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Article on Boston gun law enforcement
From the Boston Herald comes an interesting article on enforcement of their gun laws. It begins by sounding like a call for still more (i.e., the mandatory one year sentence only applies if the person carries outside the house without a permit) but ends with the argument that authorities are not enforcing the existing laws -- e.g., since possession of an illegal gun in the home is "only" subject to a max of two years imprisonment, they often don't bother charging it or seeking the two years, even in major drug cases.
(I thought the case they cited at the outset rather strange ... three guys caught with two kilos of coke and a full auto AK-47, and the article says the only gun charge could be a two year misdemeanor (they have them in some states). Assuming the state law says nothing about full auto (and this being Massachusetts, that's hard to believe), they'd have only to turn him over to the feds. The federal penalty for unlicensed full auto is up to ten years).
Comments
I didn't get the impression that the AK was necessarily full-auto. The media frequently misuses the term "machine gun".
In this instance the rifle could have been semi-automatic, hence the misdemeanor. Especially if it will lead to more draconian firearms laws.
Long time reader. First time commenter. Thanks for your work on this site.
Posted by: Umbaga at December 20, 2005 10:41 AM