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Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette, left, and State Rep. Harold P. Naughton Jr., chairman of the Joint Committee of Public Safety and Homeland Security listen during a gun violence tour stop at the Chicopee Public Library on Friday.

(Dave Roback / The Republican)

CHICOPEE - State Rep. Harold P. Naughton Jr. said Friday crafting a comprehensive bill updating Massachusetts gun statutes means "we have quite a balancing job ahead of us."

Naughton, House chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, was at Chicopee Public Library as part of his "gun violence listening tour."

He spoke earlier in the day with officials of the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow, and then spent two hours talking with workers at Smith & Wesson who count on the gun manufacturer for their livelihood.

Naughton said 65 pieces of legislation were filed in the wake of the tragic elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn.



He said he hopes a comprehensive piece of legislation can be written by September.

Naughton said there will be five regional hearings scheduled, including one in Springfield.

Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said that changing gun laws in the state is “a very controversial issue” which is not easily resolved.

Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno told Naughton police in his city often find guns used in gun violence have been stolen in housebreaks from people who own them legally.

Deputy Springfield Police Chief William C. Cochrane said when he started on the force 30 years ago, “a gun call - shots fired - was a rare occurrence. "

“Now it’s become a common occurrence,” he said.

Cochrane said there are thousands of ShotSpotter alerts a year, and he is surprised that often no one calls 911 to report shorts fired. Both he and Sarno said they believed apathy was the reason people hear gunshots but don't call police.

Sarno and Cochrane said a major problem for Springfield is pipelines of people bringing guns in from states such as South Carolina and Vermont, where gun laws are less strict.

Cochrane said he has never seen the demand for licenses to carry and firearms identification cards so high.

He said Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet is very strict, and a person must prove he or she needs a gun for personal protection.

Chicopee Police Chief Thomas G. Charette said, “We don’t have a lot of gun violence in the city of Chicopee.”

He told Naughton that any discussion of gun legislation should have representatives of the state police chiefs organization "at the table."



Charette said too often laws are passed which affect policing, but police are not allowed to give input into the changes.

Bissonnette said Carlos A. Gonzalez-Laguer, the man involved in a violent shoot-out with police in Chicopee, was a convicted felon who was the subject of a restraining order. Last year, a heavily-armed Gonzalez-Laguer took his former girlfriend and her 8-year-old son as hostages. Over two hours, the man fired an estimated 70 bullets into downtown Chicopee from an apartment on West Street.

Bissonnette said Gonzalez-Laguer was a violent person who probably should have been in prison or be tracked by GPS.

Gonzalez-Laguer committed suicide by shooting himself in the head after he had been struck at least twice by bullets fired by police in April 2012.