MA Firearm Safety

Archive for the ‘Gun Sense’ Category

By Mark Shean Sr. author of #GUN SENSE, now on Amazon. 

Hollywood has quite an influence on how people view things, right or wrong, people formulate notions based on what they see at the movies or on television. In my gun class I will dispel some of these notions. I start by saying something like; I am now going to ruin some of the things that you believe to be real because you have seen it on TV all of your life. Remember, Hollywood is entertainment, nothing else.

For example:…..

To read this chapter in full, and any other articles in the #GUN SENSE series, it is available as an Ebook and a Paperback at Amazon under:
GUN SENSE Massachusetts Gun Law Information and Common Sense Firearm Safety By Mark R. Shean Sr.

Rated #1 at AMAZON in the Shooting section!!

Mark Shean, author of #1 rated GUN SENSE on Amazon.

I initially got involved with giving the state required basic firearm safety course when my son became old enough,(15) to apply for his firearm identification card,(FID). I started looking for an instructor that would give the course, at that time it was a separate course than the one given for the license to carry, (LTC). I found instructors, but each one told me they only gave the LTC course, good only for 21 and older, “there was more money in it” an instructor told me. I retorted by saying to him, (because by then I was starting to get fed up) “when you dinosaur’s go extinct the shooting sports will go extinct with you because you ignored the kids”!

I could not believe how short sighted these people were. So I  became a state instructor, my son was my first classroom ‘victim’ for his FID card, then I began giving the course to the 15-20 year old group exclusively. Now the course will cover either age group with no distinctions.

I know how important it is to include our youth in the shooting sports, that is how I started,  it is the only way these traditions have any hope of surviving into the future. I think that we as adults kind of overlook how important it really is to talk to our children about their rights under the Constitution. If we don’t talk to them how will they ever know?        Share your passion of firearm freedom with them. Don’t depend on the public school system to educate them about their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Schools/teachers unions, are anti Second Amendment, their ultimate agenda is to rewrite history by leaving out, and/or ‘re-interpreting’ whole sections of our Constitution and passing it off as factual to our children.  By making the framers of the Constitution nary a footnote in history. So please talk to your children about their rights if you don’t want them to lose these rights. Home schooling is a good antidote to misinformation.

We fight hard to keep a certain class of politicians in line concerning our rights, we do not overlook their assaults on the Constitution, we can get very energized at the polls to ‘kick the bums out’ as we can on election day.  But stop and think, do you take the time to explain the way you feel about your freedoms to your children? Do you take the time to make sure they understand that these freedoms can only survive if they too fight someday against the agendas of a few bad people willing to abuse their powers while holding political office? It has to come from you, as the adult, as it did from your parents when the terror that was  WWII was very real in their lives. They held their freedoms very dear indeed.

The importance of this seems to become more and more diluted, as the years pass, than when I was young. Try a test to see what, if anything, has been taught to your children about the Constitution, the founders, or the Bill of Rights in school. Simply ask them if they have ever heard of the history behind the forming of American Independence, you may be shocked at their answers or lack thereof. It will be a clear message, and duty for you to teach them yourself in this area.

The Constitution is only as strong as the current generation who protect it. If our young have no idea it exists, their rights will cease to exist along with their freedoms in the not so distant future.  Firearm rights are the keystone of those freedoms.

Mark Shean,  Author of #1 rated GUN SENSE, found on Amazon.

written 8-27-2010

This is a quote from an original Patriot who understood this all to well;

” The voice of tradition. I trust, will inform posterity of our struggles for freedom. If our descendants be worthy the name of Americans they will preserve and hand down to their latest posterity the transactions of the present times“  PATRICK HENRY,   6-5-1788 

Forward NOTE:  This was sent to me by Ed Sinnott, an old friend I have known since the 8th grade, after I had sent him a simple notice that I had put a ‘For Sale’ tab on my website. As part of the description I had mentioned that it was better than craigslist in that you could also put ‘evil’ guns for sale. That is what spurred Ed to send me this history lesson about, not evil guns, but instead evil men. I thought it would be nice to pass along for your consideration. So when you hear talk of ’Gun Control’ take a closer look at the people doing the talking, a very very close look.

Evil guns?

A funny thought, without them how much evil was in the world before the availability of guns to the common man? We take for granted that the industrial revolution made guns available to the average ‘common’ man.

Before that in our human history, the powerful rulers had control of the weapons, they only armed loyal men under their control. The men fought and died for the commands of a ruling class. It was said the Bill of Rights declared men to be equal and Samuel Colt and his guns made them truly equal. Disarmed men were easy to control when faced with armed men under the commands of a ruling class.

When the Founding Fathers wrote the Bill of Rights they fully understood what it was like to be under the rule of the rich, those that were armed and therefore powerful. They fully knew if there were armed citizens then and only then could they ever hope to protect themselves from these ‘EVIL’ men with their greedy ambitions. They knew of how ‘EVIL’ men planed, schemed, and wanted to exploit, control, and rule the now independent freemen of the newly formed United States.

By giving the common man the gun they hoped that men would have, and use when necessary, the equalizing tool called the gun to protect the principals of this new freedom. They also knew having every able man armed would help discourage any attacks from another nation. Having a fully armed citizenry would make for a sizable army. If there were to be a battle the men would also know the fight would be to keep them free, and not just to please a king. It was a good plan.

Now we face the even more insidious weapon of greed. It is through the use of money to manipulate and control us, to become subjects to a ruling class who has much of everything already under its control. It is this ‘EVIL” that is by far more deadly to any of us than any gun will ever be. This weapon of ‘economic control’ threatens our country, our citizens, and our future.

Sad, the gun will not do much to stop the evil greed of men who rule from a distance, and other countries as they lay our freedoms, economy’s and futures to waste without ever firing a shot…. All they need do to kill us is to adjust some numbers on a computer screen to change our money… all that we were, and ever could be….is gone forever…. The United States, the greatest hope for all mankind, will be lost because the gun could not find the target….of this evil.

Now a word from a Great American:

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property- until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered”. –Thomas Jefferson-

Mark Shean,

posted on 6-14-2010

These are the  ten Cardinal rules of firearm safety, you break any one of these and you or someone else could die, many have. Firearms are very unforgiving of mistakes or foolishness. The first mistake you make could be someone else’s last breath on earth. Red signifies:  Extreme DANGER,  especially in uneducated hands!

1.  Treat EVERY gun as if it were loaded AT ALL TIMES! (crucial mindset, there is no such thing as an unloaded gun!)

2.  MAKE SURE ANY gun you handle is pointed in a safe direction. (because it is loaded!) Never ‘assume’ otherwise!

3.  NEVER point a gun that is loaded at anything/anyone you do not intend to destroy. (Proper mindset, remember, they are ALL loaded!)

4.  Be aware that a round as small as a .22 LR bullet can travel up to a mile or more. (you must know where the bullet will end up or DO NOT take the shot!)

5.  When target practicing ENSURE there is a backstop high enough and with no hard objects, to avoid ricochets.

6.  ALWAYS ensure your firearm is UNLOADED and the action OPEN before ever handing the gun to anyone! Check it TWICE. (that person must then handle it exactly as if it were loaded!) People are killed by ‘unloaded’ firearms every year!

7.  While hunting, ALWAYS unload your gun before climbing up or over anything, jumping ditches, or negotiating any obstacle in your way. (use good sense to avoid any accidental discharge)

8.  While hunting ALWAYS be able to IDENTIFY your game first, OR DO NOT TAKE A SHOT!! (also, look beyond your game before shooting , if you see blaze orange DO NOT SHOOT, the deer/whatever is NEVER that important!)

9.  NEVER shoot at or over open water with ANYTHING other than a shotgun loaded with bird-shot. Bullets from rifles and handguns will ‘glance’ off water causing them to fly wildly. (you can/will be held accountable for any negligence with a firearm)

10.  Alcohol, Drugs, and firearms are a deadly combination, NEVER consume  ANYTHING that will even mildly impair your judgement or physical coordination when you are about to use a firearm!!

Reminder;

    A mechanical ‘safety’ on a firearm does NOT give you license to carelessly handle the firearm, anything man makes can break. YOU are the overriding  ‘master‘ safety on ANY firearm that you handle! 

    Remember, Firearm Education will save lives, Firearm Ignorance can take lives.  Please, pass these life saving rules on. 

Sincerely, Mark Shean

Former NRA Law Enforcement Instructor

posted 6-10-2010  

Below, questions to the firearm TEST:   Firearm Safety Test with relevance to Ma.

Answers at Gun Sense #29, 

1. A firearm is given to, or received from another individual with the action open whenever it is possible to do so?  T  F

2. Ammo must be stored in a locked container.  T  F

To read this chapter in full, and any other articles in the #Gun Sense series, it is available as an Ebook and a Paperback at Amazon under:
Gun Sense Massachusetts Gun Law Information and Common Sense Firearm Safety By Mark R. Shean Sr.

GUN SENSE, Rated #1 at AMAZON in the Shooting section!!

Hello, I am not a lawyer, If you want to research anything you may see here be my guest. This is my attempt to make certain that you will understand the two main criteria set down, at this time, on how we should handle firearms  in Massachusetts. I decided to try and translate this from ‘lawyers legalese’ to common English, so that we mere mortals could then vaguely understand it. I believe that they are vague in order for the courts to ‘interpret’ them any which way they feel like interpreting them depending on the circumstances. NOTE: [Be aware, it is up to you to keep up on the murky gun laws if you own firearms…..

To read this chapter in full, and any other articles in the #Gun Sense series, it is available as an Ebook and a Paperback at Amazon under:
Gun Sense Massachusetts Gun Law Information and Common Sense Firearm Safety By Mark R. Shean Sr.

Gun safety for anyone anywhere.
The paperback version Rated #1 at AMAZON in the Shooting section!!  Check out GUN SENSE now. $15

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NOTE: Optional,(*After you receive your license, I can give you a familiarization shooting class with the gun(s) you bought so that you feel comfortable with it/them). Or go with a friend that is a member of a gun club. 

Why I DO NOT have you shoot in the initial class. 

 *In a nutshell, it is a waste of your time and extra money, read on… 

I have an educated, common-sense theory as to why the state has not made shooting mandatory for the state certification (so far). The course is carefully titled Basic Firearm Safety with emphasis on the ‘basic‘, it covers gun laws and safety aspects. You do not want to run afoul of the gun laws in Ma., that is a point of the course.  The main reason I believe that shooting is not required can be summed up in one very big word, liability. The police are extremely careful about who will receive that little plastic gun license, they do an extensive background check before they will hand it out. Someone may be a felon. No one has done a background check on the people I initially see, that certainly is NOT my job.  I would not want to put guns into the hands of a felon who may only want to steal the firearm(s) and ammunition, endangering me or anyone else at a range. That is number 1, my safety, call me selfish OK………….

There is a very foolish push by a panel of left wing academic so-called experts that would mandate you must shoot in this initial class to get your state certificate. In other words, to them it is OK to endanger firearm instructors PRIOR to the background check! But no one is allowed the little plastic gun license prior to the background check, BRILLIANT! I pray I never get as smart as these so-called academic experts…. who must live in La La Land.

Prime examples are two instructors, Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield. Good instructors with good intensions, who were murdered by Eddie Ray Routh while instructing him in firearms at the Rough Creek Lodge in Glen Rose Texas. They set him up with a firearm, briefed him on safety, he picked the gun up then killed them both. Routh then stole the firearms and Chris Kyle’s vehicle. He was apprehended the next day. there was NO background check done on Routh prior to this double murder, they did not know his real motives, they had no idea he was already a felon. 

Another prime example:

Woman intentionally shot firearm instructor in face. 

http:www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jun/30/firearms-teacher-shot-woman-scheduled-for-lesson-a/

Accidents also come under the heading of liability. The state does not want to be sued for making shooting mandatory in case of an accident (so far). The Representatives we elect may never be bright enough to balance a budget, (it’s easier to spend someone else’s money) but they are not crazy. Also, the state would not want the appearance of discriminating against the disabled, etc. 

These things are legal and political landmines that will always be avoided. The state is perfectly willing to let private instructors take any falls should there be an accident, i.e., the little boy in Westfield MA. I have something to say about that ‘accident’ in the supplemental chapter ZERO GUN SENSE= UZI SUB-MACHINEGUN TRAGEDY IN WESTFIELD MA. The/any instructors who do infer that shooting is required in MA do so at their own risk and if they are careful/smart, they carry insurance, which of course will drive the price of the class up to significantly impact your wallet. The statewide average runs around $155 per person, (a house call and/or discounts not included).

I do not believe, knowing what I have learned in a lifetime of shooting, that the extra cost is justified, this is where knowledge through experience comes in… If you already know how to shoot, it is a waste of your time and additional money paying for the instructor’s liability insurance, range, ammo, guns, lights, targets, and other overhead etc. to take a few shots. On the other hand, a complete novice will not even begin to retain any of the fundamentals. I know I cannot instill the fundamentals of shooting by waving a magic wand after a few rounds. 

Well intentioned or not, the few shots taken are more about justifying their higher price for the course than anything else. I strongly advise that the novice would be far better served by joining a gun club, to learn from knowledgeable members who will gladly help. Or, by taking the time for a series of lessons from an instructor, which most clubs have, to get you started down the right path over time. 

In my experience with this state course since 2000, I can say without any question that a majority of the people I come into contact with have had previous experience with firearms through one venue or another. Some had moved into the state and needed the course simply as a way to legally keep the guns they already own. Others, through life experience and/or military training. Still others because they had just come to figure out that the old FID card that said ‘indefinite’ in their wallets was no longer indefinite, it had expired years ago, October 1998 to be exact and had to be brought up to speed.

Then there are those who take the class because they want too legally keep guns that have been inherited, for sentimental or other reasons. There are people that want their spouse to have some knowledge of the firearms they keep in the house as well as the laws surrounding the proper storage of those guns. Then there are people that learn certain laws loosened in 2004, that no longer keep them from getting their gun permits back, lost years ago over something minor.   

After looking at all that, it is not quite as dire as “No one could possibly know anything about firearms or the proper use of them” until they talk to someone like me. I wouldn’t flatter myself for a second by thinking that egotistical nonsense. For the types of circumstance’s surrounding the people I have just mentioned, people like me are useful in helping them understand the MA state firearm laws so that they may stay in sync with them, as well as introducing/reiterating specific safety aspects. 

Discovering the varied levels of firearm experience that I have come into contact with from class to class, really does not surprise me. On the contrary, considering that firearms are an American birthright and are estimated to be numbered in the hundreds of millions throughout America, it would be foolish of anyone to think all people looking for a gun license are completely ignorant about firearms or incompetent in the handling of them. I cannot resist inserting a quote by one of America’s greatest Founding Fathers, (in my opinion) as it happens to punctuate what I have been saying about American citizens. This is an excerpt from the very first session of Congress, made by our first President:

“Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself. They are the Peoples liberty, teeth and keystone under Independence, the rifle and the pistol are equally indispensable…more than 99% of them by their silence indicate that they are in safe sane hands. The very atmosphere of firearms everywhere restrains evil interference. When firearms go, all goes, we need them every hour”. –George Washington    

Note: The word “Keystone” is from 1630, it means: “The central supporting element of a whole”. Synonyms include principle, foundation, basis. 

It is obvious to me, the meaning is clear, firearms and American citizens have had and will continue to have a long-standing relationship. Despite the socialist’s twisted agenda otherwise.  

    
Gun Sense Massachusetts Gun Law Information and Common-Sense Firearm Safety by Mark R. Shean Sr.

Rated #1 at AMAZON in the Shooting section!!

If you have been denied in you’re quest for a firearm permit, (LTC) here in Ma. due to a past misdemeanor conviction(s),  there is a process that you may initiate to try to counter the denial by your police chief. You need to realize though that if the Firearms License Review Board, a 7 member board, finds in your favor, that will be a good thing, but you’re police chief will still be making the final determination. He will look at you’re application in a different light if the review board has found in you’re favor, that will lend weight to you’re cause and may sway him to issue you a license. Initially he may only issue you a license with a restriction like ‘target and hunting only’ and the next time around in six years may issue the license you really want, so keep this in  mind.

This link gets you to their instructions and address;   http://www.mass.gov/eopss/docs/chsb/petition-and-instruction-letter.pdf   Just copy and paste.

Another option for you would be to apply for an FID card first. With an FID card there are only 3 reasons you can be denied. The reasons are, 1. If you have not been a felon. 2. If you have not been a substance abuser within the last 5 years.  3. If you were not involuntarily placed in a mental institution within the last 5 years. Under the law no other reason/criteria for denial may be used when issuing an FID card. There are even exemptions to a couple of  these, (2, 3)  reasons.  As  a courtesy I have added the following  link for you to find instantly the ‘petition form’ needed, if your being denied a LTC, along with all related information.

To read this chapter in full, and any other articles in the #Gun Sense series, it is available as an Ebook and a Paperback at Amazon under:
Gun Sense Massachusetts Gun Law Information and Common Sense Firearm Safety By Mark R. Shean Sr.

Rated #1 at AMAZON in the Shooting section!!  Check out GUN SENSE now.

 I don’t just answer questions, I give classes too, go to home page for details. The only published Firearms Instructor in Ma.

My #GUN SENSE book, Rated #1 at AMAZON in the Shooting section!! $15

 I am getting more and more feedback from people around Massachusetts that have taken my State Basic Firearm Safety course, or took it somewhere else but could not get any answer(s) from where they took it, asking me about what they should say when the police chief of their town will not accept “Any Lawful Purpose” as good enough a reason for issuing the gun permit. He will issue them a restricted license for ‘target and hunting’ only, but later, they are told, if they can prove some good “reason‘ to be issued an unrestricted license with a letter explaining ‘why’ you think you need an unrestricted  LTC the chief will consider it, but of course that can/will cost you another $100!

NOTE: ( My ‘Reason Letter’ is further down the page near the bottom in Bold type, you cant miss it ). Please read the whole page…… 

To read this chapter in full, and any other articles in the Gun Sense series, it is available as an Ebook $10,  and a Paperback $15 at Amazon under:
Gun Sense Massachusetts Gun Law Information and Common Sense Firearm Safety By Mark R. Shean Sr.

Gun safety for anyone anywhere.
Took a year of work to publish and a lifetime of experience, check out my one and so-far only book! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07T8ZSJS3

  Rated #1 at AMAZON in the Shooting section!! Check out GUN SENSE now. $15  https://www.amazon.com/s?k=gun+sense+mark+shean&crid=2SFB5821L4UM7&sprefix=Gun+Sense%2Cstripbooks%2C146&ref=nb_sb_ss_fb_1_9

Gun Sense #18, Misplaced LTC or FID in Ma.?

I hope this does not happen to you, but if you ever lose, (as in opps, where is it?) your Ma. Firearm License, LTC or FID you can get it replaced by going to……

To read this chapter in full, and any other articles in the Gun Sense series, it is available as an Ebook and a Paperback at Amazon under:
Gun Sense Massachusetts Gun Law Information and Common Sense Firearm Safety By Mark R. Shean Sr.

Rated #1 at AMAZON in the Shooting section!! Check out GUN SENSE now.

WHAT SHOULD YOU TEACH YOUR CHILD ABOUT GUN SAFETY? If you have decided that your child is not ready to be taught in a gun’s handling and use, teach him or her to follow these simple instructions: If you find a gun……..

To read this chapter in full, and any other articles in the Gun Sense series, it is available as an Ebook and a Paperback at Amazon under:
Gun Sense Massachusetts Gun Law Information and Common Sense Firearm Safety By Mark R. Shean Sr.