be renewed every five years.
But the league says local police cannot keep up with timely gun permit renewals, and legitimate gunowners go license-less until the cops get time to do the paperwork.
The law now allows 40 days for turning around license applications.
In Boston, almost 1,000 people have applied for gun permits so far this year, with waits running about 10 weeks, the Herald quotes police spokeswoman Cheryl Fiandaca as saying.
The gun owners group is lobbying for a return to lifetime licenses; that a license gets pulled only if laws are broken, according to the Herald story.
The six-year gun permitting is part of a law passed in 1998 that resulted in Massachusetts having among the strictest gun control laws in the U.S.
According to a gun control lobbying group, the Violence Policy Center, Massachusetts also has the lowest gun death rate in the nation.
But still, the law requires a 40-day turnaround.
So what do you think is the right course of action: return to the days of life-long gun licenses and make life easier for both harried cops and law-abiding gunowners?
Lengthen the license turnaround time and not hold the gunowner accountable if she or he uses the gun during that turnaround time?
Keep the pressure on and keep things as they are, to stifle the easy use of guns?
Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Bob Smith
4:19 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
When your Massachusetts vehicle drivers' licenses needs to be renewed every five years, it gets processed within 7-10 days of application. You usually do this renewal prior to the license expiration so that your license is always valid.
However, when you go to renew your gun permit every six years, that renewal process can take months and, in some cases, more than a year, even though the law says it's suppose to happen within 40 days.
Legal and lawful gun owners become lawbreakers because, even though they followed the rules in a timely manner, the massive delays in renewing their gun permits leave them without a valid permit for weeks or months.
Police departments (responsible for issuing and renewing gun permits) should be held legally liable in the processing of gun permit renewal requests within the 40 days as specified by current law.
The current gun control law is fine the way it is... the problem is that permits are not being renewed within the specified time frame.
Poop
4:41 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
I like guns but they are scary
Paul McNamara
8:02 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
what other rite do you do you have to pay for, if you have to pay it is not a rite , mass gun laws are stupid and does nothing to prevent gun violence, the bozoes that are doing all the shootings are not getting gun licenses, I am the butt of jokes when I visit gun shops in other states, I don`t mind getting a license but should not have to pay for my rite or have to due it every few years,
George hartman
10:32 am on Wednesday, December 12, 2012
It's a RIGHT, not a rite.
Steve Whitmore
11:50 am on Tuesday, December 11, 2012
A little extra time, a little extra paper work: seems worth it if it prevents another Columbine or other school shooting. What's the hurry? If you need a gun "right now" you shouldn't be allowed to buy one! I can't think of a single license that "good for life". Why guns?