Woburn - Jim Dwyer is on the Committee - Call Him

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Jim Dwyer our state rep is on the committee reviewing HB4191 Call him this weekend and express your views. He does listen. He has called me back everytime I have contacted him. Contact info below.

Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security:

Representative James Dwyer (D-Woburn)

617-722-2220
[email protected]
 
I sent him a letter around the time of the rally on the common in 2013 when this merry go round stared back up. He took the time to call and and we had a good fifteen minute talk. He seems like a decent guy and actually listened to my incoherent ramblings. At that time he said he was a 2A supporter and would wait to see what makes it out of committee. We'll see where he stands now. Definitely contact him though. He does listen.
 
Jim is a Ron Reagan democrat and doesn't follow the party line, he was one the driving force behind Melissa's bill becoming law....He'll listen to our concerns ......
 
Here is his response to my email from the other day. The subject line was "My stance on H4121"

I am writing to you today in response to your email to my office regarding your position on Speaker DeLeo’s task force recommendation, “An Act to Reduce Gun Violence in the Commonwealth.”
Please bear with me as I send a generalized response to the have received hundreds of emails from our district and even hundreds more from across Massachusetts. I wanted to make sure that your concerns were responded to in as timely a fashion as possible.

I wanted to let you know firsthand that I do not support many of the provisions in the Speaker’s bill. I chose to reserve my rights on the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee poll because I have strong reservations about many of the provisions in the bill, but I strongly believe that something must be done during this session to address gun violence.

That being said, I strongly believe that this legislation does very little to address gun violence, and lacks common sense with the establishment of more stringent restrictions on law abiding gun owners. I may be in the minority professing this stance, but I know that the only way we can prevent gun violence and gun crime is attacking a major impetus of gun crime and gun violence in the Commonwealth; the illegal possession and trafficking of firearms.My intent is to not prevent legislation from being brought up for debate, but to amend the legislation and debate the merits of the legislation so that we come up with a bill that respects the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] amendment but addresses gun crime head on.

With that in mind, I intend on filing amendments that address illegal guns. First, I will be proposing an amendment that would establish a special unit of the Massachusetts State Police that directly focuses on the illegal trafficking of firearms in our state. No additional regulation for law abiding gun owners is going to stop criminals from continuing the influx of illegal firearms. We must approach illegal firearms head on. Second, I will be proposing an amendment that restricts the use of plea deals to evade the mandatory minimum sentences of Bartley-Fox, a law passed in 1974 that created a one year minimum sentence for the carrying of an illegal firearm. This law also needs to be update to create a uniform sentencing structure that addresses the commission of crimes with a firearm and the possession of an illegal firearm. Without addressing illegal firearms and prosecuting criminals who chose to carry or possess illegal firearms, we are doing nothing to ensure that violence with a firearm will be reduced.

Another important focus that we must undertake in this Commonwealth is a lifting of the stigma that overshadows mental health services. In the past 25 years, many of our nation’s major stories around mass shootings have brought emotional debate and led to what I believe are half measures that do not really address the underlying problem that was apparent sometimes before but mostly after the fact with the criminals who wreaked havoc on our society with gun violence; their mental health situations had gone either undiagnosed or ignored by those around them. It seems too simple, I know, but we have neglected not only as a Commonwealth, but as a nation the true underlying problem and the real stigma; our lack of response to the mental health needs of our citizenry. I plan to support any and all amendments that address mental health services, programs, and intervention services in order to make sure we protect our citizens but also protect those in dire need of this type of health. In order to do that, we must also make a commitment to financing such programs and services so that we do not address a dire need with window dressing and feel good attempts to solve such a complex problem.

I will not support many of provisions that you have pointed out in this legislation, including but not limited to the following;
- The shift to a 1 year misdemeanor threshold in determining suitability because someone who destroys library materials or violates unemployment compensation laws should not be restricted from their 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] amendment rights.
- The requirement to provide the Commonwealth with an inventory of firearms owned since the Commonwealth has had the responsibility to keep records of such firearms through purchases in previous statutes
- The reliance on “suitability” determinations by our local police; I strongly favor a more uniform, due process encompassing, and listing of clear, determined prohibitions rather than the current approach that lacks uniformity across the Commonwealth

I also will commit to working with my colleagues, especially those who work hand-in-hand with the Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts, to ensure that we are making common sense solutions our focus on any gun related legislation. Moreover, I hope to that we can all come to an agreement on giving law enforcement the tools they need to combat illegal firearm trafficking and that we must invest in our mental health services to create an environment of prevention as opposed to reaction to such senseless acts of violence.

Please know that if our major concerns are not addressed and if there are not major efforts to combat illegal firearm trafficking added to the bill, I will not support this legislation.

Sincerely,
Jim Dwyer
 
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