Speaker DeLeo unveils gun violence reduction bill

House Speaker Robert DeLeo unveiled a gun violence reduction bill on May 21, with a hearing before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security expected shortly.

The multifaceted bill has a number of implications for local government, including a requirement, subject to appropriation, that school districts hire a school resource officer. Each school would be required to develop a plan to address the mental health needs of its students, and each district would be required to provide two hours of suicide awareness and prevention training to school personnel every three years.

Additionally, each school would be required to have access to two-way communication devices for communication with public safety officials in the case of an emergency.

The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security would be required to establish uniform standards for use by local police departments when determining an applicant’s suitability for a firearms identification card, which is required in order to own a gun in Massachusetts. Currently, local police departments do not have uniform standards.

The bill would increase criminal penalties for several crimes committed with guns, including armed robbery and carjacking, and would make bringing a gun into a school a criminal offense.

During a press conference at the State House announcing the bill, DeLeo expressed optimism that it would pass by the end of the Legislature’s two-year session on July 31, noting that it could be one of the last major pieces of legislation Gov. Deval Patrick signs into law prior to the end of his term.

The bill incorporates many of the 44 recommendations made in March by a nine-member commission appointed by DeLeo to study the state’s gun laws. The commission was created in response to the mass shooting in December 2012 at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

The MMA is continuing its analysis of the implications of the bill for municipalities.