Contact: Cyndi Roy
Massachusetts Democratic Party
617-776-2676
Gun Owners Group Endorses Healey for Favoring More Lenient State Gun Laws
BOSTON—Tuesday, October 17, 2006— With gun deaths and violent crime on the rise here and in other major Massachusetts cities, a report in today’s Boston Globe reveals that Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey is working to weaken the state’s gun laws.
According to the report, Healey earned a near-perfect score on a questionnaire that asks candidates if they support easing restrictions on granting firearm licenses to those with police records and curbing the power of local police chiefs to deny permits to carry guns.
“We need to know that the next governor will truly be on the side of law enforcement,” said Mayor Tim Murray. “Police officers are on the front line, and we need to know that the next governor will be them. Deval Patrick will.”
Healey has refused to publicly release her questionnaire.
“At a time when Massachusetts is losing a record number of young lives to street violence, it’s unconscionable that Lieutenant Governor Healey would try to weaken our state’s gun laws,” said Ray McGrath, spokesman for the International Brotherhood of Police Officers. “She ought to be straight with the voters and release her questionnaire immediately.”
Healey has sought to make fighting crime a centerpiece of her campaign, though her platform has been more about talking tough than acting smart. As part of the Romney-Healey administration, Healey proposed legislation last year that would make it easier for gun applicants with police records to obtain permits.
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