The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that out-of-staters stopped by police here can be charged with violating Massachusetts gun-licensing regulations.
The conclusion comes in two cases involving New Hampshire men found on Massachusetts roads with guns after car crashes - one on his way to work in Massachusetts had an unloaded gun in his pocket and a magazine with 12 rounds, the other had a gun with one bullet, along with several empty magazines, in a duffel bag in his newly crashed car on I-495.
Lower-court judges had dismissed charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition against both men, agreeing that a 2022 ruling by the US Supreme Court that people could pack weapons for personal protection applied to people just passing through the state - even if one was going to his job here.
The state's highest court actually upheld the dismissal of charges against one of the men, because he was arrested a few months before the Supreme Court's 2022 ruling and that Massachusetts gun laws at the time, which said authorities "may issue" gun licenses to people who meet certain basic standards violates that right. The state legislature subsequently changed the law to read authorities "shall issue" licenses to such people - while at the same time continuing to ban weapons of mass destruction.
But in the case of the man going to work, the state's highest court ruled people walking or driving around Massachusetts with guns but without licenses can be charged, that even the Supreme Court decision noted that states have a history of gun regulation - and as proof, the SJC cited an 1830 guide to the "Laws of the State of New-Hampshire" that required gun owners to register with their local police.
Also, the SJC continued, out-of-staters can get a Massachusetts gun license from State Police and that because the standards they have to meet to get one are the same that Massachusetts residents must meet, there is no discrimination or violation of their 14th Amendment right to travel.
Unlike a criminal prohibition on transporting indigent nonresidents into the State ... or a conspiracy to prevent members of certain racial groups from crossing State lines using public highways..., the requirement that nonresidents obtain a license on the same terms as residents before publicly carrying a firearm within the Commonwealth does not "impos[e an] obstacle to [nonresidents'] entry into [the Commonwealth]," interfere with "free ingress and regress to and from neighboring States," or otherwise "directly impair the exercise of the right to free interstate movement."
Nor does the requirement treat non-residents as "unfriendly aliens" rather than "welcome visitors," the court continued.
As emphasized, the substantive eligibility criteria for residents and nonresidents are identical: both must be neither prohibited nor unsuitable within the meaning of [state law]. Because nonresidents must satisfy the same substantive criteria as residents in order to receive a license, [the law]'s requirement that nonresidents be neither prohibited nor unsuitable cannot be said to demean nonresidents as "unfriendly aliens." Simply put, a nonresident "may travel across [the Commonwealth] unimpeded so ong as he abides by the reasonable and minimally burdensome regulations necessary to protect the safety of [the Commonwealth]'s citizens." Johnson v. County of Horry, S.C., 360 Fed. Appx. 466, 471 (4th Cir. 2010) (rejecting right-to-travel challenge to vehicle registration statute both facially and as applied to nonresident).
And, the court continued, there are exceptions to the requirement that out-of-staters get a Massachusetts license:
In particular, unlicensed possession of a pistol or revolver is not unlawful for nonresidents traveling in or through the Commonwealth to participate in a shooting competition or to attend a meeting of firearms collectors, provided they have a valid permit or license issued by a State that denies such licenses to persons with felony or drug convictions. ... Likewise, unlicensed possession of a pistol or revolver is not unlawful for nonresidents traveling for the purpose of hunting, provided they have a valid hunting or sporting license issued by their State of destination. More generally, Federal law protects the interstate transportation of unloaded and properly secured firearms by anyone who is neither federally prohibited from transporting, shipping, or receiving firearms nor locally prohibited from possessing or carrying such firearms in their place of origin or destination. ... Hence, although unlicensed possession of a firearm outside of one's home or place of business is generally unlawful under [state law], that requirement is circumscribed by several commonsense exceptions and limitations that facilitate interstate travel by nonresidents.
In sum, the Commonwealth's nonresident firearm licensing scheme does not violate nonresidents' Fourteenth Amendment right to travel. On the contrary, it embodies "State and local experimentation with reasonable firearms regulations [that] will continue under the Second Amendment" as part and parcel of the "ability to devise solutions to social problems that suit local needs and values."
The court rejected an argument from the man driving to work that Massachusetts' entire gun permitting system was unconstitutional in general, saying he had no right to even make the argument, let alone have the court consider the issue, because only people who have applied for a license and been rejected have the right, or "standing" to make such a legal argument, and he had never applied for a Massachusetts license.
In the case of the man whose gun charges the court dismissed, the justices added:
Our holding today does not, as the Commonwealth suggests, preclude it from requiring firearm licenses for persons within its borders. ... To be consistent with the Second Amendment, the Commonwealth's nonresident firearm licensing scheme cannot vest an official with the discretion to deny a license to a qualified applicant. The defendant was charged under a firearm licensing scheme that did just that. This manner of firearm restriction is no longer permissible.
Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!
Ad:
Comments
Sounds like
By Will LaTulippe
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 11:35am
I should start a business on the NH/MA border (or really, on the border between any civilized state and gun dipshit state) where I store guns in lockers for people so that they can enter the civilized state without violating their laws, then can recover their small (expletive) compensation instruments for the duration of their travel back through the gun dipshit state.
Also what, pray tell, does this jerkoff do for a living where he needs to bring a piece to work?
"If you bring a gun to work again without telling me, I'll stick it up your (expletive) sideways." - Mike Ehrmantraut
MA Gun Laws Work (for the most part)
By tjridesbikes
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 12:05pm
Had these people secured their firearms in a locked trunk or container, there would be no issue. The law specifically states that you can travel through the state with your firearm if you meet this criteria. And, since Bruen in 2022, MA is a "shall issue" state, and even has a permitting process for non-residents, out-of-staters can still carry and be within the bounds of the law. If you want to carry your firearm, live in NH, and work in MA, go through the permitting process.
I can't defend every single gun law MA has on the books. For example, classifying barrel shrouds as an "assault weapon" feature is pretty asinine, and does nothing to protect the safety of the public while just making it harder for law-abiding citizens to own firearms for hunting, personal protection, sporting, etc. Gun registration, large-capacity feeding devices, storage requirements, etc all do more to protect the public than defining "evil features" of certain firearms. I say this as a card-carrying leftist, not some gun-nut.
I'm glad these buffoons are facing consequences. Owning a firearm and carrying it is a serious responsibility, and if you can't follow the law and are careless about it, then maybe you shouldn't be carrying.
“…shall be infringed…”
By Frelmont
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 12:08pm
“…shall be infringed…”
nope, sorry
By Anonymous
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 12:47pm
if this country can "state's rights" my body and what can be done to it, reasonable gun laws can exist in MA.
The constitution overrides
By Anonymous
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 5:36pm
The constitution overrides states laws
And the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution
By adamg
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 8:20pm
The Supreme Court said there was a problem with Massachusetts's gun-licensing law. The state legislature changed the law (by modifying one word) to bring it into compliance with Supreme Court rulings. That's in addition to the Supreme Court declining to overturn all gun restrictions, letting states like Massachusetts continue to ban mass-death weapons, such as AR-15s.
The rulings today are fairly long and full of phrases like "facial challenges," but if you skim them, you'll come to the parts where the SJC explains this in more detail.
The Framers reasonably didn’t
By Frelmont
Wed, 03/12/2025 - 12:15pm
The Framers reasonably didn’t expect arms technology to stagnate. They were electrified by the march of progress and could have in no way expected the Second Amendment to have been infringed, degraded, or even nullified by the march of time.
When the Framers codified every man’s right to pick up arms it meant arms that leveled the playing field. INALIENABLE. The sundry infringements that exist today are in abrogation of tue Constitution because they patently separate man from his rights to be armed on par with the state of arms. Also, an AR-15 is somewhat safer for home defense than pistols in terms of the safety of in other rooms.
Don the Con opened the post-Constitution decade
By Daan
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 8:34pm
Perhaps you're not keeping up with the news. Donald Trump has by example, shown us, American, voting citizens, that the Constitution no longer governs. So an indirect reference to a Scalia run corrupted set of Supremes has no authority. Based on Trump's action the Constitution is no longer the final authority. So Supreme Court interpretations of the Federal Consitution are meaningless.
Since states are nation-states bonded together to form a larger nation and are still run based on their constitutions, the only ruling authority in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a state of the United States, is the Massachusetts Constitution. We have an interpretation from the ruling authority for the Commonwealth and state of Massachusetts.
I challenged you to prove me wrong.
You don't know what you're
By xyz
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 1:04pm
You don't know what you're talking about. As usual. Guess they left this out of your training set too.
Full Text
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 2:12pm
Can’t form and regulate a
By Frelmont
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 2:45pm
Can’t form and regulate a militia should the need arise if the peoples’ access to the Second Amendment is infringed.
SCOTUS has already ruled on
By Anonymous
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 5:38pm
SCOTUS has already ruled on this.
“Article XVII.
By Frelmont
Wed, 03/12/2025 - 11:40am
“Article XVII.
The people have a right to keep and to bear arms for the common defence. And as, in time of peace, armies are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be maintained without the consent of the legislature; and the military power shall always be held in an exact subordination to the civil authority, and be governed by it.”
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/Constitution
Congratulations!
By adamg
Wed, 03/12/2025 - 11:49am
You've just invented the Massachusetts National Guard.
Ha!
By Frelmont
Wed, 03/12/2025 - 3:50pm
Ha!
So I did.
I don’t see anything in that passage though that denies the Second Amendment rights and liberties to all citizens.
A militia, or National Guard springs from the people, who enjoy the liberties and protections of the Constitution. Isn’t a National Guard just a proto-standing army in some respects?
Also, guns don’t kill people, they aren’t the root cause of societal disfunction.
We do treat nonresidents as "unfriendly aliens" in other ways
By Anonymous
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 1:05pm
The $30 fee to park at Walden Pond if your car is from another state sure seems unfriendly to me. It's a 275% surcharge over the $8 resident rate.
I know of no other state that screws nonresidents this much to visit a park. Massachusetts did it during COVID because allowing outsiders into the state was considered a COVID risk, and then they figured, hey, why not keep doing it since there's nothing a nonresident can do about it?
A non-resident can do something about it
By Will LaTulippe
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 9:46pm
Pay $0 and go elsewhere.
What was it previously, $10? It's only worth it if you don't lose more than two-thirds of your out-of-state visitors. They probably didn't, but that's one hell of a short game to play.
State parks are kind of a
By Anonymous
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 10:33pm
State parks are kind of a monopoly. There's no free market competitor pond to keep down the price of Walden Pond. That's one of the reasons why it's the government's moral duty to price things fairly.
Oh, and despite all the hate
By Anonymous
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 10:43pm
Oh, and despite all the hate people have for Robert Moses for keeping poor people out of his parks, anyone from anywhere can park at Jones Beach for $10, or $72 per year. And it's a world class beach.
Meanwhile, someone from Vermont who wants to freeze their ankles at Salisbury Beach State Reservation has to pay $40, and no annual passes allowed.
The problem with Walden Pond
By adamg
Wed, 03/12/2025 - 11:53am
It's a relatively fragile resource that is, of course, known around the world - bringing in more visitors than its limited resources can safely handle. Maybe the high out-of-state fee is one way to deal with that?
A couple things...
By makeshift_vicinity
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 4:49pm
Being a conservative has nothing to do with gun rights or abortion or gay people or fiscal responsibility, and it never has. Here's the real definition of a conservative: a conservative is someone who desperately wants to be loved, and who is desperately against changing themselves - and their resistance to changing is just a tiny bit stronger than their need for love. They demand to be liked and refuse to be likable. That's it. That is what leads them to hardcore religion, and Ayn Rand, and Republicans, and BitCoin, and Joe Rogan, and Elon Musk, and Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin, and every huckster in the world who tells them that they're good little boys and girls and that they don't need to apologize, they just need to fork over their money and power and respectability.
It's a tale as old as time. Five thousand years ago, when the balance tipped too far into conservatism, a city destroyed itself and became a ruin that tourists visit today. If it happens again tomorrow, the same insecure babies will have nuclear weapons. I'd rather get hit by that blessed meteor than listen to a bunch of babies whine at me while they torture me to death.
Your friendly neighborhood libertarian here
By Will LaTulippe
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 10:26pm
The fire department example isn't quite right. I ask for a fire department, I pay for the fire department, I get firefighting. It's not a grievance if I get what I pay for.
The problem with government is when it answers questions that I didn't ask. I didn't say to the feds "Hey, fire the stewards of our national parks without also selling the land back to the states", because that's just (expletive) idiotic.
I hope you're not in my neighborhood, because
By makeshift_vicinity
Tue, 03/11/2025 - 11:35pm
it doesn't matter whether you're smart enough to ask for a fire department or not - you are going to pay for it and you'd better like it. Like so many things in our society, it's not just about you. If people were allowed to opt out of fire department payments and services, some of the them would (you wouldn't, good for you, I'll call the trophy shop to start work on your award right away), and then some of their houses would catch fire and go unfought, and then their neighbors' houses would burn to the ground. Fires have to be fought regardless, and it's not enough to blame the people (like many of your libertarian friends) who wouldn't do their part and try to get redress after the damage is done. The people who opted out of protecting their own homes probably can't cover the losses, and no amount of money replaces lost lives and possessions that didn't come from IKEA.
So no one cares if you asked for the fire department or not, least of all me, and your theory is dumb. Libertarianism is one of the most embarrassing political ideas in the USA, and the USA has Republicans. If you want to do something useful, go talk to the Libertarian party that just rolled over and started licking the dirt off Donald Trump's boots, try to figure out where the courage of their convictions suddenly disappeared to.
Like I said: a conservative is someone who desperately wants to be loved, and who is desperately against changing themselves - and their resistance to changing is just a tiny bit stronger than their need for love. You want me to consider you friendly, and I assume you don't want people like me to think that libertarianism is a childish sideshow. Well, I don't think you're friendly, and I do think libertarianism is a childish sideshow, and I've explained why. So your choices are:
Elon Musk had the same choice when he tried to make nerds admire him for being an amazing computer game player. He wasn't an amazing computer game player, so nerds didn't admire him for that. He could've resigned himself to not having the nerds' admiration and gone on being the richest man in the world. Or he could've done what everyone else does when they want nerd cred and gotten good at computer games to the best of his ability. But Elon's resistance to change - his resistance to admitting his gamer limitations and trying to get better - was just a little bit stronger than his desperate need to be loved by nerds. So he cheated, at a game I had never heard of, to try to make me like him without him actually being likable.
I gave the ideas of libertarianism a chance when I was a young man, and I was most receptive to the appeal of narcissistic selfishness. And then I re-examined my assumptions and was open to change, and change I did. This earned me the respect and admiration of people that I respect and admire. You have the same choice, just as I did, just as Elon did, just as everyone does.
Cool story
By Will LaTulippe
Wed, 03/12/2025 - 9:46am
Bro
Libertarianism is an
By xyz
Wed, 03/12/2025 - 10:46am
Libertarianism is an intellectually vacuous and morally bankrupt philosophy. It also has a bad side
Always thought it was an
By Frelmont
Wed, 03/12/2025 - 2:23pm
Always thought it was an oxymoron. One can only aspire to be a Libertarian.
Even in an open-carry state...
By Don't Panic
Wed, 03/12/2025 - 12:41am
Take Texas for example: In Texas, individuals 21 years of age or older who are not otherwise prohibited by law can carry a handgun openly or concealed without a license. But they still will issue you a license to carry if you request one.
While a license is no longer required to carry a handgun in Texas license to carry holders receive some advantages, such as being able to carry firearms in some places where unlicensed carry is not allowed.
I'm willing to bet New Hampshire does the same thing.
Add comment