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Massachusetts Moves Step Closer to Confiscating Private Firearms
Massachusetts Legislature ^ | 11/26/05

Posted on 11/26/2005 12:43:07 PM PST by pabianice

In November, the Massachusetts House of Representatives moved favorably from committee H. 2125, which brings the state one step closer to its goal of the confiscation of privately owned firearms.

Under this bill, all private owners of handguns would have to register each handgun with the police and have a separate $ 250,000 liability insurance policy on each handgun or have that handgun confiscated (insurance professionals: care to estimate the cost of such a policy to the holder?). Each such insurance policy must cover the potential theft and unlawful use of the gun. If the policy is inadequate to cover any subsequent court judgment against the lawful gunowner, he will be thrown in jail for five years for each offense. In cases where a finding of fact and guilt is to be made, one member of any such committee must be a member of Stop Handgun Violence, Inc.

There's more. Anyone who sells someone more than one gun a month shall be imprisoned for up to life. However, this law will not apply to anyone under the age of 18.

Most disgustingly, this bill is being crammed through the Legislature under Homeland Security measures.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: Massachusetts
KEYWORDS: bang; banglist; bradybunch; commies; confiscation; cwii; freedom; gungrab; kennedystate; massachusetts; secondamendment; swimmersstate; taxachussetts; teddytheswimmer; waronsomeguns
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Comment #21 Removed by Moderator

To: rottndog

Yup.

Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 US 105, a case heard in 1943 where a town tried to make people distributing religious literature obtain a license.

The state got slapped silly on that one.


22 posted on 11/26/2005 1:09:17 PM PST by djf (Government wants the same things I do - MY guns, MY property, MY freedoms!)
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To: beltfed308
Technically the 2nd Amend. has not been incorporated via the 14th Amend. which means local and State governments can put all kinds of restrictions on firearms.

Unless the Massachusetts Constitution has a "shall not be infringed" criteria in their document it citizens are at the mercy of the power whores who the electorate sent to represent the people of Massachusetts.
23 posted on 11/26/2005 1:09:44 PM PST by rollo tomasi (Working hard to pay for deadbeats and corrupt politicians.)
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To: William Creel
Think about it, if we all stopped paying taxes, the government would have to find other means of revenue.

One of the reasons why withholding is so vile is that it takes away that option.

24 posted on 11/26/2005 1:10:59 PM PST by nina0113
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To: pabianice

The fact is we have a dictatorial legislature. They have carved the districts so much that a Democrat super-majority is gaurenteed, and have stripped the Governor of of many of his powers since the office became Republican 16 years ago. We are almost at the point at which we should scrap the state constitution and start over again in my opinion. MASSACHUSETTS NEEDS TO BE LIBERATED!


25 posted on 11/26/2005 1:11:34 PM PST by MassachusettsGOP (Massachusetts Republican....A rare breed indeed)
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To: pabianice

Irrelevant.

It'll be struck down by the SC faster then Bill Clinton can get his pants off at a sorrority party.


26 posted on 11/26/2005 1:12:33 PM PST by zbigreddogz
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To: pabianice
Provision of the Massachusetts Consitution:

"The people have a right to keep and bear arms for the common defense. And as, in time of peace, armies are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be maintained without the consent of the legislature, and the military power shall always be held in an exact subordination to the civil authority, and be governed by it." Declaration of Rights, Article 17."

http://www.nraila.org/GunLaws/StateLaws.aspx?ST=MA

27 posted on 11/26/2005 1:15:32 PM PST by groanup (shred for Ian)
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To: freedumb2003

I disagree.

Civil Disobedience isn't a first resort, but it's not necessarily the last either, and it can be very effective.

I don't think I'd use it here, because I'm pretty sure the courts will strike the law down (assuming they have the votes to override a veto by Romney, which I'm sure he will do if he wants a chance in hell at 2008), but I don't necessarily think I'd be discouraging people from civil disobediance either.

No law is perfect, and no law can survive the most extreme circumstances. This is bordering on an extreme case.


28 posted on 11/26/2005 1:15:47 PM PST by zbigreddogz
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To: rottndog
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has taken an absolutist view of the First Amendment, extending it to areas such as pornography, an area the framers would have not considered an area of political, religious, and philosophical speech, areas that the First Amendment was supposed to protect. On the other hand, the Federal judiciary has ignored the original intent of the Second Amendment, that all free adult men (who were members of the militia by cause of that status) had the right to keep and bear arms.

The question is: will Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and (if approved) Alito return to the doctrine of original intent in this matter? If they do, and if conservatives can replace Kennedy or Ginsburg with a like minded justice, firearms ownership restrictions on state and local level could go the way of anti-pornography laws and blue laws. However, these are very big "ifs" and Scalia and especially Thomas are strong advocates of states rights.

29 posted on 11/26/2005 1:16:16 PM PST by Wallace T.
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To: rollo tomasi
So your suggesting that not one of the the "Life, Liberty & Property" clauses of the 14th does not come into play in regard to owning a handgun in Mass?
30 posted on 11/26/2005 1:17:25 PM PST by TeleStraightShooter (When Frist exercises his belated Constitutional "Byrd option", Reid will have a "Nuclear Reaction".)
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To: pabianice

But criminals will be exempted from buying insurance.


31 posted on 11/26/2005 1:17:45 PM PST by pleikumud
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To: zbigreddogz

"This is bordering on an extreme case."

So could the Left say when the unconstitutional Roe v Wade is struck down. One man's "extreme case" is another man's "extremist stand."

Pick and choose laws to follow and everyone else will feel they can do the same.

We have seen it on the Left (and on the Right as in the abortion doctor killings).

We are a Nation of Laws or we are nothing.


32 posted on 11/26/2005 1:21:18 PM PST by freedumb2003 (Let's tear down the observatory so we never get hit by a meteor again!)
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To: rollo tomasi
Article XIV.
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.



I don't see where the 2nd amendment is carved out by the 14th. This seems to me a good case to use to reinforce that the 2nd amendment is covered by the 14th.
33 posted on 11/26/2005 1:21:21 PM PST by rottndog (WOOF!!!!)
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To: pabianice; 04-Bravo; beltfed308
BOSTON - April 20

National guard units seeking to confiscate a cache of recently banned weapons were ambushed on April 19th by elements of a para-military extremist faction. Military and law enforcement sources estimate that 72 were killed and more than 200 injured before government forces were compelled to withdraw.

Speaking after the clash Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage declared that the extremist faction, which was made up of local citizens, has links to the radical right-wing tax protest movement. Gage blamed the extremists for recent incidents of vandalism directed against internal revenue offices. The governor, who described the group's organizers as "criminals," issued an executive order authorizing the summary arrest of any individual who has interfered with the government's efforts to secure law and order.

The military raid on the extremist arsenal followed wide-spread refusal by the local citizenry to turn over recently outlawed weapons. Gage issued a ban on private ownership of weapons and ammunition earlier in the week. This decision followed a meeting in early this month between government and military leaders at which the governor authorized the forcible confiscation of illegal arms. One government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, pointed out that "none of these people would have been killed had the extremists obeyed the law and turned over their weapons voluntarily."

Government troops initially succeeded in confiscating a large supply of outlawed weapons and ammunition. However, troops attempting to seize arms and ammunition in Lexington met with resistance from heavily-armed extremists who had been tipped off regarding the government's plans.

During a tense standoff in Lexington's town park, National Guard Colonel Francis Smith, commander of the government operation, ordered the armed group to surrender and return to their homes. The impasse was broken by a single shot, which was reportedly fired by one of the right-wing extremists. Eight civilians were killed in the ensuing exchange. Ironically, the local citizenry blamed government forces rather than the extremists for the civilian deaths.

Before order could be restored, armed citizens from the surrounding areas had descended upon the guard units. Colonel Smith, finding his forces overmatched by the armed mob, ordered a retreat.

Governor Gage has called upon citizens to support the state national joint task force in its effort to restore law and order. The governor has also demanded the surrender of those responsible for planning and leading the attack against the government troops. Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock, who have been identified as "ringleaders" of the extremist faction, remain at large.

First reported on April 20, 1775

34 posted on 11/26/2005 1:23:16 PM PST by Monitor (Gun control isn't about guns; it's about control.)
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To: rollo tomasi
Technically the 2nd Amend. has not been incorporated via the 14th Amend. which means local and State governments can put all kinds of restrictions on firearms.

The 2nd Amendment doesn't have to be "incorporated via the 14th Amendment", it's quite clear in acknowledging an individual "right of the people" to KABA's.

The phrase "right of the people" is not amibigous at all. Why are you having trouble with it?

35 posted on 11/26/2005 1:23:46 PM PST by jwalsh07
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To: pabianice
In cases where a finding of fact and guilt is to be made, one member of any such committee must be a member of Stop Handgun Violence, Inc.

Eh?
36 posted on 11/26/2005 1:23:51 PM PST by Pox
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To: freedumb2003
We are a Nation of Laws or we are nothing.


Considering how much immigration laws are ignored, I would have to say that we are more towards the side of nothing.
37 posted on 11/26/2005 1:24:51 PM PST by rottndog (WOOF!!!!)
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To: pabianice
In cases where a finding of fact and guilt is to be made, one member of any such committee must be a member of Stop Handgun Violence, Inc.

I'm sure this will be balanced with one NRA member as well, of course.

/ sarcasm / bitterness / anger / rage / fury / hatred of socialist policy

38 posted on 11/26/2005 1:25:39 PM PST by Hardastarboard
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To: pabianice
In cases where a finding of fact and guilt is to be made,

one member of any such committee must be a member of Stop Handgun Violence, Inc.


!!!!!
39 posted on 11/26/2005 1:26:14 PM PST by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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To: Pox

That's just to ensure that the death-grip the NRA has over Taxachussetts can't be used to unfairly sway cases in favor of gun owners. /dripping sarcasm, obviously


40 posted on 11/26/2005 1:26:26 PM PST by coloradan (Failing to protect the liberties of your enemies establishes precedents that will reach to yourself.)
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