I think the gun control laws of Mass. are mostly unconstitutional. Requiring a license to own any gun which is expensive, a form of registration and now the trigger lock requirement are unreasonable. It is a form of harrassment as BP pointed out. But the worst is Washington D.C. where there is no gun ownership. In rare cases you can get a license to keep a shotgun or a rifle but for the most part D.C. citizens have no gun rights. Is it any surprise that D.C. has the highest crime in the nation. Of course they blame it on Va. and Maryland where the criminals are getting their guns but the real problem is that the D.C. residents can't defend themselves and the criminals know that. Its like NYC where on the east side of the GW Bridge in the south Bronx crime is rampant but on the west side of the GW Bridge in Fort Lee N.J. crime is rare because the citizens there are armed and criminals know this.
By the way, there is a dirty little secret here that needs being exposed but no one on the left will do it and because it is a politically incorrect issue even the right avoids it -- and the issue is that gun control is the most racist practice we have in America. D.C. is predominantly black. They call it "black on black" crime, whatever that is. Thats right, our Congress doesn't want their town, populated mostly by blacks, to have guns. Neither does NYC, Detroit, Chicago, or other areas populated by blacks, hispanics and other minorities. Public housing has in their contract no guns in an apartment right here in Ct. Any minority trying to get a carry permit is going to have ten times the trouble of a middle aged white male. This is wrong. The people of D.C. and the other major cities have a right to self protection. Interestingly, the house just passed a bill to eliminate D.C.'s gun control laws and of course, it was opposed by the usual groups. I doubt the Senate will pass their part of the bill. And only one elected official in Ct. (Simmons) voted for this bill in the house. Johnson, Shays, et.al. voted nay.
How any minority could vote democratic when the democrats do not even respect their basic Constitutional rights is beyond me yet polls indicate the democrats get 90% of the black vote. Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities are getting screwed as second class citizens with regards to racist gun control practices. They should change the democratic platform so that their interests are equal with everyone else in the country. Then the democrats would earn their vote.