GOAL News Local National Editorial by Jim Wallace Legislation Regulation and other 2nd Amendment and Gun Related News

Local News - Top Stories Updated 1/25/2012 Full listing of stories here

GOAL's Legislation "An Act Relative to the Common Defense" To Be Heard at State House

January 25. 2012 Update: Urgent!

Public Hearing - 2/7/12: The Joint Committee on the Judiciary has scheduled a public hearing on 2/7/2012 in Room B-1 at the State House.

Please support this important legislation by contacting your legislator and the committee members, and if you are able, by attending this important public hearing.

Taunton Marksmanship Unit takes National Championship in Junior 3-Position Air Rifle! Massachusetts and GOAL were well-represented this weekend out in Port Clinton, Ohio, as the CMP held their National Air Rifle Competitions at Camp Perry. The new National Champions, won Gold at the Camp Perry Open 3x20 air rifle and set a new National Record by 5 points! Congratulations to MacKenzie Martin, Fairhaven, MA. Zack Connell, Whitman, MA. Sonya May, Rockland, MA. and Sarah MacLagan, Rehoboth, MA.

1/3/12 Officials scramble in wake of Needham hunting incident. Needham prohibits discharging a firearm on town land but not bow-hunting. Fitzpatrick said the town has not granted anyone permission to hunt with a bow on its land, but was unsure if such hunters needed the town’s permission, meaning bow hunters may be in a gray area. Hunting of any kind is banned on the Ridge Hill Reservation, according to Needham Conservation Commission rules provided to the Globe. It is legal to use firearms on private property and federal land within Needham’s borders, though hunters using them must abide by the state laws that prohibit hunting too close to homes and define hunting seasons. The shotgun season for deer started Monday.

"An Act Relative to Habitual Offenders"
11/17/11 Update.
the House version does not contain any threats to lawful gun owners and is absent of the wire tapping language that concerned us in the senate version. The bill will now likely go to a conference committee where the House and Senate will work through the differences in their versions. At the writing of this update the amended version of H.3818 was not yet available online, but it should be shortly.

Click here to view the legislation.

S.1182 “An Act Relative to the Safety of Law Enforcement Officers.”
Courts Disarming Law Enforcement. Yet another problem facing law enforcement officers in the Commonwealth is a growing number of state and local courts that are forcing them to disarm before entering the court room. Many law enforcement officers have to attend court on a regular basis for trials, hearings and etc. With again, another example of government turning on its own, courts are forcing officers to relinquish their firearms before going in.This practice is problematic for several reasons. Putting aside our own problems with the way Massachusetts treats other citizens in regards to guns, any officer should never be disarmed regardless of where they have to go. The other problem is one of firearm security.

12/23/11 U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit Clinics Shooters Last week members of the Army Marksmanship Unit ran two 2-day pistol clinics. Sponsored jointly by The GOAL Foundation and each host club
E-FA10 Issue GOAL has received a letter from EOPS/FRB in regard to the use of paper FA10 forms. They wanted us to know that going forward, the only accepted paper form will be the "official" numbered 3-part forms.
H.3700 “An Act Relative to the Licensing of Firearms for Persons 70 years of Age or Older This bill has started moving through the legislative process. The bill was filed by Rep. Pignatelli in an attempt to correct yet another poorly written piece of Massachusetts gun laws.
H.2400 "Youth Hunting Act" Still needs some help! Part of this bill has already passed in this years state budget, (reducing the fee for an FID card down to $25 for anyone under 18
10/28/11 An Act Repealing the Ban On Modern Sporting Arms. GOAL’s legislation filed by Rep. George Peterson to repeal the ban on modern sporting rifles is still held up in the House Committee on Rules.
The Romney Record. A Look at Governor Mitt Romney's Record as Governor of Massachusetts as it Relates to the Gun Owners and Sportsmen of Our State
2011 Shoot-B-Q: A Great Time Had By All, Thanks Harvard Sportsmen's Club! Food-Firearms-Fun, what's not to like?
2011 Crushing Clays A Great Success, Thanks N. Leominster R&G! 47 Junior Shooters put on a fantastic display of marksmanship!
Boston City Council Holds ~~Gun~~ Knife Control Hearing The testimony and statements heard during the public hearing were frighteningly reminiscent of past gun control hearings.
Range Grants Available from MA DFW. Great for improving your clubs Hunters Ed program etc...
More Local News Here

National News: Top Stories Updated 2/3/2012 Full listing of stories here
"Fast & Furious - BATFE - Obama Administration Scandal 2/2/12 Gowdy repeats call for Holder to resign ‘the easy way,’ or be impeached ‘the hard way’ South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy reaffirmed his call for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation “the easy way,” or impeachment “the hard way,” during an interview with The Daily Caller after Thursday’s House oversight committee hearing during which Holder testified about Operation Fast and Furious. While he was questioning Holder at the hearing, Gowdy explained that officials at the Department of Justice’s headquarters were aware of Fast and Furious and gun-walking tactics long before a “demonstrably false” letter was sent to Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley claiming otherwise. Since the DOJ sent that letter, which stated it never let guns walk, it has withdrawn the letter because it of its inaccuracies.
U.S. allows import of 86,000 M1 rifles from Korea. Washington has agreed to allow the importation of M1 Garand rifles from Seoul, reversing its earlier decision to ban the shipping of the weapon used by South Korean and U.S. soldiers during the 1950-53 Korean War, a senior defense official said Wednesday. “The U.S. government approved the imports of some 86,000 of the rifles,” said Lee Sun-chul, deputy defense minister for force and resources management. “The historic firearms are expected to be sold to American Korean War veterans and their families in time for the 62nd anniversary of the Korean War, which falls on June 25 this year.”
1/13/12 Gun Control Activists Fire Squib Loads On Monday, Josh Horwitz of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence—previously known as the National Coalition to Ban Handguns— penned an item for the very left-leaning Huffington Post website, deriding media reporters for writing articles that say gun sales are booming. According to Horwitz, the reporters are wrong because their claims are based upon the FBI’s monthly counts of National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks. As Horwitz points out, not all firearm-related NICS checks are for firearm acquisitions, and the number of checks does not reflect the number of firearms acquired in conjunction with the checks. Among other things, he also points out that some NICS checks are for acquisitions of second-hand firearms.
President Obama - Second Amendment Issues 1/13/12 Federal Court Upholds Obama/Holder Gun Registration Scheme; Congressional Action Needed Moments before this alert was to go out, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. issued a ruling upholding an Obama administration policy that requires federally licensed firearms retailers in states bordering Mexico to report multiple sales of semi-automatic rifles. The case was brought by two NRA-backed firearms retailers and by the National Shooting Sports Foundation acting on behalf of its affected members. Plaintiffs plan to appeal immediately—but in the meantime, your help is urgently needed in seeking congressional action to end this illegal policy. Devised by Attorney General Eric Holder’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the plan requires all of the 8,700 firearm dealers in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to report all sales of two or more semi-automatic rifles within five consecutive business days, if the rifles are larger than .22 caliber and use detachable magazines. (The plaintiffs in the case pointed out that this was about 20 times more dealers than had been subject to any similar “demand letter” before, but in today's decision the court nonetheless found the new requirement “limited in scope.”) Click here for more on the Obama Administration
Three More Wins for Gun Owners H.R. 2055—the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012—has been passed by the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate and has been sent to the President for his expected signature. This bill contains three NRA-backed provisions that will strengthen our Second Amendment rights and prohibit your federal tax dollars from being used to advance an anti-gun agenda. Stopping Your Tax Dollars From Funding Anti-Gun Studies One of the protections expanded and strengthened can be found in Sec. 218 of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (Labor-H) division of the bill. This section prevents the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from using taxpayer dollars to promulgate junk science designed to paint legal gun ownership as a public health hazard.
U.S. House Passes NRA-backed National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Legislation The U.S. House of Representatives has passed an important self-defense measure that would enable millions of Right-to-Carry permit holders across the country to carry concealed firearms while traveling outside their home states. H.R. 822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, passed by a majority bipartisan vote of 272 to 154. All amendments aimed to weaken or damage the integrity of this bill were defeated. Click Here To Follow the progress - For Full Text of HR.822 Including the Amendments. Click Here for facts about H.R.822. Click Here for more information about the amendments
NRA to Fight Proposed Obama Administration Ban on Recreational Shooting on Public Lands. Fairfax, VA -- The National Rifle Association (NRA) will fight the proposal by the Obama administration and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to drastically restrict recreational shooting opportunities on public lands. The NRA is particularly concerned about the stated motive of this action. A spokesman for the BLM told U.S. News and World Report that the proposed ban was being enacted in response to "urbanites" who "freak out" when they hear shooting on public lands. The spokesman also acknowledged that the impetus for this restriction was not rooted in safety, rather it was introduced to reduce "social conflict."

A Tough Year for Gun Control’s Brady Campaign. Nevertheless, last June, Brady Vice President Dennis Henigan misrepresented ATF data by declaring that 70% of all Mexican cartel guns came from U.S. gun stores. He did not mention that that most came from ATF, FBI, and DEA smuggling
Twelve Big Wins for Gun Owners. The final conference report on the combined Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture, Commerce/Justice/Science (CJS) and Transportation/Housing/Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations bills—also known as the “Mini-Bus,” was passed by both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate, and has been signed into law.
Senate Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing on Schumer Registration and Rights Denial Bill. On Tuesday November 16, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism held a hearing on Sen. Charles Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) S. 436.
NRA Files Protest Letter in Opposition of BLM's Resource Management Plan for Recreational Shooting Ban. The National Rifle Association has filed a letter protesting the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) final resource management plan
Scott Brown Does Not Support 2A Rights Will Vote Against H.R. 822. Call his office today, (202) 224-4543 Ask for the support he promised when we helped him attain his office.
Congress Moves Closer to Restoring a Key Second Amendment Freedom. As of today, 49 states have laws in place that permit their citizens to carry a concealed firearm
Record-Low 26% in U.S. Favor Handgun Ban. A record-low 26% of Americans favor a legal ban on the possession of handguns in the United States other than by police and other authorized people.
US defends gun sale reporting requirement in court Gun store owners in southwestern border states argued in federal court Tuesday that the Obama administration cannot require them to report when customers buy multiple high-powered rifles.
Editorial: Liberal Courts Still Gunning Against Second Amendment Rights. Does the Second Amendment right to bear arms for self-defense extend outside the doorway of our homes?
New rules on firearms leaving the EU. The new EU regulation will give effect to the United Nations Firearms Protocol (UNFP) which aims to combat the illicit manufacture and trafficking of firearms
Firearms Interstate Commerce Reform Act Introduced. The bill allows for the interstate sale of firearms and removes several antiquated and unnecessary restrictions imposed on interstate firearms transactions.
More National News Here

GOAL Blog: Articles by GOAL Executive Director Jim Wallace

*This page is made possible by the membership of GOAL and their generous donations. If you found this page helpful please Join - Support - Donate to GOAL.

GOAL Events

Check the GOAL Events page here
Check our
Club Events page for a full listing of events at a club near you.
Still time to sign up for some great classes at The GOAL Foundation

GOAL Investigates

GOAL Special Reports

The "Bloomberg Files"

Follow Us:

GOAL is the Official State Association of the National Rifle Association