Legislative Action needed!
Please ask your House Representative to Support Rep. Peterson's Amendment to Section 113 of H. 4703!
House to Take Up
Pre-trial Detention Language
In the second attempt
this week, the legislature is attempting to act on pre-trial detention
language. The first was in the Senate budget. Now on Wednesday, May 26, 2010
the Massachusetts House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on H.4703 "An Act Reforming the Administrative
Procedures Relative to Criminal Offender Record Information and Pre and Post
Trial Supervised Release". The bill is commonly referred to as the
"CORI" bill. Section 113 of H.4703 contains pre-trial detention language that
GOAL has been alerting its members about since the senate passed the language
in S.2220.
The language of section 113 would allow the courts to hold
citizens without bail for simple unlicensed possession of a handgun (loaded or
unloaded), machine gun or large capacity weapon. This language is in violation
of a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) Ruling, Commonwealth vs. Young,
in May of 2009. This ruling stated that simple, unlicensed possession is a
regulatory matter not a criminal matter. (See GOAL's web page for more
information and history on this subject: http://www.goal.org/regulationpages/regulationh4428.html)
Representative George Peterson will be filing an amendment
on behalf of GOAL to correct the language in H.4703. The GOAL amendment will
correct the bill with language meeting the SJC ruling. Our language would allow
for the arrest and detention of persons committing criminal acts outlined in
the existing pre-trial detention law while in possession of an unlicensed gun.
Please contact your House Representative and urge them to
support Rep. Peterson's amendment correcting Section 113 of H.4703. To find
your Representatives contact information, go to: http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.php
·
Stop citizens from being held without bail for
simple unlicensed possession. (Remind them that many states don't have gun laws
and licenses like Massachusetts.)
·
Correct the language to meet the standard set by
the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
·
Give the courts a tool to hold truly dangerous
people who have committed violent acts.
