Maureen George, Westford Resident
A Firearms Businesses Zoning Bylaw will be presented at Town Meeting on October 16.
It must pass by a majority for the town Boards to exercise consequential regulatory authority on future firearms businesses in Westford.
There is one last chance for the public to add input into the wording of the proposed bylaw at a public hearing, Monday, September 18, 7:00 p.m. at the Millennium School, Conference Room B.
The Pew Research Center recently posted their analysis of a poll about Americans and guns. PewResearchReportSeptember2023
Below is a summary of key facts about Americans and guns from this report:
- Personal protection tops the list of reasons gun owners give for owning a firearm. 79% of Republicans say that gun ownership does more to increase safety, while a nearly identical share of Democrats (78%) say that it does more to reduce safety.
- Americans (6 in 10) increasingly say that gun violence is a major problem.
- 62% of Americans say they expect the level of gun violence to increase over the next five years.
- A majority of Americans (61%) say it is too easy to legally obtain a gun in this country. 86% of Democrats say it is too easy to obtain a gun legally, only 34% of Republicans say the same.
- About six-in-ten U.S. adults (58%) favor stricter gun laws.
- About a third (32%) of parents with K-12 students say they are very or extremely worried about a shooting happening at their children’s school.
- Americans who own guns are less likely than non-owners to favor restrictions on gun ownership.
Less than 8% of Westford townspeople are gun owners. The other 92% who do not own a gun are likely to believe gun ownership reduces safety, believe gun violence is a major problem, expect gun violence to increase, believe it is too easy to legally obtain a gun, worry about their children’s safety in school. They are also likely to favor restrictions on things related to gun ownership.
Wherever data is gathered to measure the impact of guns on the childhood population ages 1-19 (such as at the CDC) and published in places like New England Journal of Medicine, the data shows that guns are the number one cause of childhood deaths.
USAfacts assembles government data from over 70 sources organized to show among other things who “the people” are. They state: “Injuries from firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens.” https://usafacts.org/data-projects/child-death
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