Massachusetts has some of the toughest regulations in the nation on the purchasing of guns and, fittingly, the nation’s second-lowest death rate from gun violence, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate would surely be even lower if the Commonwealth could defend itself against states with much weaker gun-purchasing laws.
Only a third of the weapons recovered in crimes in Massachusetts last year were originally purchased here, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. That percentage has remained virtually unchanged since 2006. New Hampshire and Maine are the top outside sources for firearms. In some years, Vermont features prominently as well. Recently, the Burlington Free Press detailed how a handgun stolen in 2003 out of the car of an investigator with that state’s medical practice board ended up being used in the 2007 murder of 20-year-old Jerome Wells, a former quarterback at Madison Park High School.
Comments
Hey...all you have to do is read that article about the Tea Party's belief that the UN is planning to take over the US. Not only do we need to wear the tinfoil hats, but we need to import lots and lots of guns from Cow Hampshire to fight the future UN invasion!
Thanks, Globe, for the reminder that fire arms leak, no, flood , over our borders, and depsite Massachusetts' stringent gun-control regulations, the bullets fly in the mean streets of our cities. Hardly a day passes when this newspaper does not report a shooting death. Only Federal action can stem this tide, which flows from the unregulated wilderness beyond our borders. Only a Congress free of the stranglehold held by the gun lobby will take the necessary measures. Sadly, the gun lobby, AKA National Rifle Association, is now abetted by the Tea Party, an association of flat-earth believers whose knowledge of firearms has not progressed beyond the flintlock musket.The Congress, including the Massachusetts delegation, has ignored calls for action. This voter, sadly, concludes that our elected leaders are paralysed by pressure from this alliance. Thus, military weapons made for the sole purpose of wholesale killing will remain available to psychotics, children, or deranged geniuses. Boston becomes another Damascus.