It could be years before the Newtown case works its way up through the Supreme Court of the United States, where it is inevitably headed. In the meantime, DigBoston and BINJ will continue to report on the firearm economy in Mass and to identify the politicians, including Baker, who speak out against harm while accepting money from gun dealers and distributors.
SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: ARC OF THE MORAL UNIVERSE
Mass State Police and local law enforcement have spent millions amassing an arsenal of Tasers, but there’s minimal accountability for those doing the purchasing, or for those doing the tasing
FEATURE FOLLOW-UP: FIRE SALE PT. 1 1/2
In one moment of clarity, a state police spokesperson did confirm that there is zero outside oversight of millions of dollars in purchasing done by the department.
SPECIAL FEATURE: FIRE SALE PT. 1
“The participating state agencies sought proposals from makers and distributors of everything from practice ammo and targets, to handguns, silencers, tasers, tear gas, chemical munitions, pepperball launchers, dart guns, gas masks, and ballistic blankets.”
DRUG WARRIORS: CIA-CONTRA COCAINE CONSPIRACY FALL GUY “FREEWAY” RICKY ROSS TALKS OLIVER NORTH
As outrageous amounts of cocaine entered the country, guys like Ross bought and sold it, and the boys below him cooked it up and sold it as crack, creating an epidemic in neighborhoods that cops couldn’t give a shit about—at least until they could arrest everybody for the drugs the government allowed into the country with a wink and a nod.
MLK’S ASSASSINATION REMINDS NATION OF UNADDRESSED GUN VIOLENCE
“By our readiness to allow arms to be purchased at will and fired at whim, by allowing our movie and television screens to teach our children that the hero is one who masters the art of shooting and the technique of killing, by allowing all these developments, we have created an atmosphere in which violence and hatred have become popular pastimes.”
SCOTT THOMPSON: KID IN THE HALL, OUT TO THE WORLD
“[The school shooting] was 40 years ago for me, and I can tell you that when things like that happen to you they never really leave you. You can patch it over, but it’s like patching up an old sofa: Occasionally the stuffing will continue to come out. That’s how I feel now, like the stuffing is coming out.”
