State Rep Denise Garlick pushes for gun safety measures

This week, members of the Massachusetts legislature, including State Representative Denise C. Garlick (D-Needham) filed HD. 5081, An Act Relative to 3-D Printed Weapons and “Ghost Guns”. 3-D printed guns and “ghost guns” are untraceable firearms without serial numbers, constituting a significant public safety and public health threat to residents of Massachusetts and the United States. Currently, there is a Federal Court injunction prohibiting the release of downloadable blueprints for the manufacture of 3-D printed guns. This legislation was filed so that the Commonwealth can be in a position to act swiftly to respond should this injunction be lifted.

“I’m proud that Massachusetts has the lowest gun death rates in the nation and we must continue to be proactive and lead the way in preventing gun violence,” said State Representative Denise C. Garlick. “This legislation takes public safety preventative measures to help keep our communities and families safe.”

Representative Garlick has actively worked on strengthening our state’s gun laws in each session that she has served. In 2014, along with her colleagues in the House, she voted to enact, “An Act Relative to the Reduction of Gun Violence”, which was signed into law in August of that same year. This law strengthened the Massachusetts statutes on firearm regulation by adopting new gun licensing procedures, new requirements for background checks for firearms sold at gun shows or private sales, school safety initiatives, increased penalties for firearm offenses, and increased efforts of suicide awareness and prevention.

This session, Representative Garlick’s advocacy for gun control did not waver. In the Fiscal Year 2017 Supplemental budget, she voted to ban bump stocks and trigger cranks, devices that were used in the horrific Las Vegas shooting, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Representative Garlick also pushed hard for and voted in favor of the ‘Extreme Risk Protection Order’ legislation, as known as “An Act Relative to Firearms”, which was signed into law on July 3, 2018. The recent law allows household members and local law enforcement to file an extreme risk protection order (ERPO) petition with the court to remove firearms from dangerous individuals, helping people to keep themselves and other safe, while ensuring significant civil rights and due process protections.

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