Friday, June 19, 2009

Massachusetts Supremes: Does 2nd Amendment apply to state?

It seems that State Police Lt. Richard Bolduc was not locking up his handguns at home, in violation of the Commonwealth's laws:
On June 25, 2007, Cape Cod detectives went to Bolduc's home to investigate a report that his son had pointed an unloaded gun at a 5-year-old girl and pulled the trigger. When the 12-year-old son directed investigators to an unlocked bureau in his father's bedroom, they discovered a department-issued, high-capacity handgun that was not secured with a trigger lock.
Lt. Richard Bolduc needs to give his son a refresher on the 4 Rules of Gun Safety. More seriously, he was arrested and charged with violating said statutes.

Shockingly, in March, a court dismissed the case, citing the 2008 Heller v. District of Columbia ruling that the Second Amendment protects the right to possess firearms in your home. Other Massachusetts courts have ruled the opposite way, and now the case is on its way to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court:

The Supreme Judicial Court decided to look at the law after a District Court judge cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision in dismissing firearms charges against a Billerica man who had been accused of keeping unlocked weapons.

That decision said the District of Columbia could not require gun owners to keep their weapons disassembled and the Second Amendment gives people the right to keep and bear arms.

This is a State, not a Federal case, but it is fascinating to to see even State District courts - in a liberal state like Massachusetts, no less - rule that the Second Amendment means what it says, and applies to Cambridge as much as it does to Fort Worth.

It's not by any stretch a done deal, but the ripples of the Heller case continue to spread.

No comments: