Gun law reformers and gun rights advocates to converge at State House hearing today

House Democrats will hold a hearing on their overhaul of Massachusetts firearms laws Tuesday morning and the venue they chose — Gardner Auditorium, the State House’s largest hearing room — is a sign of the interest it is expected to draw from people and organizations around the state.

A summary and analysis of the bill produced by Gun Owners’ Action League, which has been organizing much of the resistance to the House’s bill since Mariano and Day first suggested they would zoom it through the chamber back in July, offers a preview of what the committee is going to hear from opponents.

GOAL zeroed in on what it called “the tremendous expansion of the so-called ‘Red Flag’ laws,” referring to the laws passed in Massachusetts in the wake of the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Those laws allow relatives and household members to ask a judge to suspend someone’s gun license. If the order is granted, authorities can remove guns from a home.

The new House bill “drastically expands the people who can file a petition against a lawful gun owner,” GOAL said.

The House bill is really just the start of a debate that will most likely extend until late on July 31, 2024, when the legislative session ends. The Senate is working on its own gun legislation and President Karen Spilka said last week she thinks Gov. Maura Healey will have some kind of gun law reform bill on her desk “definitely before the session’s over.”

Keep in mind that Healey didn’t endear herself to the Second Amendment community during her eight years as attorney general.

She attracted the ire of gun owners in July 2016 when she announced her office would ramp up its enforcement of the state’s 1998 assault weapons ban, specifically focusing on what she called “copycat” version or duplicates of firearms that she said are banned under that law. Protestors rallied at the State House as lawmakers held Saturday formals — one protester held a sign reading “Heil Healey” depicting Healey with a Hitler mustache, a clear reference to the Nazi dictator.

“Last week we announced that law enforcement and not the NRA should be in charge of interpreting our state’s assault weapons ban,” Healey said in July 2016. “You know what the response was? They sent the NRA to picket the State House, calling me a fascist, crazed and my personal favorite, Princess Dictator.”

Markey gets blowback for ‘de-escalation’ remark

U.S. Sen. Edward Markey drew boos from a crowd and a quick rebuke from U.S. Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Newton, when he said at a Monday rally on Boston Common in support of Israel, “there must be a de-escalation of the current violence.” The Boston Herald described the crowd’s response as “a wave of loud boos” and quoted Auchincloss as having said in response, “de-escalation is not possible when they are taking hostages.” — Boston Herald

Mass. businesses working to assist staff in Israel

A number of Massachusetts companies have staff based in Israel and are reaching out to help however they can, the Boston Business Journal reports. For Aqua Security, that means helping employees in Israel who have been called up, or are volunteering, for military service. General Catalyst Partners told the Business Journal it has been working with its portfolio companies in Israel. The president and chief executive of the New England-Israel Business Council told the paper he does not expect companies will evacuate employees from Israel. — Boston Business Journal

Cambridge putting Native American translations on street signs

The city of Cambridge is putting Native American translations of street names along side the roads’ English names following an initiative by a resident who noticed her Italian ancestors were recognized far more than her Native American ancestors. “There are no streets named after Native people in Cambridge,” Sage Brook Carbone reportedly told WGBH. “To my knowledge, there are no squares commemorating Indigenous people. There are no distinctive markers of the historical nature.” The first street with one of the new signs is First Street.  — WGBH

Massachusetts lawmakers eye new oversight of child-welfare programs

Some Massachusetts lawmakers want to increase oversight of the state’s programs for children in need, especially children in the foster care system. One lawmaker tells the Boston Globe the state needs to stop letting the state Department of Children and Families police itself. Options lawmakers are considering include creating a foster children’s bill of rights and giving the Office of the Child Advocate more power. — Boston Globe

Boston colleges lead the pack — in price

Private colleges in Greater Boston cost more than peers in all but one other U.S. city, Axios Boston reports, citing federal data. Only Connecticut, which comprises a region with Worcester, is more expensive. The average annual tuition, according to Axios, is nearly $40,000 in Greater Boston. Add the cost of housing and other fees, and the cost of attending one local institution, Tufts University, now stands at more than $88,000 per year, Axios reports. — Axios Boston

Cambridge plans more protection for election workers 

Cambridge will deploy at least 32 additional police officers to staff polling places ahead of November’s election and next year’s presidential primary, part of a larger push to boost the safety of election workers and volunteers. — Cambridge Day

Business owners sour on Bay State economic outlook 

Bay State employers feel pessimistic about the future of the economy even as they continue to seek workers to fill open positions. The Associated Industries of Mass. says its monthly index of business confidence fell below 50 in September, a 2.6 percent month-over-month drop that suggests many business owners believe a recession looms on the horizon. — WBUR

Special train to Salem slowed by engineer shortage 

Many halloween-happy revelers trying to get to Salem on Sunday ran into a snag when the MBTA had to cancel six planned commuter rail trips from Boston to the Witch City because of what the T is calling a “brief engineer shortage” that was fixed by the holiday. — Salem News

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