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Thursday, March 28, 2024

State Rep. Marjorie Decker.

A town hall forum on gun violence has been called for Wednesday by state Rep. Marjorie Decker, including a panel discussion with experts and high school students from Cambridge and Somerville.

The forum will discuss a gun control bill pending in the Legislature, a House bill on “Extreme Risk Protection Orders,” that would act like a restraining order in allowing judges to hear family requests to have guns taken away temporarily from someone feared to be dangerous to themselves or others.

“Massachusetts has the opportunity to build upon its national reputation for strict gun laws by taking a proactive stance in the interest of children,” Decker said.

The panelists are expected to include John Rosenthal, co-founder of Stop Handgun Violence, which advocated for the Massachusetts Gun Control Act of 1998, one of the most comprehensive pieces of U.S. gun legislation; Rachel Rodrigues, interim executive director of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, founders of the Mother’s Day Walk for Peace in Boston; and Dr. James Barrett, a psychiatrist at the Cambridge Health Alliance and an expert in child and adolescent mental health, school safety and juvenile justice. Barrett works at the Teen Health Center at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.

Student leaders from Cambridge and Somerville high schools will speak about their experiences and offer proposals for next steps, according to Decker’s office.

The forum is scheduled for 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Citywide Senior Center, 806 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square.


This post took significant amounts of material from a press release.