No, Bear, you got it backwards. If you are a criminal, Massachusetts doesn't have restrictive gun laws--you don't follow them anyway! It's the law-abiding citizens who must pay $100, go through 2 background checks, be photographed and fingerprinted (to real criminals this is called BOOKING), and wait at least 6 weeks. Or one can save some time and money by simply visiting a shady part of Dorchester or Roxbury (I'm not kidding.).
It is perfectly legal to own a machine gun in MA--if your police chief likes you and decides to grant you a permit for one.
Misty, I don't think the Founding Fathers would appreciate you pulling words out of their mouths. You have no way of telling what they were
meant by their wording.
That particular FBI statistic is not credible. Too many variables, inclusions, and exclusions (vague). Not credible whatsoever.
Now, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in 1976 when the DC handgun ban (which was recently ruled unconstitutional) was put into place, the violent gun-related homicide rate rose TWO HUNDRED percent between then and 2001.
On accidents, read this. And note Gary Kleck is a renowned (very liberal) criminologist. Source of statistics is the National Safety Council.
http://guncite.com/gun_control_gcgvacci.html