Drizzt
Member
No longer gun shy
By Monica Deady/ Staff Writer
Thursday, July 28, 2005
A Brookline Army reservist who was initially denied a gun license by Brookline Police can head to target practice after all.
Army Specialist David Bardfield received word last week that the police will issue him the target practice license he had applied for in January, his lawyer, Keith Langer, confirmed.
Bardfield, who has been in the Army for two years and has carried a gun while on duty, was initially told he could not have a license in Brookline because of an incident with police that occurred when he was 14, even though he was not arrested and never charged with a crime.
"Logic and fairness finally prevailed," Langer said.
Langer said Bardfield will go to the police station in the next few weeks to sign the license, and will receive it then. As soon as that process is completed, Bardfield will be able to have a weapon in Brookline.
Earlier this month, Brookline police told Bardfield's lawyer that "additional material" was necessary for the license. This week, Langer said it was later determined that that "material" was not necessary. He refused to elaborate on what police thought to be missing, but said he and Bardfield did not provide anything to supplement the original application.
Bardfield, 28, waited for four months for the town to grant him a license to participate in target practice to help him sharpen his skills for the Army reserves, where he is a military police officer.
After waiting for four months, Bardfield said he called the Police Department and was told he was being denied his license because of an incident that occurred when he was 14 years old.
In the early 1990s, he was picked up by police near Larz Anderson Park because a boy he was with had a loaded BB gun and aimed it at a passing car, Bardfield said. Although Bardfield was not arrested, police said the boy with the BB gun later became a sex offender. They told Bardfield his license would be denied "on the grounds I associate myself with felons," Bardfield said.
In the past, others have spoken out about the Brookline Police Department and its practices in issuing gun licenses. U.S. Army Captain Kang Lu, a Brookline resident, has a suit pending against the department and Police Chief Dan O'Leary because he too has been denied the right to carry a weapon.
In Brookline, according to statistics the TAB collected, there is one gun license for every 250 people. In Newton, there is one license for every 99 residents.
Neither Police Chief Daniel O'Leary nor Bardfield could be immediately reached for comment.
http://www2.townonline.com/brookline/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=294642&format=&page=2
Ack... a license to just practice?
By Monica Deady/ Staff Writer
Thursday, July 28, 2005
A Brookline Army reservist who was initially denied a gun license by Brookline Police can head to target practice after all.
Army Specialist David Bardfield received word last week that the police will issue him the target practice license he had applied for in January, his lawyer, Keith Langer, confirmed.
Bardfield, who has been in the Army for two years and has carried a gun while on duty, was initially told he could not have a license in Brookline because of an incident with police that occurred when he was 14, even though he was not arrested and never charged with a crime.
"Logic and fairness finally prevailed," Langer said.
Langer said Bardfield will go to the police station in the next few weeks to sign the license, and will receive it then. As soon as that process is completed, Bardfield will be able to have a weapon in Brookline.
Earlier this month, Brookline police told Bardfield's lawyer that "additional material" was necessary for the license. This week, Langer said it was later determined that that "material" was not necessary. He refused to elaborate on what police thought to be missing, but said he and Bardfield did not provide anything to supplement the original application.
Bardfield, 28, waited for four months for the town to grant him a license to participate in target practice to help him sharpen his skills for the Army reserves, where he is a military police officer.
After waiting for four months, Bardfield said he called the Police Department and was told he was being denied his license because of an incident that occurred when he was 14 years old.
In the early 1990s, he was picked up by police near Larz Anderson Park because a boy he was with had a loaded BB gun and aimed it at a passing car, Bardfield said. Although Bardfield was not arrested, police said the boy with the BB gun later became a sex offender. They told Bardfield his license would be denied "on the grounds I associate myself with felons," Bardfield said.
In the past, others have spoken out about the Brookline Police Department and its practices in issuing gun licenses. U.S. Army Captain Kang Lu, a Brookline resident, has a suit pending against the department and Police Chief Dan O'Leary because he too has been denied the right to carry a weapon.
In Brookline, according to statistics the TAB collected, there is one gun license for every 250 people. In Newton, there is one license for every 99 residents.
Neither Police Chief Daniel O'Leary nor Bardfield could be immediately reached for comment.
http://www2.townonline.com/brookline/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=294642&format=&page=2
Ack... a license to just practice?
