Mass. Someone steals your firearm, lose your right to carry

[Bruenor]

Govt. fought hard to ensure their ability to deny an individuals rights.
https://newbostonpost.com/2019/04/19/le ... ownership/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Chief of Police of Taunton vs. Paul N. Caras.

A state appeals court has upheld the latitude of local police chiefs to decide who can and can’t carry a handgun in Massachusetts, overturning two lower-court judges who found that a police chief in Taunton acted unreasonably when he revoked a license to carry from a man whose gun was stolen from his car.

Paul Caras, then 76, picked up his drug-addicted grandson one day in January 2017 to take him to Rhode Island. On the way, he made a brief stop at his home, leaving his grandson in the car with Caras’s Sig Sauer P232 handgun in the unlocked glove compartment. He had the gun in the car because he had made several trips to the bank that day.

After he dropped his grandson off, Caras realized the gun was missing. He figured his grandson had taken it and might pawn it to get money to buy drugs, so he looked for him, and when he couldn’t find him he called police in East Providence (where he had left him) and in Taunton (where he lives).

Later that day police in Rhode Island found the grandson, who still had the gun, and arrested him.

The next day, a police captain in Taunton, acting under the authority of the city’s police chief, revoked Caras’s license to carry, saying he had created a public safety risk by enabling his grandson steal the gun.

A district court judge sided with the gun owner, saying police acted unreasonably by revoking Caras’s license. The city appealed to Superior Court, where a judge upheld the district court’s decision.

But the Massachusetts Appeals Court disagreed.

Caras was not prosecuted in the theft of his gun, but the appeals court said he might have been, under a portion of state law that requires gun owners to keep firearms “secured in a locked container or equipped with a tamper-resistant mechanical lock or other safety device.”

More evidence that secure storage laws aren't about safety, but rather another club law enforcement can use to bludgeon gun owners.

[djthomas]

This seems a bit more complicated than the headline would indicate. I'd feel differently if some random dirtbag broke into his unattended vehicle and stole the gun.

In this case gramps knowingly left his firearm unattended in a vehicle where the sole occupant was a person who was federally prohibited by virtue of being a drug addict. Furthermore, presumably the kid was in the passenger seat and had more control over the firearm than its owner throughout the various trips since it was in the glove compartment right in front of him. Safe storage law or not I'd argue grandpa ran right up to, if not over the line of committing a federal felony as well.

[M-Quigley]

This seems a bit more complicated than the headline would indicate. I'd feel differently if some random dirtbag broke into his unattended vehicle and stole the gun.

Although I don't think he should've lost his concealed carry license merely over some officials discretion (simply because I don't think those licenses should be "may issue" in the first place but that's another issue) I agree with djthomas. I have a distant relative that is a non violent convicted felon and a drug addict. If I were giving them a ride in my car there is no way I would leave an unsecured firearm in the car with him alone. Whether I trust him to not steal it or use it isn't even the point.

[Brian D.]

Blinded by the fact it's his beloved grandson, to the point of overlooking incident after incident of dirtbag, criminal behavior from the kid. You can bet the little hophead has been boosting cash and pawnable merchandise from Grampy's house, too.

Well, that's something we saw a good bit of my last few years in the fire/EMS racket, anyway.

[machinegunkelly]

Yeah you guys are right, granpa is to blame.
Just like a women wearing a low cut blouse in the wrong part of town is at fault for being raped.
Geesh no wonder we lose more than is gained.
MGK

[djthomas]

It's not a criminal offense for a woman to wear a low cut blouse. It is a criminal offense to allow a prohibited person to be in possession of your firearms.

Not saying I agree with the decision to revoke his license, but whether the kid stole the gun or not, grandpa broke a federal law intended to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them.

And Brian - yes it's sad, I've seen many cases like you describe. Thankfully the prosecutors around here are starting to see it for what it is: elder abuse.

[WestonDon]

The thing I disagree with the most about the whole prohibited person concept is the reliance on non criminals to prevent the prohibited person from committing the crime of possessing a firearm. I wonder if dirtbag ran off with gramps car if they would revoke gramps driver license. After all that could be a 2000 lb weapon. Yea, gramps should of been more careful. But then if dirtbag grandson is that dangerous maybe he shouldn't be running around loose anyway.