Republican lawmakers and gun rights advocates testified yesterday that a series of gun control measures promoted by Democrats — requiring imprinted serial numbers on firearms, “microstamped’’ bullets, and annual limits on gun purchases — would punish lawful gun owners, increase costs, and hamper a 5,000-job industry.
“In order to try and curb and curtail the violence, we’re penalizing those that are not the culprits,’’ said state Representative Daniel Webster, a Pembroke Republican. “I would suggest to you that in the vast majority of cases, people that are misusing guns are doing it when they don’t have licenses to carry.’’
Critics of stricter controls on gun ownership and purchasing blamed black market transactions, Mexican drug cartels, and even the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives for enabling criminals to access guns without licenses, and they argued that any additional oversight could put gun ownership out of reach for lawful citizens.
