• Thank You! GOAL and NES member Peter Saniuk presents GOAL Exec Director Jim Wallace with a very generous donation check to be used to help fight off the current attack on our civil rights. Thank you to Peter and the generous members of Northeastshooters.com! 
• Annual Mailing: The returns from our annual mailing have started to pour into the GOAL office. We just wanted to express our great appreciation for the outpouring of support! Thanks to all the Second Amendment Civil Rights activists for making a stand with us! 
• News on Governor Patrick's Bill: According to two separate articles from the State House News Service the House voted to send the Governor's gun bill to the Judiciary Committee, but the Senate voted to send it to the Public Safety Committee. Unless the two can agree on where to put it the bill stands in limbo for now! Could it be that your calls and emails to the legislature have been heard?
• Posted by GOAL Exec. Director Jim Wallace on social media: "The Second Amendment is the only 'gun insurance' I need."
• Speaking of Jim Wallace, he will be at the Marlborough Gun Show from 9am - 1pm tomorrow, Saturday January 26 at the Best Western Royal - Plaza Trade Center, if you go to the show, stop by the GOAL booth and say hi!   
• Stay after your legislators and the Governor's office!  Please continue a dialogue with your legislators and Governor Patrick's office.  Call, write, schedule a face to face meeting - ask that they co-sponsor GOAL's 2013 legislation and to please not support any anti-Second Amendment legislation. 

All GOAL members are quite aware of the battle we are now in to save our Second Amendment civil rights. Ever since the murders in Sandy Hook there has been a steady stream of anti-civil rights proposals whether they be legislation, regulation or so-called "executive orders". These attacks are coming from every direction possible and really just a cover so that those making these proposals don't have to deal with real issues at hand.

 

When reviewing all of the proposals put before the public we must keep in mind that this rush to implement new restrictions  was the result of a deranged murderer who should have never had access to society. Perhaps the most telling part of these proposals is that none of them have anything that will prevent the next Newtown.

 

We are at a great point in history when we as a society need to make crucial decisions that will make a safer society AND respect our civil rights. As citizens we must make it clear to our elected officials that we expect them to take a stand and do the hard work necessary to deal with the human criminal element walking our streets and threatening our families. Threatening to put a lawfully licensed gun owner in prison for 15 years because we are in possession of a 20 round magazine instead of a 7 round magazine is not only an ineffective means of reducing crime, it is a disgusting cop out.

 

Massachusetts gun owners have been burdened with nonsensical restrictions and regulation for nearly 1 � decades, meanwhile overwhelming evidence exists that gun crime has risen steadily during that time. Our numbers have been reduced by 85% since the 1998 Gun Control Act was passed into law, yet the Massachusetts government agencies report that gun crime is up over 200%. Where is the so-called success of these gun laws?

 

Over the upcoming weeks legislative language will become available and GOAL will review it.  We are well aware of the legislative proposals from the Governor and one House member in particular and there will be more as information becomes public. By mid-February the House and Senate will have likely appointed the individual committees that will handle the different bills and those bills will receive permanent numbers so that we can accurately track them for our members.

 

Speaking of committee assignments, we learned this week that the House and Senate cannot agree as to what committee the Governor's anti-civil rights legislation will go to. Until both bodies can agree on a committee, the bill stays in temporary limbo. This will most certainly not be permanent, but at least it gives more time for people to be educated on the problems the bill would create.

 

As we said, there is more news to come as more legislation comes to light. GOAL members should hunker down for the long fight in front of us. Already the outpouring of support from lawful gun owners has been phenomenal. In short it is time to make a stand! 

GOAL has just scheduled an organizational indoor rally for Sunday February 17, 2013 at the Holiday Inn, Boxborough Massachusetts from 9am - Noon.  This will be our preparatory event for our "2A Lobby Day" at the State House (see below).

To RSVP for Boxborough please call Angela Fisher 508-393-5333 x20 or email her: [email protected]

Featuring:

• Information on GOAL's 2013 legislation package.
• Legislation that GOAL is opposing - strategy to stop further restrictions.
• Information on our 2A Lobby Day at the State House. 
• Guest speakers.
• Members sign up.
• Voter registration.
• Complimentary continental breakfast bar with coffee/tea
• Cash bar.

We are also in the process of scheduling "2A Lobby Day" at the State House which will take place inside the building.  Look for more on this soon! 

1/25/13

We've been getting a number of requests about the legislative process and how a bill becomes a law.

Here are two very informative links from the Secretary of State's office about that process.

Participating in the Legislative Process Massachusetts citizens are permitted and encouraged to take an active role in the lawmaking process of the state legislature. It is a good idea for a person who feels strongly about an issue to present his or her ideas to a Representative or Senator. That person may discover that those concerns have already been formulated into a bill which is awaiting legislative action. If not, the citizen is allowed to file legislation addressing the subject. Massachusetts is one of the few states to allow its citizens to do so. This access is called the "right of free petition."

 

Lawmaking in Massachusetts. The responsibility for enacting laws in Massachusetts rests primarily with the state legislature, formally known as the General Court. It is divided into two branches: a 160-member House of Representatives and a 40-member Senate. The two legislative branches work concurrently on pending laws brought before them.

Lawmaking begins in the House or Senate Clerk's office where petitions, accompanied by bills, resolves, etc., are filed and recorded in a docket book. The clerks number the bills and assign them to appropriate joint committees. There are 21 of these committees, each responsible for studying the bills which pertain to a specific area (i.e. taxation, education, healthcare, insurance, etc. (see complete list of committees elsewhere in this publication). Each committee is composed of six Senators and eleven Representatives, except for the committee on Transportation which has seven members on the Senate and thirteen members on the part of the House.

By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News.  The federal assault weapons ban proposed Thursday by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., would be more restrictive than the one that expired nearly a decade ago, which was criticized by gun-control advocates as being full of holes.

NSSF: Another 'High-Capacity' Magazine Ban Would Not Reduce Crime Rates - Get The Facts. The average number of rounds fired in the course of a criminal shooting involving a semiautomatic pistol is between 3.2 and 3.7 rounds.i  This falls well below the arbitrary 10 round limit imposed during the AWB and is even less than the capacity of an ordinary revolver. In fact, this average number of rounds fired is only about one shot higher than in the case of criminal misuse of revolvers.

Statement from Chris W. Cox Regarding Universal Background Checks. An article appearing on TheHill.com today asserted that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is working on a bill with the NRA that would implement universal background checks. NRA does NOT support universal background checks and is not working with Manchin to implement this type of legislation.  NRA opposes, and will continue to oppose, universal background checks and registration schemes.

'Universal Background Checks' - Absolutely Not.  Imagine a grandfather who wants to give a family shotgun to his 12-year-old grandson having to do a background check on his grandson before giving him the shotgun.  Or a friend having to do a background check on his lifetime best buddy before lending him a hunting rifle. Or, if your mother had a prowler at her home, having to do a background check on your own Mom before you could give her one of your guns for protection.

That's what "universal background checks" do. They turn traditional innocent conduct into a criminal offense. They target you, law-abiding gun owners. 

GOAL is a proud sponsor of the Massachusetts Junior Conservation Camp. We are very pleased to offer a camp scholarship to a boy or girl who will be between the ages of 13 and 17 during the 2013 camp Session. This year's session will run August 4th through the 16th. Interested parties should send an email to GOAL Director of Education Jon Green stating why they would like to attend. A winner will be picked soon so don't delay!

If you are reading this email you obviously have an interest in the work that we do.  But you might not belong to GOAL.

Did you know that this email and everything we do is made possible by our members? 

GOAL works hard to defend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights against those in Massachusetts who wish to infringe upon our freedoms.  With your help we will continue to work until freedom is restored.

You can help by joining for less than .10 cents a day, please click here for more information!

Thank you for reading the Friday News, remember, this email and everything GOAL does is made possible by our membership.  If you are not a member, please get in the fight and join GOAL