Massachusetts Gun Control Scheme an Abject Failure

Gun Related Homicides Increased 111% Since 1998 Gun Control Act

2020 Massachusetts Department of Public Health Report on Deaths Still Reflects the Commonwealth’s Gun Laws are an Unmitigated Disaster!

Massachusetts Gun Safety Report Card:

Reducing Gun Related Homicides:     F

Reducing Gun Related Suicides:         D-

Reducing Accidental Gun Deaths:      F 

When will the Commonwealth end its overwhelming persecution of lawful gun owners and begin dealing with the human criminal element and mental health???

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) recently released its 2020 Injury Death report. This report is part of the Department’s Injury Surveillance Program (ISP) that Gun Owners Action League (GOAL) has been tracking since the passage of the 1998 Gun Control Act.  The system examines the numbers, trends, risk factors, and circumstances of many causes of injuries.

 In 2018 GOAL released a report, “Massachusetts Gun Control Success – A False & Dangerous Narrative”. In that report we proved, beyond any reason, that the Commonwealth’s decades old gun control scheme has been an unmitigated disaster! In this latest report form DPH, the numbers once again show a drastic increase in violent related gun deaths in Massachusetts.

*Note – All of the data made available does not differentiate between lawful gun ownership and criminal access/activities. The State has continually refused to track those numbers differently.

The new numbers released for 2020 reflect an 111% increase in gun related homicides since the passage of the 1998 Gun Control Act. How could this abhorrent increase ever be considered a success?

The report includes numbers on successful suicides and does reflect a 13% decrease in gun related suicides. That small gain was greatly over-shadowed by the drastic increase in hanging/suffocation suicides of approximately 63%. This is a fact we tried to ram home during the Red Flag Law debates in 2018. This information was completely ignored, and the supporters of the law blocked any debate on adding mental health assistance to the bill.

 

 

The reports also continue to reflect virtually no improvement on accidental gun death numbers. This is primarily due to the fact the Commonwealth didn’t have an accidental gun death problem. It should be noted that these numbers do not reflect lawful gun ownership versus criminal activity.

 

All of the State’s own data reflects that the attack on our civil rights is just that. There is absolutely no way to justify what has been done to the Second Amendment Community in the name of “safety”!!

 

 References:

2020 - https://www.mass.gov/doc/2020-child-injury-deaths-summary/download

MA ISP - https://www.mass.gov/info-details/annual-statewide-injury-reports#2020-data-

ISP Home Page - https://www.mass.gov/injury-surveillance-program

1998 Gun Control Act - https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/1998/Chapter180

GOAL’s 2018 Report - https://goal.org/resources/Documents/Massachusetts%20Gun%20Control%20Failure.pdf

2018 MA Red Flag Law - https://malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2018/Chapter123