Massachusetts SJC: Police Chief Within Rights to Deny Gun License

[flamin lib]

http://www.necn.com/news/new-england/Massachusetts-SJC-Police-Chief-Within-Rights-to-Deny-Gun-License-295961521.html

The chief of police in Worcester was within his rights to deny a gun license to a man charged with domestic violence, the state's highest court ruled Wednesday.
In a unanimous ruling, the seven-member Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court also found that the state's "suitable person" standard used to deny the license is constitutional.

Massachusetts has a "may issue" standard for handing out carry permits. Over the past decade the NRA has pushed to have states use a "shall issue" standard meaning that local law enforcement cannot deny gun sales or carry permits to anyone unless they show up on the NICS list. It's the NRA stance that such local involvement would be capricious and place an undue burden on "law abiding gun owners".

Having local law enforcement involved in overseeing the issue of carry permits just makes sense to me, after all they probably have some insight into the character of the individual seeking to carry a gun in public places. Take George Zimmerman for instance. He has been arrested 6 times but not convicted on any charges so in Florida the state MUST issue him a license. Many years ago I lived in a small town in west Texas. A woman came into the law firm where my wife worked and asked for help. She had been pistol whipped by her husband and suffered a broken eye socket as well as other injuries. First call was to the local sheriff who said he could do nothing unless she filed charges and got a conviction which she wouldn't do because she had five children and a fourth grade education so without the low life husband she and her kids would be homeless. Such is the world of "shall issue".

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