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BOSTON (State House News Service) - Resolving to "show up" for youth and bolster safety for all Massachusetts communities, about two dozen gun violence prevention activists gathered outside the State House Thursday demanding that elected leaders pass stronger gun control laws to crack down on what they described as a public health crisis.
Not one more life should be lost to gun violence, Ruth Zakarin, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, said at a press conference that also included representatives from Stop Handgun Violence, Moms Demand Action, and the Giffords and Brady groups.
Zakarin said there have been fatal shootings so far this year in Boston, Springfield, Fall River, Waltham, Mansfield, Brockton, Randolph, Holyoke, Lawrence, Worcester, Rochester, New Bedford, Andover and Methuen.
"For far too many neighborhoods in Massachusetts and communities right here in Boston, the sound of gunfire is way too common," she said.
Invoking the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's Bruen decision, which overturned New York's concealed carry law, Zakarin urged state lawmakers to pass an omnibus bill that ensures people who are licensed to carry don't have dangerous histories and that they receive training on gun ownership. Zakarin said the bill should also hold bad actors in the gun industry accountable, prevent the distribution of ghost guns and other illegal firearms, increase the collection and analysis of guns recovered after traumatic incidents, and continue to support community-based solutions to prevent gun violence.
"We will be calling on each and every one of you to join with us and make this strong bill a reality," Zakarin said at the press conference.
Zakarin also held up a proclamation from Gov. Maura Healey that declared June 2 as Gun Violence Awareness Day.
House Speaker Ron Mariano last July tasked Rep. Michael Day, the House chair of the Judiciary Committee, to work on an omnibus gun safety bill that addresses firearm licensing and training, technology that can circumvent safety laws, and tools to identify people who pose a danger to themselves and others. In a tweet last summer, Mariano said lawmakers "look forward to passing this legislation in the next legislative session."
Day and other lawmakers earlier this month finished their statewide "firearm safety listening tour," which involved 11 sessions designed to seek input from residents and stakeholders, a spokesperson for the chairman said Thursday.
More than 130 gun violence incidents have occurred in Massachusetts so far this year, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archives.
Lavell Fulks, a board member of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, lamented the cycle of violence is "seemingly continuous" regardless of who's serving in public office or law enforcement.
"This is a commonwealth, so where's the commonality for people in the western side of the state with the metropolitan sides of the state to try to find common ground when it comes to gun violence and gun solutions?" said Fulks, associate director of the Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative at the Boston Public Health Commission. "The common ground is there, and it's death. We sit on our laurels in Massachusetts because we're one of the more progressive states when it comes to gun violence prevention, except so many of the guns that cause harm in the state come from this state."
Public schools in Massachusetts haven't experienced deadly violence, though fear spurred by mass shootings across the country "feeds a mental health crisis," said Deb McCarthy, vice president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. McCarthy said it's also maintained a school-to-prison pipeline, as heightened police presence and security measures in schools leads to more "negative behaviors" becoming criminalized.
"It affects our students of color, derailing their education and sealing them off from opportunities," McCarthy said.
Written By Alison Kuznitz/SHNS
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