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Depends. Where are we, and what are you doing with it?We’re waiting in line at the bank, and you’ve just put on a ski mask and pulled out a sawed-off shotgun from under your trench coat? I’m suddenly remembering an urgent appointment elsewhere. Anywhere.We’re at the range and you’re at the next booth? Cool! Whatcha got? How ya like it? Can I try it?We’re waiting in line at the drugstore and you’re ranting about how you gonna bust a cap in some bitch’s @$$ with the Glock you’ve got stuck in your waistband? I’m not responding, or making eye contact. I’ll pretend my purchase isn’t worth waiting in this slow line, go talk to the store manager on duty, away from your hearing, tell her what I heard, and ask her to call the cops and save off the security footage showing you, especially if it also shows the gun and/or has audio of what you said.We’re waiting in line at Starbucks, we’ve struck up a conversation, and you happen to mention that you don’t like their attitude on guns, though “requesting” customers to leave their guns home isn’t quite banning them, but since you have a concealed carry permit, who’s to know? Great! Have you joined the VCDL, our state gun-rights group. Oh, we’re the folks who lobbied the state legislature hard for years to enable you to get that carry permit in this county, and many others, if you are a sane honest adult citizen but not rich, white, and politically well connected. Here’s a brochure, telling you more about us. There’s a membership application at the end. Tell ’em I sent you.We’re in a dark alley, and you stuck the gun in my face and demanded my wallet and phone? Well, not much I can do now, you’ve got the drop on me, I’m no hot-shot martial artist and even they don’t like risking it. I’ll take the loss of wealth over the loss of life. If you’re not happy with that though, I’ll have no alternative to do whatever I can to stop you, and if that stoppage is permanent, well, you brought the situation on yourself. (And no, I’m not going to say what I would do to stop you.)We’re at a (US) Civil War reenactment, and you’ve got some interesting piece to show off, not just some ordinary Sharps carbine but maybe a Gatling gun or some such? Cool! Gonna show it in action? (Though I know it would only be blanks.) And yes, they do that just up the street from me, at the annual Civil War Days, complete with firing Gatling guns and cannon.

Massachusetts is held as some kind of “model” for gun laws. In this state you have to have a license to even touch a gun. Nearly every gun is registered. The Assault Weapon Ban is alive and well. Basically, every liberal anti-gun dream short of a total ban exists.And when you look at the number of gun deaths, it looks like it is working.Well, you know what they say - There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.Here is how the numbers are fudged.First, when they list gun deaths, they list ALL gun deaths. Nationwide, nearly 2/3 of all firearm deaths are suicide. Here in Massachusetts, firearm suicide is actually very low. The majority of suicide is from strangulation or hanging, reasons for which are not important to this discussion. So, what happens when you remove the suicide numbers from the state and national figures?Suddenly we see the ‘truth’. Violent crime related to firearms is higher in Massachusetts than the national average. In fact, after the last major gun bill went into effect in 1998, the violent crime rate involving firearms has increased, not decreased even while over the same time the national rates have seen a decline overall.The state has roughly 7 million residents. Annually it spends roughly $6 million to administer all the programs related to the legal gun owners in the state. This includes licenses, registration, training, etc. Some form of these have existed since the 1930’s. And yet, when pressed with Freedom of Information Act requests for lists of cases where the data was utilized, the response has been and continues to be “no data found”. In other words, we waste millions annually on a program that has run the better part of a century and have seen NO BENEFIT.We’ve had a law since 1974 called the Bartley-Fox law. In effect, it says ‘If you are found with a gun and do not have a Massachusetts issues license for that gun, you spend a mandatory year in prison.’ There used to be huge signs at the side of the highway as you enter the state warning of this fact. The signs were taken down in the 1990’s mostly because they were getting shot up. Seems a pretty straight forward law right? Go check the twitter feed #MACourtFails for example after example of violent criminals with gun charges that are arraigned more than once in a calendar year for subsequent violent crimes. How is this possible? Because the courts don’t enforce the laws. Plea bargains routinely drop gun charges and allow violent criminals to plea down to lesser charges and walk out of court on probation or less. The same thing happens all over the country, but it is especially telling here where the Democrats run the show from the legislature to the AG’s office, to the courts. If they really wanted to be hard on criminals who use guns, they could. But they choose not to.Oh, but we have that new “Red Flag” law that will keep people safe. Really? Let me explain how it works. Someone calls the police and accuses a citizen of being a threat. The police look up if that person has a gun license. If they do, the police go seize the guns. If not, nothing happens. That’s it. In fact, during the public hearings, the chairman of the committee stated “this is a gun law, not a mental health law” to stop all testimony trying to provide help to those who need it. The law is solely a means to steal private property without due process. The long appeal process has begun, but with an entire state’s unlimited resources and a very biased court system working against the process, it will take a long time, millions of dollars, and a very very alert legal team to get the case appealed to a federal level where justice might happen.The “Assault Weapon Ban” was encoded word for word from the federal law to the state law different only by the removal of the sunset clause that removed the federal law in 2004. Since 1994, various courts and the BATF made a lot of rulings regarding the law. That’s 25+ years of settled legal precedent. So, what does the Attorney General do? Decides to “reinterpret” the law for her own political career. This new interpretation involves what the word “Copy” means when discussing the named guns in the definition of Assault Weapon. From the first time this was dealt with, the courts had determined it meant an exact copy of the named firearms. The Massachusetts AG decides that the word now means “anything that works like, or can share parts with”. In effect, she just declared nearly all modern guns as “Assault Weapons”. Since the Street Sweeper shotgun is listed and that is basically a large revolver, it basically means any revolver is now banned. Since most semi-auto actions are represented in the named guns, it effectively bans all semi-auto. Heck, if you can put the sight from a banned gun onto a another gun, it is now banned. But not only does this change the definition, it applies from the time the law was passed in 1998. So anyone who bought or sold any gun that this impacts since 1998 is now a felon - even if they no longer still have the gun. Remember, all the guns are registered, the state knows who has or had them. Of course the AG “promises” not to prosecute previous sales, but that does not change the fact that she just declared as many as a 10th of the adult population of the state as felons. Sure made her popular in the political arena for being ‘hard on guns’. For those who now face felony charges at the whim of the state - justice lost all credibility. How does making lawful people into criminals solve crime?If a criminal wants a gun, they just use their contacts to get one illegally. The only cost is the price of the gun. For a person to get a gun legally, they need to do the following:Find a training course. You must take an approved course to get the state certificate. In some rural areas, these classes can be as low as $75. Near the cities, I’ve seen them as much as $800. Many license authorities require classes that include marksmanship training. Finding a range near a city is hard and expensive. For low income, this presents a real hurdle. Then there is also the cost to travel to the class. An Uber can easily run $100 each way.The application for the license itself requires making an appointment with the police in the city/town you live. Technically the law say you can apply in a city/town you own a business, but few chiefs will allow that because the restraining order system is screwed up. Typically your appointment will be during the work week, so you’ll need time off to complete the application. The application requires fingerprints, photo, etc which might cause your appointment to be delayed or canceled if the station is busy processing a criminal - be prepared to take a second or third day off. The cost is $100. Your local community gets to keep $12.50 of that for their ‘time’, the rest goes into the state’s general fund. It typically takes the police department 2–3 hours to complete an application including the background checks, so that $12.50 hardly covers the cost to the town or city. The state explicitly forbids using the NICS background system in this process so that a NICS has to be run for every sale. So, the police have to use computer searches for the background checks.Some cities have other requirements. Boston for example requires you to take another day off to go out to moon island where they hand you a gun you’ve never seen or used before and are required to shoot a series of targets with accuracy better than they require of their own officers. Some require doctor notes declaring you are not crazy. Some won’t issue to people who are unemployed. Some require a gun club membership. The closest club to Boston is $2500 a year. Some restrict your license so that you can have the gun at home or at the range, but nowhere else.Wait for the license. Law says the state has 40 days. But, like most laws, there is no penalty to the state for violating this, so they do. It is not unheard of for a license to take up to a year to arrive. When you ask, the state blames the local police department and the local PD blames the state. The courts just laugh at you. Heaven forbid you are actually in danger and the license takes months to arrive. How many times might you need to move, change phone numbers, or more to avoid a person that is a threat?To buy the gun, you need to visit an FFL or find someone willing to sell you a gun. Since there are no FFLs in Boston, you need to find transportation to a suburb. If you buy from another person, you need internet access to use the registration system.Now that you have the gun, you must store it properly. The state was SO nice they passed a law that exempts gun locks and safes from sales tax. Of course, most stores don’t know this. Go ahead and tell Staples that you are buying the safe to store your gun and see if they waive the tax. But what kind of storage is required? Well, recently there was a case in Lowell where a resident went on vacation for over a week. While his family was away, criminals broke into the home and experts determined that they spent days breaking into his gun safe. The homeowner is currently appealing his conviction of “unsecured firearms”. Apparently a safe that takes days to get into isn’t sufficient. It should be noted that several police officers who had left a gun laying around for another to pick up (one in a public bathroom, another around minors) were not charged under the same law. Different rules for different people.This is what “the best gun laws” in the country are like. I say it is a great example.Of what NOT to do.So, let's summarize. The so-called “safest state in the USA” when it comes to gun violence is one that:A) Has more violent crime than the national average and increasing. Higher violent crime rate than neighboring states with far fewer laws.B) Wastes millions of dollars annually keeping track of the people who don’t break the laws.C) Doesn’t use the current laws to punish those who commit violent crimes with guns, leaving these dangerous people in society to prey on the innocent again.D) Passes useless laws that only targets lawful people.E) Declared over half a million lawful people as having committed a felony, but ‘promises’ not to prosecute.F) Has a licensing process that is long, expensive, and blatantly designed to make it hard for poor people to comply. It is also unknown what the requirements are or what your license will be good for.G) Has a law is so poorly applied that a citizen victimized by criminals that take days to steal guns is found in violation of storing them properly while police who just leave them lying around are exempt.Still sound like the best gun laws in the country? Strange how the details matter.

I wrote a response to a similar topics called: Why can't gun control advocates organize themselves as effectively as the NRA?For each bullet point there is tons of controversial research; the following post is simply an outline and not a comprehensive answer. I could research and write a post as long as this one for each bullet point, but I wanted to keep this succinct._____________________Gun control advocates have a difficult time organizing themselves and gaining traction for a few reasons. Most important are things that fall under lack of commitment.Not Being Knowledgeable About Guns“So why does nothing get done? One reason is that liberals often inadvertently antagonize gun owners and empower the National Rifle Association by coming across as supercilious, condescending and spectacularly uninformed about the guns they propose to regulate. A classic of gun ignorance: New York passed a law three years ago banning gun magazines holding more than seven bullets — without realizing that for most guns there is no such thing as a magazine for seven bullets or less.” Some Inconvenient Gun Facts for LiberalsNot knowing the basics about the topic when you claim to know the best legislation and practices obviously doesn't make sense. Failing to know and understand the current laws does not help either, especially when someone argues for laws that already exist or are prohibited, such as establishing a National gun registry, which is expressly prohibited. Not committing to learn about the topic independently may mean exchanges are based on sound bytes and generalities. That means the topic may not be properly debated, leading people to talk about it less and thus spend less time thinking about the topic, getting fewer viewpoints, and becoming more reliant on analysis from others, which may be misleading. That also leads to a more polarized topic where two sides cannot have a discussion but instead rely on drive-by statements and escalated exchanges of insults.Gun Control is Not GrassrootsDespite the claims of gun control groups they are not really grassroots. This is what really hurts gun control.Everytown for Gun Safety, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Moms Demand Action, The Trace, Bloomberg Business, and host of other organizations are all funded by one man, Michael Bloomberg. The NRA is funded by millions of paying members."The mighty National Rifle Association still has the upper hand in many places in the U.S. But Everytown, which aspires to become the NRA's counterweight, has certain advantages over prior gun-control campaigns, namely more money, strategic support from the former mayor of New York, and a well-organized network of activist moms whose numbers are growing in reaction to recent mass shootings."Backed by moms and money, gun-safety group expands its cloutWho participates as that "well-organized network of activist moms"?"About a dozen women gathered downtown outside the Target Corp. shareholder meeting at Union Station to call on the company to prohibit the open carry of guns in stores."Women demand Target prohibit the open carry of guns in stores at shareholder meeting"“We’re asking them, like we did successfully with Starbucks and Chipotle, to put a national policy into place that covers states like Texas where open carry of guns is allowed,” said Stephanie Lundy, Texas spokeswoman for Moms Demand Action.It should be noted that these successes that MDA claims are completely false. Starbucks and Chipotle have not banned guns from their establishments. Both companies have politely asked patrons not to bring guns into their stores/restaurants but say they will abide but whatever local gun laws that are applicable." Massive Anti-Gun Rally Draws 12 Or Less ProtestersMeanwhile when independent State-based organizations hold pro-gun rallies,"Between 1,000 and 3,000 showed up at Seim’s rally at the state capitol to protest passage of Initiative 594..." Washington State Pro-Gun Rally Draws ThousandsAnother reason gun control has not moved is that the media falsely portrays the situation and the influence of the NRA.The people hold the power, money doesn't buy politicians. One striking instance of this principle at work is the Colorado recall election, 2013To set the stage, Michael Bloomberg spent $12,000,000 during the election to elect two democrat representatives, consider the NRA's annual budget on political activity is $20 million and Bloomberg spent nearly that during one election in one state. We know the spending of the NRA because it is published, Bloomberg and other individuals can give anonymously through Super PACs, shell organizations, and third parties, so we can't be sure how much is actually given by these individuals. The State of Colorado then implemented a magazine ban, causing Magpul Industries to relocate to Texas, losing $80,000,000 per year in revenue and 300 jobs. The people of Colorado did not support this ban and initiated a recall vote. During the recall Colorado political groups, unduly called "the NRA", raised $362,000 prompting Bloomberg to give an additional $350,000 to fight back while two other sources (both also from out of state) gave for a total of $2,000,000. In Colorado Recall, It's Michael Bloomberg vs. the NRAOn the gun-control side three out-of-state sources pledged $14 million for this one election and the defense of the representatives. Colorado citizens raised $362,000 for the recall election. According to the media Big Business and big spending control politics so the result should be obvious, right? $14,000,000 is greater than $362,000. In actuality both representatives were removed from office and replaced by Republicans.Michael Bloomberg and other billionaires might have the money to spend, but he only has one vote, and it only counts in New York. When the people speak the politicians listen, and that is why there has been no movement on any significant gun control legislation. Politicians don't care about large "campaign contributions", as Bloomberg likes to give, when they don't have the ability to stay in office. While the (mostly left-biased) media paints the situation as Big Business and big money ruling politics the question must be asked: why aren't democrats winning on guns then when they can outspend the annual NRA budget every month in every state? It's because you really can't buy politicians, the people still hold the power.Everytown, mentioned above, is a lobbying organization that routinely outspends the NRA and loudly advertises that. The claim that "the NRA holds the government ransom with big money" is out the window now; the pro-gun side may lobby, but there's more money in being anti-gun. So when you tally the contributions Everytown, financed by Michael Bloomberg, outspends the NRA on lobbying, Michael Bloomberg directly has been shown to outspend the annual NRA budget in a single state in a single month, MDA, also financed by Michael Bloomberg, on the ground lobbies and protests, and they all use statistics created and disseminated by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, financed by Michael Bloomberg, and The Trace, financed by Michael Bloomberg. If I were a gun control advocate I would end the entire "NRA lobbying controls politicians" rhetoric.There Isn't the Popular or Political WillOutside of gaining attention as a Presidential Candidate gun control is not a winning topic. Politicians, analysts, and most political observers will tell you pushing gun control would make it less likely to win the Congress.Comparing Republican tax cuts to Democrat gun control,"The most obvious difference between the two is that the Republicans’ tax cut cure-all helps them to win elections and enact their vision into law, for better or worse. The Democrats’ vision of federal gun control legislation has no chance of becoming law unless they can win back Congress. At present they have no practical plan for doing that.Still, isn’t it important to stand up for what’s right and try to do something to stem the growing epidemic of gun violence?Actually, no — for three main reasons. First, federal statistics show that the epidemic of gun violence isn’t actually growing. In fact, it’s declining dramatically, for reasons unrelated to the availability of guns. Second, it’s not clear that any feasible gun legislation would help bring the numbers down much further if at all. Third, it’s likely that making gun legislation a banner issue, as Democrats have done in recent weeks, will make the odds of winning back Congress even steeper than they are now."Want To Be a Good Liberal? Don't Push for Gun Control Right Now.The Grassroots comments cover popular will. It's hard to find any group that has a larger membership than the NRA and the NRA is estimated to have only 5% of the nation's gun owners as members. That's not to say the NRA controls its millions of member but that millions of people have input into the activities and direction of the NRA. The NRA is a representative democracy, not the industrial tyrant that rules with money that the media portrays.People Feel Safe OverallThis is the most compelling of all reasons. People feel safe in their everyday lives, as they should. The United States is incredibly safe unless you are in very particular areas. On the streets the average person may never see a gun in their entire life besides on a police officer. This is the same reason certain claims about "gun violence" are misleading,"Looking only to official criminal records, data over the past thirty years consistently show that the mythology of murderers as ordinary citizens does not hold true. Studies have found that approximately 75% of murderers have adult criminal records, and that murderers average a prior adult criminal career of six years, including four major adult felony arrests. These studies also found that when the murder occurred "[a]bout 11% of murder arrestees [were] actually on pre-trial release"--that is, they were awaiting trial for another offense.""The fact that only 75% of murderers have adult crime records should not be misunderstood as implying that the remaining 25% of murderers are non-criminals. The reason over half of those 25% of murderers don't have adult records is that they are juveniles. Thus, by definition they cannot have an adult criminal record."Gun Control - Gun HomicidesFrom the same source (citing a different set of studies) they found 50-75% of homicide victims were criminals, depending on the city, whereas some speculate certain cities have a number closer to 90%.These are all individuals that are prohibited from purchasing a firearm or even handling a firearm or single round of ammunition. Where do these guns come from? According to a new Chicago study,“A majority of the primary guns (40 of the 48 for which we have detailed information on the source) were obtained from family, fellow gang members, or other social connections; the fraction is still higher for secondary guns.”“Only 2 of the 70 primary guns (3%) and no secondary guns were reported as purchased directly from a gun store.”Study Finds That Chicago Criminals Get Guns From Friends, FamilyFamily, friends, and other gang members would not begin to follow the law if you simply tack on more penalties or additional language to the law. These untraceable transactions are no more traceable with further legislation.This isn't an issue of rampant accidents, random crime, or everyday people deciding to murder other everyday people for no good reason. This is a problem of career criminals, lax prosecution, and a failure of the corrections system. There is a terrible gun culture in the US, it's gang culture. The vast majority of gun owners, and most likely all legal gun owners, do not subscribe to that culture. The majority of crime is found in our large cities, but in fact, it isn't even the cities that are all that dangerous, but certain blocks of the city, called "Million Dollar Blocks" because the cost to jail the residents of that block is $1 million or greater.'Million-Dollar Blocks' Map Incarceration's CostsHow mass incarceration creates ‘million dollar blocks’ in poor neighborhoodsChicago's Million Dollar BlocksPeople typically read the news and feel unsafe for a short period of time and then fall back into a feeling of safety. If a problem isn't right in front of someone it is unlikely they will feel compelled to do anything.These are some of the reasons gun control has not made any significant movement and why gun control groups cannot organize like pro gun groups. At the core of it there simply aren't enough people that have a compelling reason to spend time, money, and thought on furthering gun control.