I live in Western Mass, way west of Springfield. Moreover, all the large cities: Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee, Northampton, Great Barrington, Pittsfield etc will not issue "All Lawful purposes" or even LTC A. If this does not sound against ones rights then nothing does, to be issued a LTC B or A you have to take an approved firearm safety course, have an extensive background tests, be reviewed by a licensing Law enforcement agent, be finger printed and then photographed. Then all your info will be imputed, the same way as convicted sex offender, into the Criminal History Board. Every time you move, you have to notify the CHB, your former and new Chief of Police of the new address. Yes, we already are treated like criminals. Unfortunately, in a state of about six millions residents, there are according to GOAL, only about 150,000-200,000 licensed gun owners in Mass. As you can see, we are a clear minority with a hostile government, media, law enforcement and most residents. Almost all people I have met outside of shooting sports are not pro 2nd Ad and many are downright hostile to the idea of gun ownership by civilians. I do fear being a gun owner in this state, and I do not advertise the fact I own guns, and do not want my neighbors to know I have guns since they would harass me. I am not of the mind that this state will ever become friendlier to gun owners. In fact, it has become more hostile over the years even with Republican Governors. I am seriously looking at alternative states to live in including moving to either New York or Vermont.
To set the record straight. The State legislature, not the Attorney General passed the 1998 Gun control bill. The new law mandated all handguns must pass State safety tests before being approved to be sold in the state. In 2000 the AG added is own criteria to the law, by saying handguns must past the state test, but also have certain safety features he designed such as a 10lbs trigger pull, warning labels, and internal locks. The bad part about this is he has been very vague on the other requirements he wants. So gun manufactures, such as Glock send their guns to be tested by the state approved test center, then if passed by the testing center the State Police will add them to the approved list because they passed the 1998 Gun control Act requirements. Nevertheless, the AG still has not approved the guns so under his own addition to the law they still cannot be sold in the state. Unfortunately, he rarely does this, and even if he does, he has rescinded his approval as he did with Glock that to this date cannot be sold. In the end many companies, such as Kahr, Kimber, Les Baer, Colt etc will not bother trying to sell their guns in Mass. In addition, imagine this guy wants to be Governor.
In addition, I lived in Southern New England most of my life, except for a stint out west for six years. I do like Massachusetts, it is a beautiful place, and most people are good, hard working and decent folks. At times, the politics can be very aggravating, since few will agree with conservative or even libertarian ideals. An example the past few days the local town hall was flying the UN flag under the American flag. If it was over the US flag that would be a different story. Since deer hunting season has started, there are many diatribes against hunting in the local paper. I don't hunt but many friends do and most do not hunt in Mass anymore except for water fowl because of the lack of good hunting space and the now many No Hunting signs found in the woods.