Alphecca

Anti-2A Globe Quotes Pro-2A Blogger

One that wasn't known to me. From the Boston Globe column:

Gun-owning by the book

Harold M. Clemens of Roxbury writes on his Ghetto Uprising that, as well-intentioned as the state's tough gun-ownership laws are, it might be time to relax them so residents of violence-prone neighborhoods can protect themselves:

''The police, a.k.a. The Man, got [guns]. Knuckleheads got 'em. Meanwhile, someone like me -- employed, college-educated with no criminal background -- has to take a daylong firearms safety course, then pay $100 to fill out an application, which, in part, details the reason for his wish to bear a firearm, then have that reason deemed valid or invalid by some clown in the Police Department [who] doesn't know or [care] about him, then [if approved] wait 40 days to receive his license, before he can purchase a handgun. Contrast this weekslong ordeal with the painless 'process' thugs endure -- a phone call, a meeting, and an exchange, if that."

Initially meant to protect them from living in a neighborhood saturated with weapons, the statutes now have the opposite of effect of paralysis. While guns from Vermont, Maine, and elsewhere with less stringent gun laws are smuggled into the city and find their way into illegal hands, Keesh and Dev have no means to protect themselves; no means to counter any attack they might encounter if they “do the right thing” and testify against the men tearing their neighborhood apart...

BTW, I notice Bruce at mASS Backwards found the post too since he left a comment there.