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Anti-gun Researchers Discover Northeastern Police Chiefs Crave Power, Contend for Nobel Prize in "Well, Duh"

Friday, May 1, 2015

Anti-gun Researchers Discover Northeastern Police Chiefs Crave Power, Contend for Nobel Prize in "Well, Duh"

The big brains over at the Harvard Injury Control Research Center outdid themselves last month by sharing the penetrating insight that people who have power want to keep it. A survey conducted by anti-gun researcher David Hemenway and former Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association President James G. Hicks, the results of which were published in the Journal of Public Health Policy, found that 90 percent of Massachusetts police chiefs favor keeping in place the current may-issue concealed carry permitting regime that gives them discretionary control over the issuance of permits. Sources claim (although we cannot yet confirm) that an unrelated Harvard survey of grade-schoolers will indicate that they approve of eating ice cream for dinner.

Under current Massachusetts law, the local police chief, or "licensing authority," has discretion over the issuance of licenses to carry. This creates an unpredictable and unjust situation where a citizen's constitutional rights are subject to the whims, hunches, and prejudices of a local government functionary. The absurdities of this regime are so acute that NRA's Massachusetts state affiliate, Gun Owner's Action League, provides a how-to section on writing a letter to justify one's worthiness to exercise a liberty guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. That residents of Massachusetts are still groveling for basic human rights supposedly secured to all Americans since 1791 is a sad and ironic state of affairs.

Even worse, this abusive discretion was recently extended to the issuance of all firearm identification cards. This means that the Bay State's police chiefs can now also bar a person from possessing shotguns and rifles in their own home based on arbitrary criteria.

Hemenway contends that the results of this survey vindicate discretionary permitting regimes, stating, "The evidence from our survey suggests that passing a federal background check may not always be enough to ensure that an individual does not pose a threat of violence to others or to themselves. Local police chiefs typically know more about the people in their community than does a national computer." Apparently, Hemenway misconstrued Massachusetts for Mayberry RFD when analyzing his survey results.

Call it power-hungry, the bureaucratic imperative, or simply human nature, the fact that these law enforcement officials would be reluctant to give up a power they've long enjoyed hardly comes as a surprise. Certain chiefs may simply believe that their personal notion of public safety outweighs any constitutional deficiencies with the current system. Others, whether they would admit it or not, perhaps enjoy administering who gets what in "their" jurisdictions. Regardless, it's a well-known truism that people, especially bureaucrats, would rather have more power than less.

The silliness of this survey, and the inflated significance Hemenway attaches to it, would be comical, were the piece not emblematic of the more serious issue of superficially respectable "doctors" and "universities" perverting whatever goodwill those titles still engender for purely political ends. Further, it comes at a time when the president and others are advocating for public funds to be used to study "gun violence." If this is the sort of "insight" Americans can expect from "public health" research on firearms, it only underscores the necessity of the congressional funding prohibition Obama now seeks to ignore.

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North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Yesterday, in Butler v. Bondi, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its statutory authority by issuing its 2024 Final Rule expanding ...

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

First Affirmative Lawsuit in Support of Gun Owners Filed by Trump’s DOJ

California officials’ egregious foot-dragging over the issuance of carry permits has finally attracted the ire of the federal Department of Justice (DOJ). 

President Trump’s GOP Leads Polling on Crime and Guns, To No Surprise

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

President Trump’s GOP Leads Polling on Crime and Guns, To No Surprise

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed that Americans know the President Donald Trump-led Republican Party has a better plan than their Democratic Party opponents on crime and gun control.

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Friday, October 3, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Yesterday, the National Rifle Association filed an amicus brief in Knife Rights, Inc. v. Bondi, urging the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas’s decision upholding the Federal ...

Trump Administration Repeals Biden Era Firearms Export Crackdown

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

Trump Administration Repeals Biden Era Firearms Export Crackdown

Last Monday, the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce published a final rule that reversed a crackdown on the commercial export of firearms from the U.S. to other countries.

Trust in Mass Media Craters to New Lows, in Single Digits With Republicans

News  

Monday, October 6, 2025

Trust in Mass Media Craters to New Lows, in Single Digits With Republicans

There’s an old saying that rings especially true to Second Amendment supporters: If you don’t read the news, you’re uninformed.

Alphabet Eases the Reins on Censorship; Will Gun Content Eventually Benefit?

News  

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Alphabet Eases the Reins on Censorship; Will Gun Content Eventually Benefit?

With the free speech debate recently co-opted by one TV host’s use of false and incendiary remarks about his political opponents, it might have been easy to miss another important First Amendment story last week. 

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

There have been multiple developments on the Canadian gun grab and ban in the last few days, but the most astounding has got to be a leaked bombshell recording of the Liberal Public Safety Minister, ...

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Friday, October 3, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petition for certiorari in Wolford v. Lopez, a challenge to Hawaii’s law forbidding carry on private property open to the public (such as restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores) ...

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Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.