mass house approves gun law changes

nice long article by state house news service via lowell sun

https://www.lowellsun.com/2023/10/19/mass-house-approves-gun-law-changes-on-120-38-vote/

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They unanimously agreed to an amendment making clear that the bill
does not ban off-duty police officers from carrying firearms in
certain restricted spaces, so long as the weapon is provided by their
department. The legislation originally allowed only active, on-duty
police to wield guns in those locations.

Rep. Mark Cusack of Braintree, the Democrat who filed the amendment,
said it was meant "to clarify that off-duty active law enforcement
officers would be allowed to carry their department-issued firearms in
the following places … first, a place owned, leased or under the
control of state, county or municipal government and used for the
purpose of government administration, a location in use at the time of
possession as a polling place and for the storage or tabulation of
ballots, and third in elementary schools, secondary schools, college
or university, including transport used for the students."

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" The legislation became a top priority for representatives in the
Black and Latino Legislative Caucus, whose communities are
disproportionately affected by gun violence. In 2020, the
Massachusetts rate of firearm deaths among Black men was more than
four times as high as among white men. "

yup - thats what we had dug up a year or 2 ago

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Since July 1, Day said, the state has experienced 90 shootings that
killed 40 Bay Staters and injured 86 others.


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Rep. Michael Day, the Stoneham Democrat who authored the landmark bill
and a predecessor version, introduced the measure by rattling off a
long list of past gun restrictions policymakers approved dating back
to 1632, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony "prohibited individuals
from carrying loaded firearms without proper authorization."