http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=114733
Pull a gun and face the heat — a picture of your face plastered all over the city — if a proposal to create a public registry for firearms offenders comes to pass.
“Creating a ‘gun offender registry’ modeled after the Sex Offender Registry would be a fantastic way of helping stem the flow of guns into the city,” said Hyde Park-based district City Councilor Rob Consalvo, who will propose the idea at today’s council hearing.
The notion came up as Consalvo was talking with constituents about the rise in gun violence that led to 279 fatal and non-fatal shootings this year by Oct. 23. His thought is that making the names and faces of gun offenders public, much the way sex offenders are publicized, would act as a small deterrent and alert neighbors of a possible danger in their midst.
The mug shots of Level 3 sex offenders who are considered a high risk to re-offend are posted on state and city Web sites and in police stations, and information on Level 2 offenders can be found in local police departments. Consalvo said he is short on details on how a gun offender system would work, but is asking for a hearing with city and state officials and community and religious groups.
Dorchester activist Barry Mullen, who has fostered numerous crime watches in the St. Mark’s area, liked the idea. “Having someone register who has done a violent crime with a gun would make a lot of sense,” Mullen said. “I’d like to know if my neighbor has been arrested for a gun charge.”
Pull a gun and face the heat — a picture of your face plastered all over the city — if a proposal to create a public registry for firearms offenders comes to pass.
“Creating a ‘gun offender registry’ modeled after the Sex Offender Registry would be a fantastic way of helping stem the flow of guns into the city,” said Hyde Park-based district City Councilor Rob Consalvo, who will propose the idea at today’s council hearing.
The notion came up as Consalvo was talking with constituents about the rise in gun violence that led to 279 fatal and non-fatal shootings this year by Oct. 23. His thought is that making the names and faces of gun offenders public, much the way sex offenders are publicized, would act as a small deterrent and alert neighbors of a possible danger in their midst.
The mug shots of Level 3 sex offenders who are considered a high risk to re-offend are posted on state and city Web sites and in police stations, and information on Level 2 offenders can be found in local police departments. Consalvo said he is short on details on how a gun offender system would work, but is asking for a hearing with city and state officials and community and religious groups.
Dorchester activist Barry Mullen, who has fostered numerous crime watches in the St. Mark’s area, liked the idea. “Having someone register who has done a violent crime with a gun would make a lot of sense,” Mullen said. “I’d like to know if my neighbor has been arrested for a gun charge.”
