Gun Permits Drop 25% in Bay State (MA)

[Hoppy590]

i count as 2 people have both a Class A LTC and an FID.

 

[StuckInMA]

Why both? Just an overlap in expiration dates?

 

[TEDDY]

mass gun stats

the truth of the Mass licensing:there were 1,500,000 licensed gun owners in Mass in 2000.there are now about 200,000.most were FID holders with Life time permits.check the numbers GOAL.org.most owners never saw the new law put in place in 1998 by chyral jacks[wrong spelling]so they now are unlicensed criminals.also the records are so bad they(the police)cant go after these unlicensed violators.hee hee any one that wants to get rid of a gun should go to a dealer who will gladly buy it.as to how many guns are in Mass?
remember there were many manufacteries in the past in Mass.when you just payed and walked away.so there are no records of most guns befor 1968.
as one born in Malden Mass and lived there till 2000 I do know the laws.

endowment NRA
LIFE member USRA
LIFE member GOAL
senior life HPRC Hopedale Mass
:banghead:

 

[Hoppy590]

overlap in dates. but plan to keep both active. its easy for them to refuse to reissue your LTC. its harder for them to refuse your FID. that way should something happen my handguns and hi caps would be gifted to my father in the grace period. and i could keep my long guns.

also. just because i can. and if it makes me look like 2 people instead of 1 in statistics, all the better.

 

[phantomak47]

I grew up on the Cape, got a Class A when I turned 21 and left after college. I can count on one hand how many people I went to high School are still in MA. There has already been a huge mass exodus of people out of Ma because of the cost of living, my father who is a builder couldnt even build me a house at cost that I could afford.


I love Ma and found lots of good gun people there, but it isnt a gun friendly state although its not AS bad as people make out. I do enjoy the ability to go to walmart here in Texas and buy a new gun or ammo with out being hassled.

 

[cbsbyte]

here has already been a huge mass exodus of people out of Ma because of the cost of living, my father who is a builder couldnt even build me a house at cost that I could afford.

I am a born and bread Mass Yankee. I find it odd that you find the cost of living is so high when in fact the cost of living is much less in Mass than the rest of New England, NY, NJ, Maryland and a dozen other states. The only issue I have with the state are the gun laws, besides that I love living here.

 

[phantomak47]

My house in Texas that I paid $135,000 would cost easily $600,000 on Cape Cod, if I were to sell it. Houses that we built sold for $189,900 in 2001 now are on the market by their owners for well over $450,000, I would not call that affordable. That along with the fact that Mass is having a population Decrease, is clear evidence that its a very expensive place to live. One of my friends almost moved to Houston to join the local police force and would have made the same money as he would have on the Cape, he recently bought a 900 sq. ft condo for $235,000. Dont get me wrong I love Mass, but its a very expensive place to live.

 

[obxned]

I could rent a U-Haul and move some place sane for what those stinkn' permits would cost. This is absolutely in violation of the 2nd.

 

[Kilgor]

So the chief of police can take away someone's second amendment rights on a whim or because of a lost firearm?

 

[cbsbyte]

My house in Texas that I paid $135,000 would cost easily $600,000 on Cape Cod, if I were to sell it. Houses that we built sold for $189,900 in 2001 now are on the market by their owners for well over $450,000, I would not call that affordable. That along with the fact that Mass is having a population Decrease, is clear evidence that its a very expensive place to live. One of my friends almost moved to Houston to join the local police force and would have made the same money as he would have on the Cape, he recently bought a 900 sq. ft condo for $235,000. Dont get me wrong I love Mass, but its a very expensive place to live.

Well the cape is well the cape and probably the most expensive area to live in the state. You have to be a millionaire to live there. There are probably plenty of areas in Texas which are as expensive as the Cape. The Western side of the state is much more reasonable, than the metro Boston and Cape regions of the state.

Here is a 2005 Money report which ranks each state by overall tax burden. Mass comes out to at 32. Texas is 43. Mass is not nearly bad as many try to make it out to be hardly Taxachusetts.

http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/taxesbystate2005/index.html

 

[Juna]

I could rent a U-Haul and move some place sane for what those stinkn' permits would cost.

gee, I wonder why they declined...

"It now costs $100 for a six-year license for a handgun, shotgun, or rifle. It costs $25 for a six-year permit for a chemical repellent, with no renewal fee. A lifetime permit for a rifle used to cost $2. It can take about two months to get a license."

Unfortunately, that's the same here in MI. You have to pay around $150 to take the basic pistol safety class that allows you to apply for a CPL. Then the CPL itself costs $105 and takes up to a couple months to get processed after they fingerprint you.

MI isn't the worst state for firearms laws, but it certainly isn't the best. I guess I'd put it somewhere in the middle.

 

[Hoppy590]

W. MA! the 413. the best side of the state. with aread that could make west virginia jelous with its remote, redneckness

 

[Zoogster]

the best side of the state. with aread that could make west virginia jelous with its remote, redneckness

Could say the same about Eastern and parts of Northern CA, it is still subject to the same liberal anti gun laws however, and you will still have to work around said laws or be in violation whether they were made by anti gunners with the inner city streets in mind or not.

 

[cbsbyte]

W. MA! the 413. the best side of the state. with aread that could make west virginia jelous with its remote, redneckness

Really, could have fooled me since I live near Springfield. Doubt there are that many rednecks in this area. There seem to many professional business people. Berkshire county is nothing more than a second home for rich New Yorkers. I would hardly call it redneck or anything remotely like W Virginia.

 

[StuckInMA]

Hoppy590

overlap in dates. but plan to keep both active. its easy for them to refuse to reissue your LTC. its harder for them to refuse your FID. that way should something happen my handguns and hi caps would be gifted to my father in the grace period. and i could keep my long guns.

Never looked at it that way. I just figured any disqualifications for an LTC would roll over to your FID.

Kilgor

So the chief of police can take away someone's second amendment rights on a whim or because of a lost firearm?

The way it was explained to me is in a round about way, yes. While the Chief isn't the only person involved he is one of the most important because he's on the local level and has final say over what goes on in his city/town by law. This starts from day 1. He can deny your application, put restrictions on it and just make the whole process a pain in the rear.

GOAL has gone to battle for gun owners all over the state due to Chief's that decided to do what they wanted for whatever reason they wanted. All the more reason to become a member if you live in MA.

We do have a firearms review board for problems that arise but I'm not up to speed on any decisions they've made to be honest with you.

 

[scubie02]

my impression of MA when I lived there and in southern NH and worked there was that western MA was somewhat of a different demographic than the Boston/eastern part, somewhat like upstate and downstate ny. The average person I met when I worked outside Boston was pretty anti-gun and fairly condescending. I remember one guy when I was looking at apartments asking me where I was moving from, and when I said "albany, NY" he actually smugly said "I think you'll find we're a bit more civilized, here." I said I didn't know what his definition of "civilized" was, but that I had arrived in town about 11 the night before and couldn't find a single place open to buy something to eat, whereas even most small towns in NY would tend to at the least have a convenience store or several open 24hrs. I also remember most of my co-workers reacting in horror when I said I was moving to southern NH and commuting down--"you know it actually says "Live Free or Die" on their license plates" said one horrified co-worker, and when I said yeah, that's why I like it, I think I had "thinks NH is a good thing" added to "is from NY" and "went to public university" under negative attributes in my personnel folder haha.

 

[thebigc]

there are some of us younger shooters in ma im 18 and had my fid since i was 15 and know at least 3 pepole my age in the arlington/ cambridge area that have thier permits. i hope that thier are at least 10x the ammount of pepole with no permits and unregisterd guns useing thier rights in spite of the bastards in this state.

 

[Dannavyret]

Maybe it's because the popullation is bleeding out?

 

[30 cal slob]

i love everything about Mass - except the silly gun laws.

there is an interesting demographic in the Bay State. i think the biggest industry is higher education. thus, you have a dynamic, constantly churning population (college and grad school students). particularly near Boston.

i wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these students (who probably lean on the "progressive" side of the political spectrum) end up sticking around and calling Mass home. for others, Boston strikes some as too provincial of a small town and they move on to more exciting venues ... like NYC.

a note on the cost of living. i think there are three drivers here - the presence of very large financial services firms (mutual funds and hedge funds in Boston) with well-paid professionals, very wealthy international folk (parents who buy condos and houses for their kids who are in school, for example) and out of staters (NY, NJ, CT, etc) who buy summer vacation homes (Berkshires, Cape Cod & the islands), etc.

my sense is that this is a demographic that is not very gun-friendly (younger, urban folk).

one only needs to take a 45 minute drive north of Boston to be in free territory (NH) - so it's easy to see why a pro-gun native might move out. $10 for a NH concealed weapons permit (vs. several hundred for a Mass FID card and LTC, which may or may not be class A depending on the whim of the Chief) and all the NFA toys you can afford. no wonder there are fewer permits.

 

[oldie]

Mass A CHOO setts

I left - Glad to get out. This state is like big daddy looking over your shoulder. Nobody has to take responsibility for themselves, they let the politicians do that for them.

 

[armoredman]

How incredibly stupid. Two main possibilities exist here:

1. 25% of the guns in the state have been somehow caused to disappear from the face of the earth.

2. 25% of gun owners are ignoring an oppressive state government.

That explains all the people with Boston accents showing up. No joke. Why the heck you guys put up with this garbage is beyond me. We have no license to buy/carry openly, a shall issue 5 year CCW permit, and no restrictions on magazine capacity/ammo/purchase frequency/AWB/number or type of weapons carried on a CCW permit, or openly without a permit, as is legal. We don't make people wait any longer than the background check, no FOID, LTC, ABC, just BCBW...background check, buy, walk out.Sheesh, we have FREE public ranges around here, and aDemocratic governor that named a public range, Ben Avery, a "Jewel ofthe State"!
Lotsa room, no hurricanes, no Kennedys.

 

[cbsbyte]

That explains all the people with Boston accents showing up.

It does not look good for the states future if people from the Boston area are moving into your area. I bet that is why Arizona is becoming more Democrat controlled. People with from the Boston area, are more than likely to be urban progressives.

 

[Hoppy590]

Never looked at it that way. I just figured any disqualifications for an LTC would roll over to your FID.

i didnt say disqualification. i said refusal to reissue. aka the police chief decides he doesnt like me for some trivial reason and wont issue an LTC. he has less sway with an FID than an LTC

Really, could have fooled me since I live near Springfield. Doubt there are that many rednecks in this area. There seem to many professional business people. Berkshire county is nothing more than a second home for rich New Yorkers. I would hardly call it redneck or anything remotely like W Virginia.

head north. places like Savoy are very remote, very rural. maybe redneck is a bit of a stretch, but definatly NOT like springfield or anywhere east

Franklin and Hampshire have some real out of the way places. unfortunatly the rich liberals are coming to enlighten us all to the wonders of sushi, and granola. theve got a foot hold in amherst already.

 

[willbrink]

"So the chief of police can take away someone's second amendment rights on a whim or because of a lost firearm?"

No, he can do it because he simply does not like you. I'm not kidding either. It's up to the chief in each town, and if he decides he does not think you, or anyone else, should not have a gun (as is the case in many towns in MA) you are generally screwed. You can fight in court, and there is now some other options, but I know people who had CCW for decades that the cheif in their town refused to re issue to them for no other reason than (1) was a new cheif who dodnt think people should be allowed to have a CCW, (2) had some minor reason they didnt like each other (3) other minor reasons that should not = losing Second Amend rights.

Now, an actual loss of CCW rights while your CCW is valid might be (though I am not sure) more trouble for them to remove, vs just refusing to re issue you your CCW when the date is up. So, in MA is very much town by town and on another forum we have towns listed in green, red, and blue. Before I moved to where I am, I made sure to check it was a "green" town, or I would not have come here.

If not for the cost of living, the traffic, the gun laws, the weather, the taxes, and the mass-holes, it would be a great state to live in!

 

[Kilgor]

Seems that this system violates the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment in addition to the obvious 2nd amendment violation.