PRESS RELEASE

July 18, 2024 | Stop Handgun Violence Praises the Act Modernizing Firearms

Boston, MA – Stop Handgun Violence, a Massachusetts based non-profit committed to preventing gun violence for 30 years in the Commonwealth, looks forward to  witnessing the House and Senate vote to pass on H.4885, an Act Modernizing Firearms today.

“I am grateful to the House and Senate leadership, Speaker Ron Mariano and President Karen Spilka, who publicly expressed their commitment to a gun safety bill at a joint press conference with Stop Handgun Violence, Gabby Giffords, the MA Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, Brady and Everytown last month. I also commend the Gun Safety committee chairs, Representative Michael Day and Senator Cindy Creem, for achieving consensus on a comprehensive gun safety omnibus bill,” said John Rosenthal, founder and chair of Stop Handgun Violence. 

“An Act Modernizing Firearms is an extensive bill with many key aspects, including codifying the assault weapon ban; addressing unserialized ghost guns; updating training, licensing and inspections of firearms; expanding the Extreme Risk Protection Order law; and analyzing crime gun data. Once signed into law, H.4885 will be one of the most intricate gun safety bills passed in the Commonwealth since 2014. This legislation will save lives and continue to make our families and communities safer without infringing on the Second Amendment or causing any inconvenience to law abiding gun owners such as myself.

Since 1994, Massachusetts has reduced the rate of gun deaths in the Commonwealth by 40 percent and has become the national model for gun safety. If every state with weaker gun laws, such as Pennsylvania, where the Trump Rally shooter was only 20 years old, replicated Massachusetts’ effective gun laws and regulations, we could prevent over half of the average 47,000* American lives lost to gun violence each year without banning most guns.”  

*source: Gun Violence Archive 2022

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