As much as it chafes me to admit this, you need to look at politics and how the mind of an elected official works. <shudder>
FWIW MA already had an AWB. A permanent one.
The AWB Romney was presented with passed the MA house on a unanimous voice vote, and the Senate by a recorded vote of 36:1.
Not 19:18. Not even 25:12
36:1
Their legislative model is simlar to IL's... once a bill is passed, the governor can:
1) Veto it
2) Do nothing and allow it to become law by default
3) Sign it.
1) Veto it
So what ? So the already veto-proof legislature and the antis and the MSM can cry about how Romney is a threat to public safety, and guaranteeing the drive-bys of nuns and orphans?
2) Do nothing and allow it to become law by default.
So make no statement yea or nay, and lose any ability to take credit for it either way.
3) Sign it.
At least this way he can gain some political capital.
Remember, MA had already banned AWB's. So what did he (or rather we) gain?
Found this succinct write up over at
pagunblog:
Here is GOAL’s full write-up of what the bill did for gun owners in the Bay State:
-
Established the Firearm License Review Board (FLRB). The 1998 law created new criteria for disqualifying citizens for firearms licenses that included any misdemeanor punishable by more than two years even if no jail time was ever served.
For instance, a first conviction of operating a motor vehicle under the influence would result in the loss of your ability to own a handgun for life and long guns for a minimum of five years. This Board is now able to review cases under limited circumstances to restore licenses to individuals who meet certain criteria.
- Mandated that a minimum of $50,000 of the licensing fees be used for the operation of the FLRB so that the Board would not cease operating under budget cuts.
- Extended the term of the state’s firearm licenses from 4 years to 6 years.
- Permanently attached the federal language concerning assault weapon exemptions in 18 USC 922 Appendix A to the Massachusetts assault weapons laws. This is the part that the media misrepresented.
In 1998 the Massachusetts legislature passed its own assault weapons ban (MGL Chapter 140, Section 131M). This ban did not rely on the federal language and contained no sunset clause. Knowing that we did not have the votes in 2004 to get rid of the state law, we did not want to loose all of the federal exemptions that were not in the state law so this new bill was amended to include them.
- Re-instated a 90 day grace period for citizens who were trying to renew their firearm license. Over the past years, the government agencies in charge had fallen months behind in renewing licenses. At one point it was taking upwards of a year to renew a license. Under Massachusetts law, a citizen cannot have a firearm or ammunition in their home with an expired license.
- Mandated that law enforcement must issue a receipt for firearms that are confiscated due to an expired license. Prior to this law, no receipts were given for property confiscated which led to accusations of stolen or lost firearms after they were confiscated by police.
-
Gave free license renewal for law enforcement officers who applied through their employing agency.
-
Changed the size and style of a firearm license to that of a driver’s license so that it would fit in a normal wallet. The original license was 3” x 4”.
- Created stiffer penalties for armed home invaders
Search the MA HTF. There are a number of ARFCOMmers who said all in all that bill wasn't a bad thing... or at least pretty far from as bad as some of the libs would have wanted.
Disclaimer - I'm about as far from a Romney-ite as one can get.
But there's a difference between accepting the political reality of your environment and falling on your sword only to lose the battle anyway.
