Gun Rights Rally on Boston Common Draws Hundreds
Taking aim at Democrats, the media and others they say are attacking the Second Amendment, hundreds of gun rights activists gathered on the Boston Common Wednesday afternoon to rally to fight a bill that would tighten gun control. “Every time the government passes new gun control laws it creates a problem,” Ying Li, an engineer who participated in the 1989 pro-democracy protests centered on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, told the crowd. The rally was organized by the Gun Owners’ Action League and was partly in response to new gun control measures being considered at the State House, including Gov. Deval Patrick’s bill to limit firearm purchases to one a month, reduce access to high-powered rounds of ammunition and require background checks before buying weapons at gun shows. Li compared gun control with tyranny, calling on the crowd to “kill (tyranny) in its infancy.” Alan Gottlieb, the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, followed Li on stage at the Parkman bandstand, echoing the concern that the movement to undo the Second Amendment, as he sees it, is just beginning. “The attempt to ban so-called assault weapons is only the beginning of their attack on the Second Amendment,” Gottlieb said, calling the dismantling of the amendment the “ultimate goal of the Democratic Party.” To stop Patrick’s plan, protesters marched to the State House to meet with lawmakers and urge them to vote against the bill. “The only thing that stands in their way is us and the Republican Party,” Gottlieb said. “Gun control is going to cost (Democrats) control of the Senate. Democrats never learn from history and we gun owners never forget it.” SOUTH END PATCH: Facebook | Twitter | E-mail Updates South End Patch
Patrick Addresses Hundreds at Rally to Support His Budget Plan [VIDEO]
Hundreds of people bused in from across the state packed into a State House auditorim Tuesday morning to rally in support of Gov. Deval Patrick’s tax plan, which they say is critical to make much-needed improvements in education and transportation infrastructure. The rally, which was organized by Campaign for our Communities, a coalition of over 120 organizations across the commonwealth, ended with attendees heading off to the offices of their representatives, urging them to vote for Patrick’s plan. The governor’s $ 34.8 billion budget proposal calls for an increase in the income tax from 5.25 percent to 6.25 percent and the elimination of 44 deductions coupled with a decrease in the sales tax from 6.25 percent to 4.5 percent and a doubling of personal exemption. Patrick said at Tuesday’s rally that the time had come to speak as “grown-ups, in a fact-based way, about taxes, because taxes are the price of civilization.” By Patrick’s estimates, those who make under $ 62,000 a year shouldn’t see an increase in taxes and that those who make $ 100,000 will, on average, see a rise of a $ 300 to $ 400. To allow individuals to see how the plan would affect their taxes, the governor’s office last week released an online tool that calculates users’ tax bill. SOUTH END PATCH: Facebook | Twitter | E-mail Updates South End Patch