Citizens Applaud Defeat of Firearms Ban in MA

WESTFORD (CBS) – A thunderous round of applause and a standing ovation greeted the news Wednesday night that a proposed town bylaw to restrict some assault weapons was going to be officially withdrawn.

The overwhelming majority of the close to 400 people who packed a special meeting of the Westford Board of Selectmen opposed the idea.

The man who originally proposed it told the crowd the debate had not gone as he had hoped.

Vice Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Robert Jeffries said, “This was meant to be a discussion within the town of Westford, a community discussion that’s gotten way, way beyond that. We’re not really getting the discussion we want.”

After the meeting, Jeffries added that he had hoped he and his town would not be alone in an effort to restrict assault weapons and high-capacity firearms from the town.

“I thought there would be a [negative] reaction,” Jeffries said. “But I also thought maybe some other towns in Massachusetts might have also tried something similar and none of them did. So it left us isolated as the only ones.”

Westford residents at the meeting felt a sense of relief.

WBZ (CBS Affiliate) Full Story

Are they finally getting the gist? The idea that most people do not want more infringment on any of our rights? One can only hope! This madness needs to stop! I am thrilled that my state has so far not caved in to pressure being exerted from the gun control lobby.

I hope they continue to follow suit and this story gets spread so more states realize they are trying to pass laws that many many Americans do not agree with and do not want.

It is my hope that more towns follow in the footsteps of Westford, and realize that any freedoms given up are most likely never to come back, and even if they do it will be at a cost that will inevitably be very painful to purchase.

WARNING: The video is extremely long and boring for the most part (defining characteristincs of alot of local politicians). What I feel are important areas of not are the beginning to get a sense of the extreme turnout for such a small town, and the 8:45 mark to hear one of the votes to dismiss which is followed by a resounding round of cheers and applause.

reply to post by Darkphoenix77


I hate the way these legislatures think that they know what the People want.
They claim the "people" want this or that...
When the reality is the people just want them to leave their rights alone and quite interfering just to push an agenda that the majority don't believe in.

And just because they poll 2500 New Yorkers doesn't mean that they speak for me or any one else & to base an opinion on those few when our country's population is over 315 million is ridiculous.
No offense to NY but I'm sick of them being the ones that get polled and then the gov. says 'the people have spoken'....................NOT

reply to post by Darkphoenix77


Wow! A whole 400 people, out of the 22,000 who live in Westford. That's not what you would call a huge majority of the citizens.

Originally posted by F4guy
reply to post by Darkphoenix77

 

Wow! A whole 400 people, out of the 22,000 who live in Westford. That's not what you would call a huge majority of the citizens.

For the venue they had and the fact they needed an "overflow area" I think it is quite significant.

Where were the 400 that want gun control?

BTW, where did I imply that it was a majority of the town that showed up? It was a huge turnout no matter how you try and spin it.

Originally posted by snarky412
reply to post by Darkphoenix77

 

I hate the way these legislatures think that they know what the People want.
They claim the "people" want this or that...
When the reality is the people just want them to leave their rights alone and quite interfering just to push an agenda that the majority don't believe in.

And just because they poll 2500 New Yorkers doesn't mean that they speak for me or any one else & to base an opinion on those few when our country's population is over 315 million is ridiculous.
No offense to NY but I'm sick of them being the ones that get polled and then the gov. says 'the people have spoken'....................NOT

Most politicians are so out of touch with reality I sometimes wish I could ship them off to Never Neverland. They don't want a fair poll to show what people want, they nit and pick from groups that they know will be for whatever it is they want to push at the moment. The US government, bought and paid for by global banks and big business.

Originally posted by F4guy
reply to post by Darkphoenix77

 

Wow! A whole 400 people, out of the 22,000 who live in Westford. That's not what you would call a huge majority of the citizens.

Well, 400 is a start......
Maybe the City Council didn't want to take a chance that more people would start showing up who were against their firearms proposal.
There's no telling how many letters/e-mails/ phone calls that they may have also received that were against it.

Originally posted by snarky412

Originally posted by F4guy
reply to post by Darkphoenix77

 

Wow! A whole 400 people, out of the 22,000 who live in Westford. That's not what you would call a huge majority of the citizens.

Well, 400 is a start......
Maybe the City Council didn't want to take a chance that more people would start showing up who were against their firearms proposal.
There's no telling how many letters/e-mails/ phone calls that they may have also received that were against it.

I imagine that it took them all of 5 minutes during the meeting to deepsix it the number of complaints had to have been quite substantial.

reply to post by F4guy


As a resident of Massachusetts, I can tell you that a turnout of 400 people for ANY town/city meeting in the state is pretty big. The fact that the vast majority of those that showed up for the meeting were against the measure makes the number doubly impressive.

Looking beyond the issue itself its quite amazing to see the actual citizens of our country standing up against government and changing things from the bottom up.

This in itself is quite monumental and its happening all over the country, not just one or two isolated events.

Certainly something positive in my opinion.