RSWC #209 Mike Harris

Riding Shotgun With Charlie

#209 

Mike Harris

Gun Owners Action League, Director of Public Policy

 

A couple years ago, I got a call from Jim Wallace from Gun Owners Action League (GOAL). He was sending out a couple of the GOAL staff to Gun Rights Policy Conference. He asked if I would introduce them to folks. Not a problem. One of the staff was Mike Harris. He’s a great guy with a lot of personality, good stories, and he’s worked on Beacon Hill. Mike also joined me with the Women for Gun Rights episode, RSWC #180, last fall. 

 

There have been a lot of bad things happening in Massachusetts for gun owners. It started with the Gun Law Listening Tour from January 2023-June 2023. It was hosted by State Representative Michael Day. Day said he didn’t know what the new bill was going to look like.  At some point, Day met with Gabby Giffords, who is wildly anti-gun. I assume she gave him what she wanted in the bill with a hefty check for his services rendered. 

 

The bill was dropped just days after the end of the GLLT. The MA gun laws were overhauled and not in a positive way. The bill was shut down by the Bay State gun owners who called and wrote their representatives and senators. But Day was determined to get the bill through the House. It passed in October 2023. In early 2024, the MA Senate needed to write their version which was bad, but not as extreme. It was still littered with infringements. It ended up passing the MA Senate then headed to a special Conference Committee of only six people. 

 

They dropped the Bill on July 17, 2024. It was 116 pages of new restrictions on the subjects of the Commonwealth. Things like new definitions for firearms, including calling a rifle handguard a “barrel shroud”, more confusing dates for so-called assault weapon bans, adding rifles and shotguns to the approved weapons roster, and limiting possession of any semi automatic rifle or shotgun to anyone under 21 years old. The bill was signed by Governor Maura Healey (D) on July 25, 2024. It’s been a mess since then. There was confusion on the start date of the law from August 1 to August 2 to October 23. 

 

Mike called me and asked if I would sign as a registered voter a form to call for a referendum on the law. And if we could film a show driving into Boston to drop the form off. We were met near the State House by Garet Holcomb, President of GOAL, Toby Leary, owner of Cape Gun Works and host of Rapid Fire Radio, and Jessica Kedziora. There were enough correctly certified signatures for the referendum to go to the Attorney General. The next steps include waiting for the AG to write the question and get it approved. Once completed and approved, there will be signature sheets that can be distributed and signed in all the counties and towns across Massachusetts. There needs to be 50,000 signatures of registered voters to get this on the ballot. 

 

This is the worst post-Bruen temper tantrum by any state since 2022. It is going to make it more difficult to get an FID/LTC in Massachusetts. It makes the training requirement more stringent and difficult. It's going to put a burden on the local police to do more for the law abiding, background check passing citizens. There are things like gun registration which is a problem. But they did not lay out how this is going to be funded or where the information is going to be held. Not that I want them to have the registration at all! The new curriculum for approved courses hasn’t been developed so the state police are allowed to accept the current courses until October 23, 2024. It is bad. It is all bad. 

 

If you’d like to join or donate to GOAL, there’s a link