WHO WE ARE
We are the Falmouth Gun Safety Coalition (FGSC).
FGSC is committed to reducing gun violence by using common-sense measures supported by a large majority of the American public.
In 2018, we partnered with the Falmouth Police on Cape Cod to organize a gun buyback event. Over 100 firearms and quantities of ammunition were safely turned in and destroyed at a scrap metal facility. Participants received food gift cards, funded by generous public donations. Building on this success and our commitment to preventing gun violence, we established new goals in 2019 and formally incorporated as the Falmouth Gun Safety Coalition (FGSC).
WHat we do
- Advocate for sensible gun laws at the state and federal level.
- Work in partnership with local, state and national organizations to raise awareness of the enormous human, societal, and economic costs of gun violence.
- Encourage the Falmouth Police Department and Town Officials to take the lead in keeping the public safe by destroying used police weapons rather than trading them in.
- Publicize academic research and media reports on gun violence on our website and fact sheets.
- Promote gun safety and safe storage in the home through outreach at public events.
- Offer free gun locks at our information tables and suggest non-lethal alternatives for personal and family protection.
- Create ads for local newspapers that raise awareness of emerging firearm technologies or trends that pose a threat to public health.
- Develop public service programs for presentation to interested civic and religious groups.
OUR CONCERNS
We research gun laws and sales and have found evidence of numerous loopholes in Massachusetts gun laws. We have discovered a stunningly high increase in the number of gun sales since 2006. There were 41,160 recorded retail sales in 2006 and there were 135,641 in 2020. There were also 35,736 firearms sold through the Massachusetts Gun Transaction Portal in 2020. This method is used for private sales.
We are concerned about a lack of enforcement of the ban on “assault style” guns being sold by local gun shops.
- We are troubled by the ease with which semi-automatics guns can be modified to prevent ballistics identification
We believe the lack of a mass shooting in Massachusetts is, in part, based on luck. With over 100,000 guns being sold at retail every year our “luck” won’t last forever.
WHERE WE ARE GOING
To advance one of FGSC’s goals of banning the semi-automatic mechanism which allows guns to be fired rapidly and are used in most mass killings, we are working with legislators and others stakeholders.
We will continue to work with our local legislators including Representatives Dylan Fernandes and David Vieira, Senator Susan Moran (Plymouth and Barnstable) and with Representative David Linsky of Natick who has authored much of the recent gun safety legislation in Massachusetts.
We are working with staff from Attorney General’s office, and with a noted Supreme Court scholar who helped clarify for us second amendment concerns, and who suggests that Heller v District of Columbia could support a ban on semi-automatic mechanisms.
A ban on semi-automatic mechanisms would include semi-automatic handguns. These handguns, when fitted with extended magazines facilitate high capacity rapid reloading, are just as deadly as “assault rifles” as witnessed in the Virginia Beach mass killings. FGSC is committed to reducing gun violence by using common-sense measures supported by a large majority of the American public.
From Falmouth Gun Buyback Coalition to Falmouth Gun Safety Coalition Our Falmouth Gun Buyback of June 2018 was a success. Over 100 guns and ammunition, knives, and BB guns were turned in at the Falmouth Police Station, all of which were destroyed at a metal scrapping facility. Gun owners were rewarded with food gift cards purchased with donations from a generous public. In order to continue our work in preventing gun violence, in 2019 we defined our new goals and changed our name to Falmouth Gun Safety Coalition (FGSC).