LONGMEADOW – The May 10 Annual Town Meeting warrant features several citizen petition articles, three of which call for creating additional gun bylaws.

Article 27 calls for creating a $300 fine for anyone on town property in possession of a firearm, rifle, or shotgun. Article 28 would require gun owners to provide a written description of each firearm that person possess to the Police Department, including the serial number, make, model, and caliber of their firearms. Article 29 calls for an assault weapon ban. Anyone found in possession of an assault weapon would be charged a $300 fine each day the weaponry is within the town.

Selectman Alex Grant, the petitioner of the gun regulation bylaws, told Reminder Publications he believes the articles are a “step towards reasonable regulations of guns” and increased safety in Longmeadow.

“We talk about these mass killings, [but] what’s killing even more people are the deaths that occur one at a time from suicides and accidents and domestic disputes that escalate and just neighborhood disagreements that might have ended up in a fist fight that turned into a shooting incident,” he noted.

He continued, “I just think that there’s things we can do to make our town safer and not just that, but to advance the debate that we’re having in this country right now about what kind of gun control we should have. Unfortunately, what happens is the minute somebody starts talking about gun control the opponents start shouting everybody down and [proponents of gun regulations] feel like they can’t say anything. I want to try to change that.”

Grant said he believes discussions of gun control on the local level are important.

“We’ve had paralysis at other levels of government,” he added. “What’s amazing about town government is that the people are the legislators. These opponents of gun control; they can’t shut down every Town Meeting or every town government because the people are ultimately going to decide.”

He said there has been a large surge in firearms purchase throughout the state in recent years, which is also occurring in Longmeadow.

“That feeling of helplessness; what I’m trying to do is transform it from, ‘Let’s get a gun, to, ‘Let’s not be helpless and try to change the laws,’” Grant said.

Article 30, which calls for establishing a speed limit of 20 miles per hour on residential side streets, was spearheaded by Grant’s 10-year-old daughter Ada and  her  friend Cecilia Allentuck. The lead petitioner of the article is Gianna Allentuck, Cecilia’s mother.

Grant said he believes many people speed down side streets as the town experiences more cut through traffic.

He added former Center Elementary School student Matthew Long, who was killed by a motor vehicle years prior, was one of the inspirations behind the idea to create the citizen petition.

Article 26 – another citizen petition – calls for retaining Quinnehtuck Road as a through street. Previously, the Select Board chose to close the road due to increased cut through traffic on the street.

Town Manager Stephen Crane said he believes if the article passes, the selectmen have the authority to close the road again.

Article 31 calls for protecting Wolf Swamp Field for recreational use only.

A portion of Wolf Swamp has been proposed as a potential site for a new Department of Public Works (DPW) facility. In order to approve the site for the DPW project, the Park Board would need to unanimously endorse the use for the site and Town Meeting followed by legislative approval would be required as well.

Crane called the citizen petition “nonbinding” because it wouldn’t preclude the Select Board from making a decision on a top site.

He noted resident Tom O’Brien is the petitioner for the article.

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