State House News Service

Boston, February 22, 1999 -- In a unique twist to school-book history, Minuteman Capt. Saul Adamsky wants British troops to march on Lexington. 

Adamsky is a Cambridge high school teacher and commander of the Lexington Minuteman, a troop of re-enactors who participate in Revolutionary War-era mock battles.  Today, he and dozens of fellow re-enactors asked lawmakers to grant them an exemption from the state's new gun safety law.

The 1998 law requiring guns to be stored in locked boxes or with trigger
guards.  Previously, guns made before 1899 had been exempted from safe
storage and control provisions.  Under the new law, re-enactors might be
breaking the law if they "store" their black-powder muskets in a pile during a break in the "battle."

Adamsky said re-enactors may cancel a Patriot's Day mock battle between
Minutemen and British Redcoats unless lawmakers approve the exemption.
Sen. Susan Fargo (D-Lincoln) is sponsoring the exemption bill, which was
heard by the Public Safety Committee today.

"We're just trying to get back the exemption we had," Adamsky said.  "All
we're asking for is a clarification in writing.  (Without it) we'd cancel Patriots Day."

Without the change, re-enactors say they won't stage a mock battle in
Lexington on April 19 to commemorate "the shot heard 'round the world."  A larger mock battle planned for next year is also in jeopardy. 

That's what worries Fargo, who said area tourism - as well as the state's
sense of history - would take a hit without an authentic Patriot's Day
celebration.

"This (exemption) is of major significance to my district, the commonwealth
and the nation," Fargo said.  "Its passage means we can continue to honor
the beginnings of our country when ordinary people took part in extraordinary events that changed the face of world history.  This year, these living historians may not come because of an unintended result of the
1998 gun control bill."

Fargo told legislators the state will lose money if tourists don't attend the re-enactment in 2000, when thousands of Minutemen and Redcoats will
meet in mock battle.  Fargo also pleaded with committee members to resist
the urge to use her exemption bill as a vehicle to tinker with other
aspects of the controversial new gun law.

There have been other problems with the gun law.  Last summer, legislators
hastily passed a similar exemption to allow veterans to march in parades
with their disabled rifles.  Gun advocates opposed that change, hoping to
stir up resentment against the gun control law.

"We know legislators are fallible," said Rep. Jay Kaufman (D-Lexington),
who sported a tri-cornered hat at the hearing.  "We are here to correct one
specific error."  Kaufman also warned legislators to avoid substantively
changing the gun law.

But Rep. George Peterson (R-Grafton) asked legislators to consider
revisiting the law.  Peterson criticized lawmakers for rushing the gun
control bill though the Legislature so quickly last year.  He said such
corrective changes wouldn't have been necessary if lawmakers had paid
attention to the bill's content the first time around.

Peterson and Gun Owner's Action League executive director Michael Yacino offered their own correction, which Fargo rejected as too broad.  Yacino, who brought two old guns of his own to the hearing, said he was frustrated because he thought lawmakers didn't understand the issue. 

The committee is expected to approve the bill Wednesday.

 

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