In the Massachusetts General Court, an anti-gun bill is currently pending in the House of Representatives. House Bill 3081 would create two new protective orders and would allow for these protective orders to infringe Second Amendment rights based on third party allegations and little, if any, real evidence. The issuance of an order would result in the immediate suspension and surrender of any license to carry firearms and firearms identification card which the respondent may hold. The respondent would also be required to surrender all firearms and ammunition.
Constitutional rights are generally restricted only upon conviction of a felony. The reasons for this are two-fold. It limits restrictions on constitutional rights to only the most serious offenses, and, perhaps more importantly, felony convictions provide greater procedural protections to the accused, which results in more reliable convictions. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms should not be treated as a second-class right and should be restricted only upon conviction of a felony, like other constitutional rights.
Further, if an individual is truly dangerous, existing law already provides a variety of mechanisms to deal with the individual, all of which can lead to firearm prohibitions in appropriate cases. This bill would do nothing to prevent dangerous persons from injuring themselves or others.
Contact your state Representative and state Senator and urge them to OPPOSE HB 3081! Click the “Take Action” button to contact your state legislators!
Stay tuned to your email inbox and www.nraila.org for further updates on this bill.