Former Massachusetts state police sergeant found guilty of taking bribes to pass commercial drivers [More]
Lotta “Only Ones” posts today, no? Honest, I don’t go looking for these.
[Via Michael G]
As long as we’re talking about “Only Ones” in Massachussetts, WarOnGuns Correspondent Edmund M sends a reminder of our place:
https://www.mass.gov/how-to/apply-for-a-firearms-license
In a comment to article on boston.com on fraud within a Boston NPO, a reader recommended that others apply for a Massachusetts License to Carry Firearms (LTC) so that they could better exercise their right to self defense. A Massachusetts LTC is required to purchase or possess a firearm unless the gun owner is in transit through the state and has the firearm and ammo in a locked enclosure. Stop and stay? Felony arrest for possession of a firearm without a valid LTC with a possible mandatory one year minimum incarceration if found guilty. What is not obvious from the instructions is that a resident LTC is multi year while a nonresident LTC is for one year only. As a former Massachusetts resident who possessed and renewed a resident LTC several times, I know that that the right to keep and bear arms is not a right but a heavily taxed privilege with a higher rate of taxation for nonresidents. Even resident retired LEO possessors of a LEOSA issued license pay a tax, although at a discounted rate compared to other residents.
My friends and family in Massachusetts do not understand why I minimize my visits. Short of a SCOTUS decision that all licensing schemes by the various states are unconstitutional, null and void, I await Federal reciprocity legislation but fully expect Democrat Party controlled Massachusetts to pass some reactionary measures.
The government maintained site is defective as it does not specify that non-resident licenses are for one year only.
I do not recall that the U.S. Constitution with the Bill of Rights has so many categories for rights that in reality are taxable privileges at various rates that the government may or may not dispense once you pay the non-refundable tax. As a right, there should not be taxation or multiple categories of taxation. The majority of states already are in alignment with this by not requiring state or Commonwealth issued licenses or permits.
$100 per year is ornerous and is another argument for passage of reciprocity legislation at worst or for the SCOTUS to decide that all firearm licensing and permitting schemes are unconstitutional and thus null and void.
If any state or Commonwealth imposed these type of conditions, restrictions and fees before citizens were allowed to vote then there would be vigorous and loud opposition.
Here’s a thought. Why not replace those pictures with pictures of law abiding citizens cut down “by mistake” by ATF agents.
Remind them daily of THAT little side effect of their work!
While we’re at it, issue each one of them a bracelet engraved with the name of one of the ATF’s victims like the once fashionable POW/MIA bracelets and make it a required part of their duty uniform.
“My friends and family in Massachusetts do not understand why I minimize my visits.”
I revisited New England for the first and last time for a 2019 school reunion, after emigrating in 2000. “Staying legal” required “silent running” stretches through lower IL, the wasp-waist of Hancock MD, and all of upstate NY into VT; a protracted detour through PA, total avoidance of NJ and NYC, and a campground base in NH. I will never return, short of National Reciprocity/Constitutional Carry, and probably not even then.
My Dad’s an over the road trucker. The real farce, is the mandatory physicals, required to renew the your CDL. The doctor checks to make sure you’re breathing. If you are, you pass. Everyone knows the physicals are farce, and generally performed by shady doctors in hole in the wall clinics. Once they even sent my Dad to a chiropractor for his physical. Make that make sense.
The doctors are paid by the trucking companies. So naturally they have an incentive to pass as many drivers as possible.