Boston Mayor Thomas Menino visited Washington D.C. on Tuesday to advocate for stricter federal gun laws by supporting the Fix Gun Checks Act, a law designed to close gaps and update the do-not-sell database.
Family members and survivors impacted by gun violence testified before the Senate subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism to support the act, according to Tuesday’s press release from Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Menino and the individuals who testified then attended a press conference and rally to further stress the need for stricter gun control, according to the press release.
The trip to Washington, D.C. followed a report the MAIG released on Monday that criticized the failure to send reports to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).
The NICS, according to the MAIG’s report, “has blocked more than 1.6 million permit applications and gun sales to felons, the seriously mentally ill, drug abusers and other dangerous people who are prohibited by federal law from possessing firearms,” since 1999.
Despite other success, the NICS system “has serious gaps and limitations that still allow firearms to be sold to dangerous people, including some of the nation’s worst mass murderers,” according to the MAIG’s report.
In the report, 52 out of the 61 agencies for which the FBI keeps information have not reported mental health records to the NICS.
“This report reveals that most states and federal agencies are still failing to do the bare minimum to protect our communities,” Menino said in the press release.
Menino and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg co-founded the coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
The group began with 15 members and has since grown to have 600 mayors throughout the nation. Twelve mayors from Massachusetts are involved in the coalition.
“This common-sense effort will prevent murders committed with illegal guns, including those of the 31 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty this year by prohibited purchasers,” Menino said in the release.
The MAIG’s recommendations include enforcement of existing laws on federal agency reporting and issuing clear guidance on what mental health and drug abuse records must be submitted, according to its official website.
Another proposal is penalizing states that fail to proactively update and maintain these records.
“Massachusetts is one of the worst states in the nation for lawful gun owners,” said Jim Wallace, the executive director of the Gun Owners’ Action League, in a phone interview.
GOAL is a Massachusetts-based organization made up of members that, according to the GOAL website, “believe in the basic right of firearms ownership for competition, recreation and self-protection.”
“The laws in the state are so convoluted and complex that most average citizens can’t comprehend what they’re supposed to do to comply with the law,” Wallace said.
Wallace said he was unaware of Menino’s trip to Washington, D.C. and the Fix Gun Checks Act, but agreed with Menino that the mentally ill should be restricted from purchasing firearms.
Wallace said he believes mental illness is difficult to define.
“We don’t want a situation where if someone who has had an issue in their life, who just needed some temporary help, isn’t persecuted, because then people will stop going for help,” Wallace said. “We don’t want individuals put aside the same people that are criminally, mentally insane and committing heinous crimes.”
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Anytime the words “common sense” precede a law or proposal concerning guns, it is pretty much garaunteed that common sense will be absent in the logic or reasoning behind it. I’d really like to know how guns are being sold to some of our “nation’s worst mass murderers”? If we know that, why aren’t we arresting these people? There are mass murderers on the loose?? No, I guess it’s time to pass another law that will only impact those people actually concerned about laws: the law abiding citizens.
Cities with with the toughest gun laws on the books seem to have the most violent crime….DC, Chicago, LA, NYC, etc. You’d think that someone would realize more laws have zero impact. Meanwhile recidivism rates for felons are higher than ever….proper enforcement of existing laws would go much farther.
The Mayor is a hypocrite from a state well known for them. His agenda is purely and simply that of Bloomberg: to prohibit as many law-abiding Americans from owning guns as possible. If they have to be relabeled as ‘mentally ill’ or ‘drug user’ so be it.