Gun Owners’ Action League PO Box 567 Northboro, MA. 01532 Change Service Requested MA House and Senate Divided Upon Second Amendment Legislation Battle on Beacon Hill Continued on page 9 Continued on page 12 By Mike Sweeney July 22, 2014 As always with the legislative process, craſting new legislation, which will restore even a smidgen of our Second Amendment rights, has proven to be full of more twists and turns than the road up Mt. Washington. Last month we reported that Chap- ter 180 Part 2 had been sprung on us, and like a hurricane moving up the coast, we watched it develop, hoping for the best and expecting the worst. Since mid-June the bill has morphed, been voted on by the MA House, sent to the Senate, Amended, voted on again by the Senate, sent back to the House, and then ultimately voted to be disputed in a 6 member confer- ence committee where it still sits as of this writing. Going back to the House vote, the MA House of Representatives sent a less than perfect bill to the Sen- ate. When it was received by the 40 members of the Senate it was quickly re-written and rapidly received 63 new amendments. Upon receipt of the new bill and amendments GOAL was quick to respond, messaging our member- ship via email and social media to get on the phones, send emails, and deliver letters and faxes. Every Senate office in the State House reported a volume of phone calls and communica- tions unlike anything they have seen. Our membership did a fan- tastic job communicating which sections and amendments were good and which were bad. GOAL Executive Director Jim Wallace worked overtime in the halls of the State House, numerous meet- ings, phone calls and e-mails took place. Every senator he spoke to commented on the communica- tions from our membership. The calls had the desired effect. In formal session the Senate debat- ed the bill and the amendments, voting on them one by one. The focus on the day was the amend- ment, which would remove a sec- tion of the House bill, which would have changed the issuance of FID Cards from “shall issue” to “may issue” via the very same “chiefs discretion/suitability clause” that’s widely abused across the Since early July the State House has been at the center of a Second Amendment Rights debate, surprisingly the Senate took a stand for our rights. GOAL’s 2014 Dog Days of Summer Fundraiser. Dear GOAL Members, Once again summer is upon us and once again GOAL is stretched to the limit, working to protect our Second Amendment. As you well know, the last few years have been exceptional as the anti-Second Amendment at- tacks have been non-stop. We have attended numerous com- munity forums on “gun violence”, legislative public hearings, and meetings with our elected officials in the State House. We’ve been successful in stopping anti Second Amendment attacks at the local level, assisting the members and residents of Way- land, Northborough and Westford. GOAL’s Dog Days of Summer Fundraiser is Back - Donate To GOAL & You Might Win! We’ve also made numerous ap- pearances on television, radio and on college campuses, where we set the record straight, speak the truth about what the Second Amendment does, and how re- stricting our rights hurts the law abiding citizens of the Common- wealth and our country. Over the last 6 weeks we’ve been busier than ever, working to amend the legislation which spawned from Speaker DeLeo’s Special “gun violence” Commit- tee. The report which finally fol- lowed aſter a year, quickly became a House bill and then a Senate bill. Due to the hard work of our membership, we were successful in ensuring that the bill came out of the Senate as a piece of legisla- tion that we can support. This would not have been possible without your hard work and with- out your financial support! Each summer we ask our mem- bers to step forward and help us Donate to GOAL and you might win this set of GOAL 40th Anniversary guns! (actual guns pictured) July 2014 Dedicated to Education, Safety, Training, and Support of Massachusetts Firearms Owners
Transcript
Gun Owners’ Action LeaguePO Box 567Northboro, MA. 01532Change Service Requested
MA House and Senate Divided Upon Second Amendment LegislationBattle on Beacon Hill
Continued on page 9
Continued on page 12
By Mike Sweeney
July 22, 2014
As always with the legislative process, crafting new legislation, which will restore even a smidgen of our Second Amendment rights, has proven to be full of more twists and turns than the road up Mt. Washington.
Last month we reported that Chap-ter 180 Part 2 had been sprung on us, and like a hurricane moving up the coast, we watched it develop, hoping for the best and expecting the worst.
Since mid-June the bill has morphed, been voted on by the MA House, sent to the Senate, Amended, voted on again by the Senate, sent back to the House, and then ultimately voted to be disputed in a 6 member confer-ence committee where it still sits as of this writing.
Going back to the House vote, the MA House of Representatives sent a less than perfect bill to the Sen-ate. When it was received by the 40 members of the Senate it was quickly re-written and rapidly received 63 new amendments. Upon receipt of the new bill and
amendments GOAL was quick to respond, messaging our member-ship via email and social media to get on the phones, send emails, and deliver letters and faxes.
Every Senate office in the State House reported a volume of
phone calls and communica-tions unlike anything they have seen. Our membership did a fan-tastic job communicating which sections and amendments were good and which were bad. GOAL Executive Director Jim Wallace worked overtime in the halls of the State House, numerous meet-ings, phone calls and e-mails took place. Every senator he spoke to commented on the communica-tions from our membership.
The calls had the desired effect. In formal session the Senate debat-ed the bill and the amendments, voting on them one by one. The focus on the day was the amend-ment, which would remove a sec-tion of the House bill, which would have changed the issuance of FID Cards from “shall issue” to “may issue” via the very same “chiefs discretion/suitability clause” that’s widely abused across the
Since early July the State House has been at the center of a Second Amendment Rights debate, surprisingly the Senate took a stand for our rights.
GOAL’s 2014 Dog Days of Summer Fundraiser.
Dear GOAL Members,
Once again summer is upon us and once again GOAL is stretched to the limit, working to protect our Second Amendment.
As you well know, the last few years have been exceptional as the anti-Second Amendment at-
tacks have been non-stop. We have attended numerous com-munity forums on “gun violence”, legislative public hearings, and meetings with our elected officials in the State House.
We’ve been successful in stopping anti Second Amendment attacks at the local level, assisting the members and residents of Way-land, Northborough and Westford.
GOAL’s Dog Days of Summer Fundraiser is Back - Donate To GOAL & You Might Win!
Dog D
ays of Summer Fundraiser
Support GOAL& You Might Win GUNS
We’ve also made numerous ap-pearances on television, radio and on college campuses, where we set the record straight, speak the truth about what the Second Amendment does, and how re-stricting our rights hurts the law abiding citizens of the Common-wealth and our country.
Over the last 6 weeks we’ve been busier than ever, working to amend the legislation which spawned from Speaker DeLeo’s Special “gun violence” Commit-
tee. The report which finally fol-lowed after a year, quickly became a House bill and then a Senate bill. Due to the hard work of our membership, we were successful in ensuring that the bill came out of the Senate as a piece of legisla-tion that we can support.
This would not have been possible without your hard work and with-out your financial support!
Each summer we ask our mem-bers to step forward and help us
Donate to GOAL and you might win this set of GOAL 40th Anniversary guns! (actual guns pictured)
GOAL Newse PrintEdition
The Official Monthly Publication of Gun Owners’ Action League - Protecting Your Freedom Since 1975July 2014 Dedicated to Education, Safety, Training, and Support of Massachusetts Firearms Owners
In This Issue:From the Executive Director - Jim Wallace Page 4From the Editor - Mike Sweeney Page 5Bettina’s Take Page 6GOAL Training Schedule Page 8Join GOAL - Information/Form Page 9Competition & Events Schedule Page 11Dog Days Fundraiser Form Page 12Reloading Bench Page 14
GOAL News Print EditionGOAL News - Print Edition is the Official Journal of Gun Owners’ Action League. GOAL is the official state association of the National Rifle Asso-ciation.
GOAL is dedicated to education, safety, training and support of Massa-chusetts Firearms Owners.
Since 1975, GOAL has represented the interests of the law abiding citi-zens of Massacusetts.
Gun Owners’ Action League Officials
GOAL Board of DirectorsPresident: Jay Beard
1st Vice President: Steve Moysey2nd Vice President: Mike Anthony
Secretary: Ellie HorwitzExecutive Director: Jim Wallace
Gun Owners’ Action League - GOAL News “Print Edition” is published monthly and provided as a membership benefit to all classes of mem-bership who wish to receive it.
Submissions of original works are welcomed. However the editor re-serves the right to reject or appropriately edit any submitted material.
Reprint permission is granted provided that appropriate credit is given in the form of the statement: “Reprinted from GOAL News Print Edition”.
Advertisers should contact Mike Sweeney at 508-393-5333 x25 or [email protected] for rates and information.
GOAL News - Print EditionChief Executive Officer: James Wallace
Editor: Michael SweeneyContributing Editors:
Angela Fisher, Jon Green, Steve Moysey, Jay Beard, Bettina Romberg
Gun Owners’ Action LeaguePO Box 567/361 W. Main St.
Gun Owners’ Action League is the official Massachusetts state association of the National Rifle Association.
Join GOAL Protecting Your Freedom Begins Here!Gun Owners’ Action League is the official state firearms association in Massachusetts. We are an association of law-abiding citizens who be-lieve in the basic right of firearms ownership for competition, recreation and self-protection.
GOAL works hard to defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights against those in Massachusetts who wish to infringe upon the freedoms guar-anteed by our forefathers. The programs sponsored and developed by Gun Owners’ Action League are supported by competitors, sportsmen, recreational shooters and law enforcement throughout the state.
We were formed in 1974 to protect the right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. We are recog-nized as the state’s premier gun rights association.
Why You Should Join GOAL
Every intrusion on our gun rights is an intrusion on all rights. The Con-stitutional rights and freedoms that you enjoy - and may take for grant-ed - are becoming more fragile each day. Secure your rights for yourself, your family and future generations. Join GOAL and become part of the solution today.
Gun Owners’ Action League is a grassroots organization whose mem-bers actively participate in the many facets of protecting our Second Amendment rights and passing on the shooting sports traditions.
No one has any reason to fear the possession of firearms by law-abiding citizens. GOAL publishes materials to bring the truth about gun owner-ship to the public, the legislature and our members.
We also provide courses to new shooters, as well as certification train-ing for those wishing to become firearms instructors. We also provide referrals to instructors around the state.
Join online, at http://goal.org/joingoal.html
Term up in 2014 Term up in 2015 Term up in 2016Bruce Hall Rickard Sitte Mark Jester
Michael Concannon Bettina Romberg Ron AmidonJoe Currie Jim Finnerty Richard SinnottGary Wilk Ernest W. Foster Vacant Seat
Follow Us Online!
GOAL B.O.D. 2014 Meeting ScheduleAugust 14, September 11, October 16, November 13, December10.Board of Directors Meetings are open to all GOAL Members in good standing and are at GOAL HQ, 361 W. Main St. Northboro, MA. 01532
GOAL News
Another great Women on Target Event! Thank you to everyone at North Brookfield Sports-men’s Club and all of our volunteers for making such a great day possible. We had a blast!
From the Executive DirectorThe Speed of PoliticsJuly 2014
If you are a GOAL member you have certainly been following the gun legislation proposals over the last year and a half. It all started with earnest after the Newtown murders. This also happened to coincide with the beginning of a new legislative session in Mas-sachusetts. From the start GOAL stepped up to the plate and took advantage of the media requests to get our positive message out. From mid-December until the end of February we took part in approximately 150 interviews in TV, radio and print media. From that time things slowed down and went into hearing mode.
Over the course of the remain-der of 2013 there began a paral-lel of sorts dealing with potential firearms legislation. In April the Speaker appointed a commission to study the variety of issues sur-rounding the Newtown murders. These included firearm law, men-tal health, school safety and a few others. At the same time the legis-lative Committee on Public Safety began to hold hearings and forums
all over the state. The two parallel tracks were very slow and deliber-ate and people on both sides of the issue began to get frustrated with the slow pace. This was espe-cially the case with the Speaker’s commission because no one was hearing from them for quite some time. In fact, GOAL had to wait un-til that September to get a forty-five minute meeting with them.
For months GOAL members con-tacted our office looking for up-dates on what might pass. Rumors flew around about laws already being passed behind closed doors, deals being made by legislators, you name it, we’ve heard it. The slow pace of the political machine was causing these issues. Since there were no credible updates to pass on, some thought it neces-sary to just make things up. Com-pare this slow pace to what came next.
After almost a year and a half H.4121 was released to public on May 27, 2014 and the impending chaos ensued. When GOAL showed up for the Speaker’s press confer-ence on the bill, we quickly knew we were going to hear bad news. This was obvious due to who was
standing behind the podium and who wasn’t. Clue … GOAL was not invited. At this point is where the speed of politics picked up dra-matically.
Within two days of release to the public, the legislation was sched-uled for a hearing before the Joint Committee on Public Safety and two days after the hearing it was released by the Committee. The second part actually happened on a Saturday committee vote, some-thing I had never witnessed in my entire career. The bill was given a new number, H.4278 and off it went to the House floor.
When the new bill hit the house floor it was drastically changed and a great deal of the most egre-gious sections had been removed. The number one issue remaining was the expansion of “suitabil-ity” for FID cards. At that point we had to make very quick deci-sions knowing the bill would still go through the senate. The main
point is that the speed of poli-tics had changed to hyper mode. Members were clamoring for up-dates on what was happening, but as quick as we could update them things were changing.
At the time this column is be-ing written, the bill has already gone through the senate at break neck speed where it was greatly amended even further in our favor. We won’t know for sure what is go-ing to happen until a few days lat-er. The main issue is the speed of politics can bore you to tears and then when you think everything is stagnant, things will break loose and you’ll have to make decisions on the fly with no time to ask for opinions. That is why GOAL is so important to maintain. Without the support of our members there would be no entity to be there when things get crazy. Thank you all for your continued support and advocacy, without it the Second Amendment would likely vanish in the Commonwealth.
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Dear Mike - GOAL,
I collected almost $400 in dona-tions at the rally yesterday from people who contributed in ex-change for the Proud Gun Owner Buttons. I rounded it up to $400 which I’m mailing to GOAL today.
After the rally, it was very satisfy-ing to see lots of people circulat-ing through the State House who were wearing the buttons.
It would be great to provide feed-back to the donors that GOAL did indeed receive the money I col-
lected. I’ve included a few words below which you could include in an upcoming newsletter article about the rally.
At the rally Jim and most of the speakers were wearing the but-tons, so I hope the newsletter ar-ticle will include a photo or two showing the buttons.
My thanks to you and the entire staff for all of your efforts.
Regards,
Richard
Thanks Richard! GOAL Member Makes Buttons to Raise $$
July 2014 GOAL News Print Edition 5
Playing the Spin Game.
July 2014
Those that oppose our freedom shamelessly spin the truth in order to perpetuate and enable the gun control argument.
As I am sure you all know by now, we’ve been in the midst of a legisla-tive slugfest over the last 6 weeks. During this time there have been numerous stories appearing in the media, with the usual suspects like the Globe spinning like a top fuel dragster leaving the line on a hot day. The Globe printed a great example of this online yesterday. As usual they followed form with a sensational and deceiving head-line,
“Police chiefs rip change in Mass. gun control bill - Want discretion to turn down applicants”
The lead headline and opening lines of every story focus on the police trying to prevent “scary people” from being able to own a pump action shotgun or bolt ac-tion rifle, because, in their own words, “they could pose a threat”.
The last sentence of the opening paragraph is a perfect example:
“Are people really going to be any less dead if they’re killed with a ri-fle or a shotgun than a handgun?” Police Chief Terry Cunningham of Wellesley said at the morning press conference.
Sensationalism directly aimed at the misinformed.
Remember, the thirst for more con-trol over our rights was sparked by Speaker DeLeo’s Special “gun vio-lence” Committee Report.
During the last public hearing at the State House in early June, Rep. Boldyga asked the authors of the Committee Report to go through their recommendations. When they came to the part where they
wanted to add suitability to the issuance of FID cards the commit-tee was asked, “what evidence do you have showing a need to make this change? Can you show docu-mentation of crimes committed by FID card holders?” After a long uncomfortable moment in which the committee members sat and thought and scratched their heads, they answered, “we have none”.
They spent over a year studying the issue and had ZERO compel-ling evidence showing the need to make that change, yet there it is.
Now, groups like “Stop Handgun Violence” and others including the MA Chiefs of Police Association are pushing for the changes to be made to issuance of FID cards. They want the power to be able to say no, even if the applicant has a perfect record, they still want to be able to tell the person, sorry, no rights for you.
What do we see for stories cover-ing the issue? Not much mention of the people who will have their rights eroded should the law pass.
Instead we get classic hand wring-ing and fear mongering about keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people, and no men-tion of the people who are apply-ing for FID cards having to have a clean record or go through Federal Background checks.
Look at the last paragraph of the story that appeared in the Globe:
“Cunningham, the Wellesley police chief who is also a former president of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Po-lice Association, said it was very rare to have police chiefs protest at the State House on such short no-tice. But, he added in a telephone interview, the rally came about be-cause the disputed measure “is re-ally important to us. It’s important to keep people safe.”
Which leads to a question, if this were really an issue about public safety, why are we hearing about it just now? And how is it that Speaker DeLeo’s ace committee could find no evidence supporting the need to change FID cards to “May issue” via adding suitability?
The story continues:
“If a new anti-gun violence bill, crafted in response to the December 2012 Newtown, Conn., school mas-sacre, becomes law, it will build on the state’s wide-ranging 1998 gun law, which has been called among the toughest in the nation.”
The story finishes with a men-tion of Newtown, seems nobody at the Globe, or most anywhere else for that matter can write anything about guns without re-minding us of that heinous crime.
From the EditorDo
g Days of Summer Fundraiser
Support GOAL& You Might Win GUNS
Predictably the article continues with a mention of the Common-wealth’s “tough gun laws”. Going forward, if the law were to pass with the change to suitability in regard to issuing FID cards it will have a lot more to do with restrict-ing our freedom than curbing the real causations of gun violence. Simply put we’ll be following the same road started in 1998 when the “toughest in the nation” laws were passed. What the author ne-glected to menition though, is that gun related homicides have in-creased by over 100% since those laws were passed.
And that needs to be said. Shame on our legislature should they try to sell us down that road.
Like the gold standard backing the value of the Dollar, the prin-ciples laid down in the Constitu-tion of the United States were once the supreme law of the land. An ounce of gold in the form of a twenty Dollar gold coin or smaller denominations in combination, bought roughly the same amount of goods in early 1933 as it did in 1776. Later in 1933, FDR confis-cated all gold coins in circulation by executive order and declared it illegal for Americans to possess gold bullion.
After this order was executed by force under the threat of impris-onment, the Treasury in essence devalued the Dollar by arbitrarily raising the gold price from $20 per ounce to $36. Suddenly, all goods that used to cost $20 jumped to $36, an 80% increase in the cost of all goods to be footed by all Americans. With the price of gold today at over$1,300 an ounce, the price of goods has jumped today by 6,675% as compared to 1933. That gives you a measure to which the value of the Dollar has been diluted through the printing press.
The parallels to gun control leg-islation are staggering. From the day the Bill of Rights was ratified to 1934, the Second Amendment was the only gun law in the land. The Constitution without equivo-cation guaranteed Americans that their Right to Keep and Bear Arms shall not be infringed.
80 years later, these laws have gradually been made more strin-gent so that for the last 15 years, we now have the most draconian laws on the books in Massachu-setts.
We all wish to be able to turn back the clock by 80 years and go back to the certainty of the intellectual precision of the Founding Fathers. But given the state of the present bias of the culture, all we can rea-sonably expect to accomplish is not the outright repeal of all these gradually implemented infringe-ments, but rather work on revers-ing the most glaring injustices of these laws. That is what I am ad-vocating and what GOAL is com-mitted to working on.
How do we reverse 80 years of bad law?
It’s a slow process. Cultural change does not occur overnight. As you know, we have 27 Mayors that are members of Everytown for Gun Safety, a Governor who wants you to be restricted to a lim-ited number of gun purchases per year and an Attorney General who believes your life belongs to her. All these facts are expressions of the prevailing cultural bias.
These are all obstacles that must be overcome in order to get to where we as Americans have a right to be.
They are all parts and the product of our culture in Massachusetts and are just some of the reasons why we have been subjected to some of the most arbitrary laws in the country.
Many things must be considered to roll back bad law, and there is no known perfect method. It requires advocacy, education, persistence and a principled approach.
And not only that, it takes time to educate people on what true rights are and that they are indeed unalienable. It takes time to edu-
cate the public that firearms are tools and not things to be feared. Once these principles are recog-nized as true we can expect action on the new information.
It takes education and thorough understanding of these critical is-sues pertaining to man’s right to his own life, that will bring mean-ingful change in a state such as ours that was at an earlier time at the forefront of the American Revolution.
Change does not have to take the form of repeal either. It can also take the form of H.4278, that could potentially result in chang-ing a hodgepodge of bad into bet-ter law that can at least be under-stood.
If this happens, it could mean we are seeing the beginning of a change in the tide, from a rights infringing state to one that re-flects the founding of this country and starts to respect the rights of the individual.
H.4278 is not perfect; but take a look at one aspect that would change the tide for Massachu-setts: If this bill passes with its cur-rent language, it would mean that there is a check on the Chiefs of Police in this state. They will not have the arbitrary power they cur-rently have over our rights. They
will be required to provide a rea-son that someone is unsuitable, and provide it in writing. That is the only evidence they can bring to court if challenged.
This is a huge step forward as it places the burden of proof of un-suitability squarely on the shoul-ders of the Chief of Police, rather than the citizen having to prove that they are suitable. If enacted, this is nothing less than the rever-sal of the rule of men to the rule of law.
There are other great steps to roll back and replace bad law in this bill as well, which would take us a step away from our draco-nian 1998 laws and closer to the true law of the land, the Second Amendment.
Rolling back bad law does not happen overnight. It takes a long time to change minds and incli-nations about subjects even as fundamental as rights are. But any step in the right direction is a good one. We must keep that in mind and stay the course. Keep educating, advocating and take a principled approach to the matter of your rights, and there is no way we can’t win.
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GOAL News Print Edition July 20148
GOAL Training
Course Date Tuition TimeThe Art of Concealed Carry in Massachusetts
September 17, November 19 Members $75.00 Non-Members $125.00
5:30 - 10:00 PM
Basic Metallic Cartridge Re-loading
Saturday, November 15 Members $110.00 Non-Members $140.00
8:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Basic Pistol Course (NRA LTC-002)
October 7, October 21, Novem-ber 18, December 9
Members $95.00 Non-Members $145.00
9:30 AM - 6:30 PM
BFS Primer Course for State Certified Instructors
September 10, November 26 Members $35.00 Non-Members $65.00
6:00 -10:00 PM (Weeknights)
Close Quarters Combatives with Mike Anthony
September 4, November 6 Members $60.00 Non-Members $100.00
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Everyday Carry (EDC) Skills & Knowledge - New Class!
New Date TBA Members $125.00 Non-Members $155.00
9:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Instructor Course: NRA Ba-sic Pistol and Home Firearm Safety
September 8 - 9 Members $250.00 Non-Members $350.00
Call for more info.
Intro to IDPA September 16 Members $65.00 Non-Members $95.00
9:30 AM - 5:30 PM
Intro to the Modern Sporting Rifle - AR15
New Dates TBA Members $75.00 Non-Members $105.00
9:30 AM - 5:30 PM
MA Gun Law for Citizens October 15 Members $20.00 Non-Members $75.00
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Practical Self Defense for Women with Michael Anthony
September 18, November 20 Members $25.00 Non-Members $25.00
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Precision Rifle Reloading with Jim Finnerty
Sunday September 14 Members $100.00 Non-Members $130.00
10:30 AM - 3:00 PM
Principles of Concealed Carry *NEW CLASS*
October 18 Members $125.00 Non-Members $175.00
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Progressive Carbine w/ Scott Germain - Center Mass
September 2 Members $300 Non-Members $350
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Utah Non-Resident CCW October 8 Members $80.00 Non-Members $150.00
5:30 PM - 10:00 PM
2014 GOAL Training Schedule
Below is the schedule for courses held at GOAL Headquarters in Northboro, Massachusetts (unless otherwise noted).
All NRA Basic Pistol courses offered through GOAL exceed standards established in accordance with Massachusetts General Law Chapter . 140, § 131P and 515 CMR 3.00 Please note: All courses run 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm unless otherwise noted.
All courses require pre-regisration paid in full. This can be done in person at The GOAL office, via phone 508-393-5333 x20, or via email by contacting Angela Fisher.
**Please Note** Registration for the three Rob Pincus classes will not open until Tuesday January 7, 2014
Join GOAL - Protecting Your Freedom Begins Here!Gun Owners’ Action League is the official state firearms association in Massachusetts. We are an asso-ciation of law-abiding citizens who believe in the basic right of fire-arms ownership for competition, recreation and self-protection.
GOAL works hard to defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights against those in Massachusetts who wish to infringe upon the freedoms guaranteed by our fore-fathers. The programs sponsored and developed by Gun Owners’ Action League are supported by competitors, sportsmen, recre-ational shooters and law enforce-ment throughout the state.
We were formed in 1974 to protect the right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes in the Common-wealth of Massachusetts. We are recognized as the state’s premier gun rights association.
Why You Should Join GOAL
Every intrusion on our gun rights is an intrusion on all rights. The Con-
stitutional rights and freedoms that you enjoy - and may take for granted - are becoming more frag-ile each day. Secure your rights
for yourself, your family and future generations. Join GOAL and be-come part of the solution today.
Commonwealth when citizens ap-ply for an LTC. The Senate voted 28-10 in favor of amending the bill to get rid of the language, and the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police As-sociation suddenly lost in their bid to have more power over your Sec-ond Amendment Rights.
When all was said and done, GOAL released this alert, which analyzed the Senate version of the bill and urged our members to contact their MA House Rep for a concur-rence vote:
____________________________
7/18/14 Update - ACTION ALERT
Senate Votes for Second Amend-ment – GOAL Asks Membership to Support Bill – Contact State Rep-resentative.
The Massachusetts State Senate
voted yesterday for the Second Amendment. The Senate, voting on 63 amendments to the latest version of Majority Leader DeLeo’s “gun violence” bill voted to pro-tect our rights via a 28-10 major-ity vote on the focus of the day, amendment #6.
The adopted version of the bill from the House, known as S.2265 featured a section that GOAL mem-bers were completely opposed to. This section, had it passed would apply the “suitability” language to the issuance of FID cards and would have grossly abused our Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
Amendment #6 corrected the bill to prevent the suitability clause from being applied to FID cards. The Senate saved this amend-ment for last, after hours of de-bate on the other 62 amendments
a roll call vote was taken and the amendment passed by a 28-10 vote. (See results below) (Also, please note the amendment # was changed to 63.1)
There are many people to thank for this vote, our members for the incredibly hard work in contacting their senator(s), the 28 Senators who voted to protect our rights and especially Senator Richard Moore, Senator Mike Moore, Sena-tor James Timilty, Senator Ste-phen Brewer and Senator Bruce Tarr.
The bill, in its current form is vastly different from where we started in early June, with the original incar-nation known as H.4121.
Action Alert: As GOAL feels this legislation is a positive step for-ward, please contact your State Representative today, ask that they support this bill via a positive
vote when it comes up for concur-rence.
Please see our listing of positive changes and more information about the legislation below.
• The original bill would have criminalized private sales of firearms between licensed indi-viduals. This section was struck and private sales remain legal.
• The original bill would have ap-plied a “suitability” clause to the issuance of FID cards. This was defeated and FID cards are still “shall issue”.
• The original bill would have made an FID applicant list a “reason” for applying. This was struck from the legislation.
• The original bill would have giv-en the licensing authority the ability to place restrictions on
• We were successful in modify-ing the age limit for applying for FID cards so that 14 year olds can apply.
• We were successful in stream-lining LTC licenses to one li-cense, going forward there will be no more LTC “B” licenses.
• We were successful in fixing the 90-day grace period issue. Go-ing forward the licensing au-thority will issue a receipt upon renewal. This receipt will vali-date the license for all lawful purposes until the new license is received.
• We were able to add language, which requires that a licensing authority who denies the issu-ance of an LTC to an individual because of “unsuitability” be required to list the reason(s) in a letter of denial.
• We were successful in clarifying language, which applies to ju-nior training.
• We were successful in ensuring that the application of the NICS process uses the federal defini-tions.
• The original bill had very oner-ous language regarding con-fiscated/seized firearms. We were successful in getting that removed.
• We were successful in ensuring that School Resource Officers
were provided protection un-der C269 10j
• We were successful in adding the term “prohibited person” to the license issuing language in C140 s131 & s129B. This legal definition clarifies who should not be licensed and places the burden of proof for denial upon the licensing authority.
• The original bill would have granted even more power to the MA Chiefs of Police and EO-PSS to determine what unsuit-ability is. We were successful in removing this language
• We ensured that the definition of prohibited person would not include people who sought voluntary treatment for sub-stance abuse, alcohol, or men-tal health issues.
• We were successful in legalizing the purchase and possession of self-defense sprays for anyone over 18 years of age.
• We were successful in strik-ing the language, which would have given the MA Attorney General unprecedented power over which firearms can be pur-chased in MA. (EOPSS list)
• We were successful in strik-ing the language, which would have given the Colonel of the State Police power to define the primer for firearms safety train-ing programs.
• The original bill had language, which would have forced hunt-
ers safety courses and firearms safety courses to include a module on suicide prevention. This was amended so that the state will now provide hand out materials for the teachers.
• We were successful in creating a criminal firearms trafficking division to help combat illegal sales.
• We were successful in including language, which requires the Colonel of the State Police to offer Public Service Announce-ments on firearms safety, stor-age, transportation, education, etc.
• We were successful in adding language giving active duty ser-vicemen a 180-day grace period to get an LTC/FID.
• The original bill had a poorly written section regarding in-creased penalties for carrying while intoxicated. We were suc-cessful in getting this removed as the definition of intoxicated was too vague.
• With thanks to some of our members who put in extra ef-fort on the issue, we were able to add language, which would allow “off the list” transfers of C&R firearms by 01 FFL’s.
Going forward, the legislation will return to the House for a concur-rence vote. (Basically they will have to agree with the Senate vote and amendments and vote to re-flect that agreement).
If the house disagrees and votes to reflect that they don’t like the bill (concurrence is rejected), a bi-partisan conference commit-tee of three members from each branch is appointed to craft a new compromise bill that will be sent to both legislative branches for a final vote.
The conference committee’s re-port recommending the compro-mise bill is not subject to amend-ment.
At this time GOAL would like to ask that our members support this legislation and contact your State Representative today. Please ask that they vote in concurrence to this legislation.
Thank you again to everyone for your hard work and please con-tact your State Representative, encourage him or her to support this bill!
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Just like that hurricane, accelerat-ing as it nears, the legislation also caught speed; the Senate vote ar-rived on last Friday. GOAL quickly communicated the above analysis and started working behind the scenes to see how the members of the House would vote. We quickly found out, as the House voted to send the legislation to conference committee. The vote occurred less than 10 business hours after news was released regarding the Senate vote.
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We advise small businesses, clubs and associations regarding compliance with regulations, risk management, employment and compliance with regulations, risk management, employment and related issues.
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• Townsend Rod and Gun Club - Competition Bowling Pin Shoot - August 10 - September 14 - October 12 - Click here for more info.
• Woburn Sportsmen’s Association DCM/CMP Competition Program. 50-shot National Match Course. Open to all shooters 16 years of age or older; juniors are encouraged. Dates: 9/28, 10/26; Time: Check-in at range 8:45- 9:15 AM. Firing begins at 10:00 AM. Place: WSA. Highpower Range, 155 Middlesex Tpk., Bedford, MA. Entry: includes full payment & completed entry form. Squadding limited to 36 entrants. Match Fee $15.00 (checks payable to Woburn Sportsmen’s Association); Juniors $5.00 (16 - 20 yrs. old). For more information, contact Mark Mulvaney Jr; E-mail: [email protected].
• Fitchburg Sportsmen’s Club - Beginner Trap Shooting Clinics will be held from 9 am to Noon on Sunday, August 10. The clinic is free and open to the public. One on one instruction, all safety equipment, and firearms are provided. Youth ages 10 and up must be accompanied by a parent. The Rifle Range will be closed during the Trap Clinics.Trap shoots on Wednesdays at 6:00 PM. These are open to the public and are held at the Club located at 289 Rindge State Road, (Route 119), Ashburn-ham, MA. For more information please contact Keith Maynard via email [email protected]. We usually have some hamburgers and hot dogs available along with soda for purchase at a very reasonable price. - stop by and break some clays!
• Lowell Sportsmen’s Club - Trap & Skeet: every Sunday at 1pm and Wednesday at 10am, $3/round
• Marlboro Fish & Game Club - 3D archery - full breakfast & sign up start-ing at 7 AM in the hall. If you are new to archery this is a fun way to learn to shoot actual 3 dimensional targets in a hunting scenario. Check our website for more details.
• The Old Colony Sportsman’s Assoc. is holding As-Issued MIlitary Matches on Aug.17, Sept.14 and Oct. 5 , 2014. The location of the range is: Old Colony Sportman’s Assn. in Pembroke, MA. Firing Begins: 8:30am. For more information you may contact the match director: Franco Scar-pino at [email protected].
• Wrentham Sportsmen’s Association - August 3, Pistol, Center Fire Iron Sights 25’, 50’ & 50 yards - August 17 - Pistol, Rim Fire - September 7 - he Great Vegetable Shoot (Sidelock) Gregg’s shoot - September 21 - Rifle, Center fire. Any sights - $20.00 entry fee. 1:00 pm start.
• Petersham Gun Club - Sporting Clays course open every Wednesday at 12 noon. Sundays open 10am till 1pm. Hot lunch served every Sunday. Contact [email protected].
• If your club has an open to the public event you would like to promote, please email the info to [email protected]
Have you been denied an LTC? Has an old conviction,
minor firearms conviction or a minor drug offense caused you to lose your
LTC/FID?
We may be able to help, email [email protected], include the reason the PD supplied for denial.
Comm2A is a non-profit public charity organized under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code. Contributions made to Comm2A are fully
Comm2A has multiple pending cases in federal court in an effort to ensure state firearms law treats all lawful residents equally and fairly.
Today, in response to the news of the House vote, GOAL released this alert:
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7/22/14 Legislation Update:
S.2284 Sent To Conference Com-mittee - Now H.4285
The Massachusetts House of Rep-resentatives just voted to send S.2284 (now H.4285) to Confer-ence Committee.
The House has named Rep. Ron-ald Mariano, Rep. Garrett Bradley and Rep. George Peterson to be on the Conference Committee, we are still waiting to see which Senators will be named.
The Senate has named Senator James Timilty, Senator Bruce Tarr and Senator Anthony Petruccelli to be on the conference commit-tee.
Our information indicates that the house vote to send the bill to com-mittee was a gavel vote, so there is no record of who voted and how they voted. If there is any new in-
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formation on that we will update this page.
GOAL will update with information and action alerts as necessary.
Going forward there is no telling what will happen. We could wind up with a bill that we do not ap-prove of, we could wind up with a bill that we like, which mirrors the Senate’s bill, or the legislation could wind up stuck in the Confer-ence Committee, never to go any further.
Should the first or last option hap-pen it would be a shame. The leg-islation that came out of the Sen-ate was well written and had many good provisions for law abiding citizens of the commonwealth, including finally legalizing Pepper Spray/Mace, fixing delay issues in regard to renewing LTC’s of FID’s, and man other good provisions.
GOAL will continue to monitor the activities of the committee and will alert our membership once the time comes to take action.
ensure that we will have the fund-ing to continue our mission. This summer for every $25.00 donation made you will receive 1 chance to win a fantastic GOAL 40th Anniver-sary 3 gun package which includes an Auto Ordnance M1 Carbine, an Auto Ordnance M1 GI style Thomp-son and a Auto Ordnance GI style 1911. All three guns have been specially engraved with GOAL’s 40th anniversary logo and text of the Second Amendment!
Donate $250.00 and you will re-ceive a special GOAL knife from Buck Knives!
Thank you in advance for your generous donations, and for de-fending freedom!
Drawing will be held September 26, 2014 at 12:00 PM. You need not be present to win. Odds deter-mined by number of tickets sold. All federal and state gun laws ap-ply. All prizes are to be claimed within 30 days from the drawing.
Please consider helping GOAL maintain its Second Amendment Civil Rights voice in the Common-wealth with a financial donation in 2014.
For every $25 you donate, you will receive one entry in to our grand prize 3 Gun Package - a complete GOAL 40th Anniversary Set!
Please tell Jay and Jim I am With GOAL!For every Premium Level Donation of $250 or more we will also send you a free Laser Engraved GOAL Buck Knife as a special thank you!
Accept my donation of: $25.00 $50.00 $100.00 $200.00
Premium Level Donation to include free Laser Engraved GOAL Buck Knife:
$250.00 $300.00 $500.00 $1,000.00 Other
Name:
Street Address:
City/Town:
Phone Number:
E-mail:
Credit Card #:
Expiration Date:
CID: (3 digit code on back of card)
Total Donation Enclosed:
You can also send a check made out to GOAL - Please Do Not Send Cash!
Return to GOAL 361 W. Main St. Northboro, MA. 01532 - Drawing 8/30/13 at 12:00 PM
GOAL’s 2014 Dog Days of Summer Fundraiser
Firearms pictued are actual prize guns with special laser engraving.
GOAL News - Print EditionTeam Largo Raises Funds at Relay for Life EventOn June 13 GOAL had a LARGO (Law-ful And Responsible Gun Owners) team at the American Cancer Society Relay for Life event in Northampton Massachusetts. This was the 16th consecutive year for this team to take part in the Hampshire County event. Ninety three teams from all walks of life set up team headquarter tents and had members walking the track for 24 hours. Presenting gun owners as benevolent people who do charity events is a definite winning combina-tion. A large (2 x 8 foot) banner had the same message as the T-shirts we wore. “Lawful And Responsible Gun Owners, Good People Doing Good Things”. Across the bottom of the ban-ner and shirts was “A project of Gun Owners’ Action League. It is a very refreshing experience to go to a “pro-gressive” town such as Northamp-ton, publicly proclaim your identity as “gun owner” and be warmly wel-comed by everyone in attendance.
Our shooting gallery was also a big hit. Plastic spud guns core out a piece of potato and shoot it at the targets. Our sign urged others to “hit the cancer cells with the anti bodies !” We also had a “Largo the clown” bean bag toss game and balloons with the same logo as the shirts.
Every year we build great cama-raderie with other teams from a wide spectrum of society. Many people go out of their way to tell us how happy they are to see gun owners being por-trayed the way we are. Every year we also get a few people who have been
trained to dislike the idea of citizens owning firearms stopping by to ex-press interest in seeing gun owners presented in a way they did not real-ize was possible. Over the past sev-eral years GOAL has had these teams participating in events across the
State, from Pittsfield to Haverhill. For information on starting an event in your area : contact Harry Vandoloski, [email protected]
Reloading Bench By: Jim Finnerty Forming .300 AAC Blackout Cases
July 2014
The 300 AAC Blackout (abbreviated 300 BLK) cartridge was introduced by the Advanced Armament Corporation as a .30 Caliber cartridge in-tended for use in the AR-15 platform. When loaded with 110gr to 125gr bullets, the 300 BLK achieves energies similar to the 7.62×39mm car-tridge. In places where a suppressor is legal, the 300 BLK can be loaded to subsonic velocities with heavier (190+gr) spitzer-style bullets, which are much more efficient than the pistol bullets normally used in these applications.
The 300 Blackout rapidly gained wide acceptance due in large part to the fact that the cartridge uses standard AR-15 magazines (at full ca-pacity), as well as the standard AR-15 .223/5.56 bolt and bolt carrier. In theory, conversion from .223/5.56 to .300 Blackout requires only a bar-rel change.
Brass cases are available from several manufacturers, or they can be formed from trimmed and necked down (yes, “down” – we’ll explain later) .223 parent cases. Given the ready availability of .223 brass, many reloaders find it more economical to form their own .300 Blackout brass. This article will examine that process, which consists of four or five steps depending on how you decide to trim.
Step 1 - Case Selection and Inspection
Don’t dive into your brass bucket and start randomly trimming those range pick-ups just yet. If you’re going to make your own .300 Blackout cases, the initial parent case selection is very important.
Figure 11 – .300 AAC Blackout Chamber Showing Diameter at the Neck
Table 1 – Case wall thickness of various .223/5.56 brass
Figure2 – A tube Micrometer is the best way to accurately measure case wall thickness
You can save yourself quite a bit of time and effort if you use only cases with the proper wall thickness. Take a look at the chamber drawing in Figure 1. Notice that the diameter of the chamber at the location of the case neck is 0.3350”. Since the bullet has a maximum diameter of 0.309”, that leaves only 0.026” of total space available for the brass. There should be about 0.002” of total clearance around the neck for reli-able feeding, so the maximum case wall thickness is about 0.012”. Keep in mind that 0.012” leaves almost no room for irregularities in case con-centricity, so in reality you’re better off with cases that are slightly thin-ner than this; a 0.0110” to 0.0115” wall thickness is just about perfect.
A dial caliper is not accurate enough to reliably measure case wall thick-ness, so I used a precision instrument called a tube micrometer (see Fig-ure 2) to measure the wall thickness of a sample of .223/5.56 brass with various headstamps.
I used three cases of each headstamp; then, trimmed, chamfered, de-burred, sized, cleaned, and measured them at the neck with a tube mi-crometer. The results are shown in Table 1.
WCC, Remington, Lake City, and commercial Federal brass can be safely used to make .300 Blackout cases. PMC and military-style Federal cases with the FC 12 headstamp can be used, but may result in feeding and/or accuracy problems in tighter chambers. The other headstamps mea-sured are too thick to be used as is. If you wish to use the thicker brass to make .300 Blackout cases, you must turn the outsides of the case necks to reduce the diameter. Google “Outside case neck turning” for an overview of the process. It’s not trivial.
Step 2 - Trim the Cases
Case trimming normally involves shaving a few thousandths of an inch off of each case to either uniform the lengths or to bring stretched cases back into spec. It’s a much different affair in the context of making .300 Blackout brass. To make .300 BLK from .223 Remington, the case has to be shortened by nearly 0.400”. While it is possible to remove this much material using a conventional hand-cranked or powered trimmer, doing so can be quite time consuming.
Many reloaders use a small cutoff saw to remove most of the brass, and later clean up the cut with a conventional trimmer. If you go to YouTube.com and search on “300 Blackout Case trimming” you will see dozens of methods, jigs, and tools that reloaders have employed to perform the task of shortening .223 cases – including the method I settled on.
Continued next month...
Jim Finnerty is an NRA-Certified Metallic Cartridge Reloading instructor. Jim teaches the reloading classes at GOAL, as well as at gun shops and clubs around the area. For more information, please visit Jim’s website at www.MassReloading.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Mass-Reloading
