scorn HARsnBAF: ATORNEY GEN RAL : Attornev General Scott Harshbar= Prepared Remarks Frearms & Ammunton Ltgaton Group Annual Meetng of the Assocaton of Tral Lawyers of Amerca j * <,$ July 29,996 k'.,,j"+ NTROD~CTON Handgun volence s a plague on ths naton, kllng our chldren, our colleagues, our neghbors. Ths deadly volence takes many forms. Some -- lke the 3,000 murders commtted wth handguns n the Unted States each year -- are hghly vsble. Other forms of handgun volence are more ns(lous, lke the hundreds of deaths each year due to accdental handgun njures and teen sucdes. But dere s no longer any doubt that handgun volence s pervasve and commonplace -- there are mo& than three-quarters of a mllon serous handgun crmes and njures each year. t now affects 4 of our lves, not just the lves of those drectly njured or klled. The thunder n the dstance we hear today n the streets and homes of Amerca s the thunder of g-re. t jars the elderly from ther sleep; t jolts chldren walkng to school; t creates tumult n our emergency rooms; t sends shockwaves of fear through ow neghborhoods. PROSEQUTON. LEGSLATON & PREVENTON Effo* to fght handgun volence must begn and end wth vgorous crmnal prosecuton and stff sen+ncng. The prosecuton of handgun volence was a top prorty durng my eght years as Ds+ct Attorney n Massachusetts' largest county.
When became Attorney General n 99, assgned Assstant Attorneys General, for the frst tme everj to be gun and gang prosecutors n urban courts throughout our state. Over the years, they hap sent hundreds of armed crmnals to jal. But tobgh-mnded and unrelentng prosecuton s not enough by tself. Determned and decsve legs$tve acton s also necessary. We must strengthen the tools we gve prosecutors and polce n 6er struggle aganst handgun volence. would: have (taken acton on the legslatve front by sponsorng or co-sponsorng blls that * Ban Wsault weapons; * ~e~$re Frearm dentfcaton Cards to be renewable every fve years and double ther cost; * Requre that an FD card be revoked for anyone convcted of a felony or serous msdemeanor; * ReqGre that convcted felons never legally possess a gun n Massachusetts; * crelte a fve-year mandatory sentence for anyone who uses a gun n the commsson of a felony; * And; make the llegal sale of a frearm a felony that subjects the seller to a 0-year prsdn term. Tougq prosecuton and common sense legslaton, as mportant as they are, won't be enough f we Po not try to do somethng to prevent handgun volence before the blood s shed. One ybar ago, at a youth volence forum at the Kennedy Lbrary, outlned a! comprehensde gun volence preventon program, ncludng the creaton of a volence preventon currculum a every grade n every school, and the establshment of a full-scale publc health campagn ag$nst gun volence, smlar to our push aganst drunk-drvng n the 980s. n v q ~ ~ ~ NGHT U dspecals~ D ~ ~ ~odad, have chosen ths venue to announce a unque, new ntatve that wll stem the volence, and help make handguns safer for use by the law-abdng ctzens who protect themselves, ther famles and ther property.
Today, Massachusetts becomes the frst state n the naton to use ts consumer protecton powers to ssqe handgun sales regulatons. Make t.lo mstake: Ths naton s flooded wth handguns, and the deluge has reached every state, ncludgg Massachusetts. n 963, more than 2.5 mllon handguns were manufactured n the Unted States. Another mllbn were mported. More than 40 mllon handguns have been manufactured n the U.S. snce 953. Despte ther abundance, the regulaton of handguns as a consumer product s non- exstent. We /regulate the safety of caps for toy guns, freworks and everythng from bcycles to baby rattles, but not handguns. ntend to fll that vod n Massachusetts. The consumer protecton regulatons am proposng today would prohbt the sale n Massachuse* of cheap, often defectve weapons made of nferor materals -- so-called "Saturday ~ bspecals." t These weapons appear to be prmarly manufactured by companes n the Los hgeles area, often referred to as "the Rng of Fre Companes." ~orejthan one mllon new "Saturday Nght Specals" are manufactured n the Unted States each ylar. My proposed regulaton would prohbt the sale of "Saturday Nght Specals" n ~assachu$etts. These guns are, above all else, mplements of crme and volence. Thad s ample evdence to support ths ban. For elample, brand new data compled by the Massachusetts Department of Publc Health ndcjtes that three of the top fve types of pstols submtted for ballstcs testng n crmnal cas&s n Massachusetts are "Saturday Nght Specals." Last ear, a study of llegal weapons conducted by the Boston Polce and the federal k Bureau of ~cohol, Tobacco and Frearms found that "Saturday Nght Specals" were the "handgun 04 choce for juvenles" n Boston from 99 through 994. And,/ accordng to the Department of Justce, "Saturday Nght Specals" account for seven of the top d guns traced to crmnal actvty n Amerca today. For qonsumer protecton purposes, the most compellng reason for prohbtng the sale of "Saturday N/ght Specals." They appear to be unsafe, even n the hands of responsble consumers.
n n-erous ndependent and objectve gun tests, the qualty, dependablty and safety of ths class off guns has been called nto serous queston because of unrelable hctonng and defects. roncly, f these "Saturday Nght Specals" were gun mports, they would not meet ATF standard$ for entry nto the Unted States. n addton to the proposed ban on the sale of "Saturday Nght Specals," the second aspect of the qonsumer protecton regulatons am proposng today concerns provsons to mprove the datng and chld proofng of handguns sold n Massachusetts. Frst, be regulatons would requre manufacturers to offer for sale n Massachusetts only handguns that have mproved tamper-resstant seral numbers. Last bar, n the most far-reachng study ever conducted n Massachusetts, the ATF and Boston polce found that almost one n four guns sezed from Boston street gangs between 99 and 994 had oblterated seral numbers. ~revehtn~ oblteraton would make polce work n tracng ownershp of weapons easer.! Ths would $d polce sgnfcantly n nvestgatng handgun crmes. t would also ad n returnng stoen weapons to the more than 500 Massachusetts gun owners who lose handguns to! theft each ye+. n adhton to the vsble, mprnted seral number currently requred by law, manufactures, under the proposed regulaton, would be requred to put the seral number on a non-vsble spot that cannot be easly located and oblterated by crmnals. ~anjfacturers could put the seral number nsde the gun, or put t on the outsde n a manner that ban be read only wth an optcal enhancer, such as an nfrared lght. ncrebbly, our current consumer protecton regulatons requre seral numbers on automotve darts, but not on the nsde of legal handguns -- even though that smple step would greatly assst gun-tracng nvestgatons by law enforcement. The broposed regulatons also would requre the chldproofng of all handguns sold n ~assachwhs.
n eght days ths sprng, a 2 %-year-old Massachusetts boy ded when a handgun went off n hs 4-year-old brother's hand; a 2-year-old New Bedford boy ded when a handgun dscharged thht he and a frend thought was unloaded; and a 4-year-old Sprngfeld boy ded when a 3-ye&-old frend fred a handgun found under the bed of the dead boy's grandfather. Natogally, more than 200 young people de each year from handgun accdents. n addton, the* s a growng use of handguns n sucdes. n 99, 3 young people n ~assachusetls used frearms to commt sucde. n fact, a recent New England Journal of Medcne arthle ndcates that guns n the home ncrease the rsk of successful sucde by fourfold, w 4 handguns posng twce the addtonal rsk of long guns. Handguns n the home also ncreasethe rsk of homcde by threefold. The droposed regulatons attempt to deal wth chldproofng, accdental njures, sucdes and the unaulthorzed use of handguns by requrng: * A load ndcator be nstalled n all handguns sold n Massachusetts; * nstallaton of a trgger lock, solenod devce or combnaton lock; * And, use of a grp safety or ncreased trgger resstance to prevent frngs by, very young chldren. ~an4gun chld-proofng regulatons would not absolve gun owners of personal responsbl& for gun safety n ther homes, but they would serve to remnd gun manufacturers that they hae a corporate responsblty n ths area as well. Hav ng experenced frsthand the dffculty of wnnng legslatve passage for even a basc propobal lke a statewde assault weapons ban, fully expect the regulatons am proposng tbday to trgger loud screams of protest from those who vew any attempt to brng common sebse to the handgun debate as a sacrlegous nfrngement on ther consttutonal rghts. Butno amount of lobbyng or msnformaton can obscure the fact that these proposed regulatons/wll help stem the tde of volence wrought by cheap, defectve weapons that are used prmarly 4 crmnal actvty; and wll help make all handguns safer for possesson and use by the law-ab&ng ctzens who purchase them for protecton.
Legt&ate handgun owners who beleve n gun safety should have no quarrel wth ths straghtforwar+ step toward basc consumer protecton. Ths pdoposal demonstrates that wll leave no avenue untraveled n an effort to reduce the tragc loss of lfe from handguns. wll squeeze every bt of authorty can from every power have, ncludng my consumer protecton powers, n order to stop ths bloodshed. The p+posed regulatons are not a panacea. They wll not end handgun crme, volence or tragedes q Massachusetts. They are just one more tool and one more part of a comprehensve effort by my dfce, my colleagues n law enforcement and by an array of publc ofcals, experts and concemef ctzens to take reasonable steps to protect Massachusetts ctzens. n the /course of consderng and adoptng the proposed regulatons, publc hearngs wll be convened /hs fall. nvte gun manufacturers to work wth my offce to develop the best possble reg4atons that produce safer weapons, reduce handgun volence and ad the hard work of polce an4 prosecutors. And ] hope all of you, as fellow members of the bar wth a specal nterest n these ssues, contnue yoq good work n helpng gun manufacturers understand how the publc nterest and ther corpor*e nterests ntersect at the ssue of safer handguns. q w that some of you have ntated product lablty cases and other cases that, f successful, rpay help enhance weapon safety. n the process, am sure you have learned much about the mhtters have dscussed ths afternoon. ho@e you wll offer me your nsghts and thoughts on these proposed regulatons and wll work dth my ofce as we move forward wth ths frst-n-the-naton consumer protecton ntatve. @ank you.