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« Insight from Canada | Main | Mayor Against Illegal Guns pleads guilty to illegal gun carry »

Massachusetts, Brady, and reasonable gun laws

Posted by David Hardy · 21 November 2006 09:11 AM

Let's see... Massachusetts has police permit requirements for obtaining any guns, including rifles, storage requirements, effectively a long waiting period (it takes weeks to get the permit), a year's mandatory imprisonment for first-offense carrying without a permit or with an expired permit, limits on large magazines, etc., etc.

But Brady Campaign hasn't folded its tent there and proclaimed it's gotten enough. Instead, it's calling for more.

"Dan Vice, a staff attorney with the Brady Campaign, which advocates for gun control, said Massachusetts needs to establish a statewide registry of legally owned guns. He also urged the state to restrict gun purchases to one per month.

"The good news is Massachusetts has been a model for the nation, but much more can be done," he said. "

UPDATE: I should have said that carrying with an expired permit can land you in jail for a year. The first prosecution under the law as I recall, back in the 70s, was of a fellow who had a carrying permit, but had let it expire. He decided to pawn the gun, in order to buy a class ring, and got stopped on the drive, with the firearm in plain view and the permit expired. He got the year in jail.

· State legislation

7 Comments

Jim | November 21, 2006 9:26 AM

They go after MA because it's an easy target, especially with the new governor-elect and the Democrat dominate legislature. As long as the people of MA allow themselves to be victimized, they will be.

BobG | November 21, 2006 10:04 AM

Massachusetts is been a model for the nation?
A model of what, idiotic bureaucracy?

Bitter | November 21, 2006 10:09 AM

Few actual criminals do their "mandatory" year for possession. However, just to clarify, the expired permit won't land you in jail. It can be used as cause to never issue the higher level licenses again, but it won't send someone to jail.

Nylarthotep | November 21, 2006 12:17 PM

The no permit thing has terrorized NH citizens for a long time. Most would rather risk death than be forced thru a detour that goes thru any part of Massachussets.

Ken | November 21, 2006 12:56 PM

Actually, no real criminals do the "mandatory" one year. If they're convicted and sentenced for a felony, they have to do the time in a state prison. The one year for possession has to be done in a county jail; it can't be added onto their prison time, and there's no provision that would allow someone to be transferred from one system to the other after serving a sentence. The result is that you only do the one year if it's the only thing your charged and/or convicted for. Sort of a cross between Chinatown and Catch-22.

Tom | November 21, 2006 7:02 PM

This doesn't surprise me considering it's MASS. Better yet, according to this mayor in MASS, he things that guns are WMDs.

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/11-06/11-21-06/01local.htm

John in Mass | November 27, 2006 5:50 PM

As we well know, if they don't get the results they expected, it's not that the philosophy was wrong... they just need to try HARDER.