Analysis of Massachusetts Firearms Related Offenses
An analysis was conducted on firearms related offenses arraigned in the Commonwealth between 2006 and 2008 using data from the Criminal History System’s Board (CHSB).This report presents findings on the 26,723 firearms offenses charged in Massachusetts over the three year period.It purports to be a non-partisan look at the defendants in all gun cases in MA and how they were prosecuted, broken down a myriad of different ways but basically all saying the same thing:
More than half (56%) of firearms related charged were dismissed or Nol Prossed.2
Only 13% of charges resulted in a term of commitment.Only 13% of all gun-related criminal offenses actually result in jail time. Think about that. Every time you see a story about some gangbanger shooting up a crackhouse, there's only a one in eight chance they'll be incarcerated for illegal possession of a firearm. More than half the time the charges are dismissed - now, something tells me that it's not that the defendant was not guilty, but that the gun charges were dropped as part of a plea bargain or some other arrangement.
Let that figure sink in. MA has some of the most onerous gun laws in the nation. We're "may issue". A permit is required to simply own a firearm, even a longarm - hell, even a single piece of brass requires an FID card (that costs $100 for five years). We have an Assault Weapons Ban. We have an Approved Firearms Roster. We have all kinds of rules, laws, and consumer protection BS that dictate who can own firearms, what kind of firearms we can own, and what we can do with the firearms we are allowed to own.
And yet when someone breaks one of the thousands of gun laws in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, there's only a 1:8 chance they'll serve jail time for breaking that law. Why bother? If you're only going to prosecute every eighth criminal, is it worth having these laws on the books? Sure, the lawyer types will point out that the firearms offenses are bargaining chips - plead guilty to Charge X and we'll drop firearms charges Y, Z, and AA. But we're talking about felonies here - this isn't letting a parking ticket slide because you booted the car for unpaid traffic violations.
Unless and until we get serious about punishing folks for breaking the laws, we might as well not even have them on the books - unless, of course, the real reason for having such a legal minefield is to discourage the law-abiding citizen...
That is all.
7 comments:
If you are going to be a gun lover in MA, you are better off being a criminal than a law abiding citizen.
I'm pretty sure that in MA, the real reason for having such a legal minefield is to discourage the law-abiding citizen.
As far as actually prosecuting criminals, the plea agreement (among other issues) has turned our legal system into a massive joke.
I think the high rate of dismissals and nole prossed results from how incomprehensible the gun-related MGLs are, even to those whose job it is to know them.
Recently I was with my father in law, who was showing his new AR to his brother in law, who's a state trooper and SWAT member. The trooper warned him to be careful with the 30-round mag, because they're illegal in MA. I explained to him the pre-ban/post-ban distinction, and it was the first time he'd heard such a thing.
This is scary stuff.
A lot of those gun crimes might be guys like you that let their permit lapse? Judge cut him a break?
They pass the laws not to make more jail residents. They are there to make the law abiding obey, as the law abiding generally self enforce. So i go along with Jake there.
VI,
Yeah, it's pretty much like (formerly) Great Britain in that regard...
Jake,
Bingo on both counts.
MAgunowner,
Agreed. I've also been told - by cops - that "LEO" marked mags were okay because the AWB expired.
T-bolt,
I would be SHOCKED if the *VAST* majority weren't lifer criminals who got the gun crime part bargained away in exchange for pleading out other crimes.
Gun control isn't about guns. It's about control.
And throwing these choirboys into jail would be racist, Jay. Throwing you or me into jail wouldn't. You know how the Mass.Gov thinks.
And note that even if you get SEVEN LIFE SENTENCES, you're still out on the street, free in a couple of years to continue raping and murdering.
Yep, our gun laws are not for safety, or to help put violent criminals away, its to annoy and harass lawful people and dissuade them from exercising their rights.
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