Reply #21: Massachusetts laws aren't as effective as Rosenthal says they are

[friendly_iconoclast]

... Massachusetts and 17 other states have enacted gun violence prevention legislation

That's all well and good, but Massachusetts has higher gun violence rates than Vermont,
New Hampshire, and Maine. Guns are easier to get in these states, but other New Englanders are less inclined to shoot each other than us Massholes.

More to the point, and as Rosenthal himself acknowledges here:
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/060806guns.shtml

the largest source of guns seized in Massachuetts is, ahem, *Massachusetts* (circa 35-40% as of 2006).

Furthermore, the rate of violent crime in Massachusetts is so much higher than
the states that Rosenthal demonizes for "lax" gun laws, that if *every* gun from out of state, legally held or not, were to be somehow kept out of Massachusetts we would still have a gun crime rate approximately half again that of Vermont, New Hampshire or Maine.

So, having been resident in Massachusetts 15+ years I have to ask:

If we had Vermont's gun laws, would we have Vermont's violent crime rate? And a
gin-u-wine Socialist in Congress to boot?

Empirical evidence can really harsh the mellow sometimes.