Well, I’m here to tell you that people certainly do read the Recorder, as I found out last month after a column I had written (“Digging into HD 4420”) about the Massachusetts law that’s being proposed by state representative Michael Day of Stoneham sparked more emails and phone calls to me — by friend and foe — than anything else I’ve written in recent memory. So to all of you, thanks for reading the Recorder. Thanks for reading “On The Ridge!” And thanks for at least being polite when we corresponded, either by phone, email, or text, which almost everyone who reached out to me was. But I emphasis the word almost, as some were less cordial than others, and I’ll just leave it there as I respect their opinions and thank them for feeling comfortable enough to reach out to me. However, there is a bit more to say on this issue that will probably lead me right down the same path as before, and I guess I’ll just have to risk it. I can assure you, this will be the last time I touch this topic for quite a while.

I started hunting seriously when I was 18 years old, and I was just “tagging along” with my father, and grandfather, through the woods of the Northeast at a much younger age than that. Early on I was taught to have respect for the land, nature, the wildlife that lives there, and most importantly, the firearms we carried when we hunted. The safety aspect of this became so engrained in me as a young man that by the time I came to Massachusetts in 1974, it was just a part of who I was and what I did when I was hunting. And as I grew older, and began to dive deeper into the culture, learning more and more about firearms every year, I gained an affection for many of those early rifles and shotguns that still sit in my gun cabinets today — safely locked and secured as I write this. So, just so you hear it from me, I have always been a strong supporter of the Second Amendment! And for someone to think that I might not be is simply ludicrous.

That said, what I was trying to convey in that Sept. 7 column was how comprehensive, complex, and arduous it would be to navigate through the myriad of topics that are covered within the 141 pages of HD.4420. How would anyone who doesn’t at least have a law degree ever understand anything that it’s saying about how to achieve common sense gun control laws, while finding real solutions for stopping gun violence? This bill is not the path to solving all the problems that encompass that last sentence, because it just sits there as a massive piece of legislation that cannot be amended or repaired once it’s in place. And, if passed, it will have no positive impact for legal and responsible gun owners in Massachusetts. It will only make lawful gun ownership in this state more difficult than ever before. While the Supreme Court continues its efforts to uphold the Constitution, the Massachusetts Legislature only continues trying to rewrite theirs.

I was recently discussing this, and the column that sparked a hundred flames in Franklin County, with a close friend of mine who lives in Florida, Massachusetts. She knows me well enough to realize that legal and responsible gun ownership is something I would never be against, but she was not surprised to hear the different reactions of people on both sides of the issue. And she made a great point: “People that grow up in rural New England understand that most of us are comfortable with and around guns, but we also want gun control. Where I live my family, and our neighbors, are law-abiding good country folk who enjoy life, and take care of our families. We also hunt and fish. And as gun owners we’re not looking for opportunities to break gun laws. But as people, we know it’s not the same everywhere.” And as she spoke, I wondered to myself if the representative from Stoneham even knew where Florida, Massachusetts was?

The point is this: Americans in both city and rural areas are disgusted and horrified by events in small towns such as Uvalde and Newtown, along with cities like Denver and Chicago, just to name a few. And they all agree that gun control is extremely important, yet immensely inadequate in the face of those who’ve suffered. And from where I sit, it’s time to listen to one another, find where the rubber meets the road, and start making some serious progress!

Joe Judd is a lifelong hunter and sportsman. He is an outdoor writer, seminar speaker, member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association, and a 2019 inductee into the N.E. Turkey Hunting Hall of Fame. Joe is also on the Quaker Boy Game Calls and Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Pro-Staff. He can be reached at jjontheridge@comcast.net