Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Senator Tarr’s Statement on a Recent News Article


Boston- Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester) released the following statement today on a recently published newspaper article entitled: “Plan to Seize Guns Hits Opposition”:

A recent newspaper article entitled “Plan to Seize Guns Hits Opposition” correctly indicated that I had some questions about a particular piece of pending legislation. Unfortunately and disturbingly, it also created an impression that I am opposed to the concept of preventing those who present an “extreme risk” from having access to firearms.  That is not accurate.  While I have raised such questions about this bill, I do not disagree with its goal.

Massachusetts currently has some of the strongest laws in our nation to prevent this from happening, and I have worked diligently to strengthen them.  Should there be a gap in this area that needs to be filled to protect public safety, we should consider and act on the best means to fill it, and do so in a sustainable and constitutional way.
Those who pose a risk of harm to themselves or others should not only be prevented from having access to firearms, they should receive effective treatment, to prevent them from harming others with anything, including a truck or a bomb improvised from a pressure cooker.
That is a priority we should all share, and I hope we can work together to address it.

###

Posted by Bruce Tarr at 5:54 PM