Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upholds state's gun storage law

[LSUDVM]

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upholds state's gun storage law, rejecting a 2nd Amendment challenge

The state Supreme Judicial Court in Massachusetts upheld the state's gun storage law by rejecting a Springfield man's 2nd Amendment challenge.

John McGowan of Springfield, who had a license to carry a firearm, was charged in November 2008 by Springfield police with violating the state's gun storage law. The charge came after a female roommate went into his second-floor bedroom, took his loaded handgun from an unlocked drawer in a side table, left the home, threw the weapon into a neighbor's bushes and then locked him out when he tried to retrieve the gun.

I searched but didnt see this had been posted before.

[pownal55]

I am in favor of keeping firearms out of the hands of unauthorized users but if they are too well secured how does the owner of the gun get to it in an emergency? Maybe the roommate should never have known where it was. Maybe the roommate should be charged for tossing it where any child or criminal could find it.

[badguybuster]

What idiocy. Sheesh

[Titan]

Coincidentally, today, I and all the other CCW holders in my MA household, received form letters from the local Chief of Police, issuing a friendly reminder of the 'Safe Storage' requirment in the law.

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

MA is interesting, you can have a gun for protection but it has to be under your control at all times or else locked up, if you fall asleep or go to bed and fall asleep you cannot have in a holster or drawer, must be locked. If you are cleaning it and leave it on the kitchen table as you answer the door and it is out of reach you are in violation of the law, this was an actual case where a man lost his license which means you cannot have any guns as the cops rang the doorbell and he answered but the gun (in pieces) was on the kitchen table.

[Titan]

Originally Posted by Ben Cartwright SASS

MA is interesting, you can have a gun for protection but it has to be under your control at all times or else locked up, if you fall asleep or go to bed and fall asleep you cannot have in a holster or drawer, must be locked. If you are cleaning it and leave it on the kitchen table as you answer the door and it is out of reach you are in violation of the law, this was an actual case where a man lost his license which means you cannot have any guns as the cops rang the doorbell and he answered but the gun (in pieces) was on the kitchen table.

I think common sense should govern and not a law, but for me, a Gun Vault works great on the nightstand and, in the second or two it takes to enter the keypad combo, I believe I awake enough to responsibly use the gun.

FOR ME, I prefer this approach to leaving the gun were a thief could access it before I do, while I'm 'sawing wood'.