Mass Katrina Bill Needs Your Help

Senate Committee on Ways & Means

617-722-1481

With the general budget debates over, on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 the Massachusetts Senate will begin regular formal sessions once again. Now that the Senate will be taking up regular business again, it is time to continue work towards the passage of GOAL's bill  S.1401 "An Act Prohibiting the Confiscation of Lawfully Owned Firearms During the State of Emergency". As our members recall this bill was filed as a result of the unlawful confiscation of firearms during the Katrina disaster.

At the end of March this bill was released favorably by the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security. The bill now resides in the Senate Committee on Ways & Means. GOAL is urging our members to contact the Senate Committee on Ways & Means and urge them to release S.1401 with a FAVORABLE report. The Committee can be contacted at: 617-722-1481. As always we ask our members to be polite, brief and to the point when contacting the State House.

Members appointed to the committee:

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Update 12/13/2007

GOAL is pleased to announce that the support of S.1401 "An Act Prohibiting the Confiscation of Lawfully Owned Firearms During the State of Emergency" is growing. Today we were forwarded a copy of a letter that will be signed by the entire House Republican Caucus. This letter of support for the measure is being sent to the House and Senate Chairs of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security urging the Committee to report the bill out favorably.

GOAL would like to express our thanks to the House Republican Caucus for supporting this important civil rights bill. This brings the total of supporting legislators to 27. GOAL urges its members to check the list below and see if your local legislators have expressed their support yet.

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GOAL Urges Passing of State of Emergency Bill

With winter approaching and being the time of year that the northeast is most likely to face a state of emergency caused by our weather, GOAL is asking the legislature to pass into law S.1401 - "An Act Prohibiting The Confiscation Of Lawfully Owned Firearms During A State Of Emergency". Filed by Senator Richard T. Moore.

This bill would put in place a law that would prevent government officials from confiscating lawfully owned guns during a state of emergency. It also establishes punishments for any rogue officials that choose to violate the law.

"No reasonable person would say that citizens placed in a state of anarchy caused by a natural or manmade disaster should be forced to give up their only means of protecting their lives and property," said Jim Wallace Executive Director of Gun Owners Action League. "When the looters and killers are breaking into homes looking for food or property to steal and calling the police isn't even an option, it is the government's obligation to ensure that the lawful citizen's are allowed to protect themselves without harassment."

GOAL is urging all of its members to contact their legislators and ask them to support S.1401 by:

1. Sending a letter to the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security asking the Committee to release the bill with a FAVORABLE report.

2. Forward a copy of that letter to GOAL so we can add their names to the legislators who support preventing the illegal confiscation lawfully owned guns.

Click here to find your legislator.

Bill Text:

AN ACT prohibiting the confiscation of lawfully owned firearms during a state of emergency

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Summary: This bill prohibits law enforcement or government officials from confiscating the “lawfully owned or lawfully carried” guns of citizens during a declared state of emergency.

A few years ago, television coverage during the aftermath of the Rodney King trial showed rioters and looting throughout Los Angeles. Careful observation would show that the rioters stayed clear of certain stores, where shopkeepers who lawfully owned firearms were able to protect their property.

More recently our nation saw first hand the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Adding insult to nature’s injury were the actions of many state and local governments that poorly prepared, failed to issue evacuation orders, and were caught flat-footed by the devastation. One of the most tragic government actions was the confiscation of lawfully owned firearms.

 Local law enforcement were going door to door, confiscating firearms, and leaving good people at the mercy of criminals and looters. One TV camera caught on tape an elderly woman having her arm broken as she was thrown to the ground because she questioned the officer’s right to confiscate her firearm. Court action regarding these confiscations is still pending, as the city of New Orleans has been held in contempt of court for failure to return these firearms to citizens.  

Also common in photos being circulated around the internet at that time were photos of neighborhoods where groups of people had banded together to share food, water, and protection. Spray-painted signs warned looters to keep away. People evacuated by canoe testified that criminals were ready to take their few belongings away, and that it was only the presence of a firearm, rifle or shotgun that prevented criminals from preying on others.

When civilized government fails, as it does in times of extreme stress, good people are often left without basic services provided by government – water, electricity, and fire and law enforcement service. That is no time to disarm the good people of the commonwealth, as we know the criminal element will thrive in such chaos.

List of Supporting Legislators