Number of gun licenses in Massachusetts shoots up

[friendly_iconoclast]

Video at link:

http://www.wcvb.com/news/investigative/Number-of-gun-licenses-in-Massachusetts-shoots-up/-/12520878/17217164/-/pen6nf/-/index.html

Number of gun licenses in Massachusetts shoots up


...The most recent records from the Mass Firearms Records Bureau shows 254,653 state residents currently holding Class A gun licenses, which allow them to purchase, possess and transport large-capacity firearms, like a Glock 19 9-mm weapon. Gun owners also need to have a Class A license in order to carry concealed weapons.

Team 5 Investigates discovered the number of people getting that kind of access is going up. An analysis of firearms records show that all but three Massachusetts communities have seen increases in the past 18 months.

Some of those increases are dramatic.

Franklin saw the largest -- a 20 percent jump since 2010 -- followed closely by Randolph, Pembroke and Falmouth. Each of those towns saw a 19 percent increase...

Given the latest population estimates from the Census Bureau...:

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/25000.html

Population, 2011 estimate 6,587,536

...it would mean that +/- 3.8% of Bay Staters have a concealed weapons permit, which is about a 20% increase since 2006.

Looks like liberal Massachusetts isn't quite as antigun as it's been made out to be.

[Berserker]

1. Liberal

don't mean anti-GUN as most assume. Good for Massachusetts. Glad to see my favorite safety device mentioned. I love my large-capacity Glock 19 Gen3 9mm.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. There is a steady increase in gun ownership in many of the liberal states

I do my part in California to assist in that growth

[Eleanors38]

13. Comports with Gallup survey of gun-owners over the two

years from 2009-2011 which saw an increase in owners describing themselves as Democrats/Demo-leaning from 30% - 40%. A remarkable jump for two years (GOP-leaning held steady in the low 50% range).

[PavePusher]

3. Oddly, the "Team 5 Investigators" did not display their First Amendment Licence....

during the making of this farce.

[friendly_iconoclast]

6. WCVB is a collection of goo-goos who play at being progressive.

They are actually located in Needham, a wealthy and overwhelmingly white suburb of Boston.

Thus, they get to express "concern" about urban problems without actually having to deal with them- aside from how long it takes to drive into downtown Boston...

[-..__...]

4. It would be a fuck load more than that...

if it weren't for the unnecessary and contemptible hoops to jump through, and obstacles
put in place, that discourages many from even applying for a permit.

...it would mean that +/- 3.8% of Bay Staters have a concealed weapons permit, which is about a 20% increase since 2006.

That's where the vernacular/terminology of MA firearms is misleading... a Class A LTC
(or Class B LTC), is bestowed by the local CLEO, which grants the privilege and permission for the holder to purchase and posses firearms.

That privilege can be restricted by the same issuing authority as they see fit, or deem appropriate.

Depending on where one lives within the Commonwealth... an "unrestricted" Class A LTC (allowing the holder to carry concealed), is not easy to come by.

[friendly_iconoclast]

5. I knew that- I was sort of simplifying things for non-Massholes.

Massachusetts desperately needs Alan Gura (or someone like him). The right case would help rid us of the corrupt "may issue" laws we 'enjoy' for now...

[PavePusher]

7. Would the current Maryland case bear weight in the 1rst Circuit Court? n/t

[Atypical Liberal]

8. Here's my take: It's not fear driving the licenses

Gun licenses are up in most counties by 20%. Only in 3 did it decline, and only by less than 2% I don't think the increase is due to any fear as the video implies.

I think it is simply this:

If you want to own a modern firearm in Massachusetts, you are pretty much going to need a class A license to own it. Most modern firearms now are "high capacity". It's hard to find a semi-automatic firearm that does not meet the Massachusetts defninition of a "high capacity firearm":

"A weapon is large capacity if it is a semi-automatic handgun or rifle that is capable of accepting (or readily modifiable to accept) any detachable large capacity feeding device that holds more than ten rounds, OR if it is a shotgun capable of accepting more than five shotgun shells, OR if it is an assault weapon."

Sure, the venerable Ruger 10/22, .22 pistols, and the Colt 1911-style handguns hold less than 10 rounds, but most modern handguns these days hold more than 10 rounds, and of course the AR platform is becoming more popular all the time.

All we are really seeing here are more and more law-abiding people being forced to jump through a bureaucratic hoop to own growing-in-popularity modern firearms.

I predict that eventually nearly every gun owner will have a license, it will make virtually no difference in crime, and so the state will abandon the requirement.

[Glaug-Eldare]

9. Really?

I predict that eventually nearly every gun owner will have a license, it will make virtually no difference in crime, and so the state will abandon the requirement.

I think you're making a mistake when you associate FOIDs and licenses with crime prevention. No public safety statistics will make them give up a law that makes it harder to own a gun legally.

[Atypical Liberal]

10. Some states have already abandoned permits for CCW.

Some states have already gone to permitless concealed carry. Probably because they figured out for all the cost very few people who bother to get permits are ever involved in any kind of crime.

[Glaug-Eldare]

11. It's Massachusetts. It'll take a while.

But they'll get there, and so will we

[Eleanors38]

12. I tend to agree. The whole gun-control outlook is

Is about control and culture, not about crime stats, safety in the home, or some strained notion of public health. Its standard prohibitionist politics.

[ManiacJoe]

14. I was wondering about their definition of "high capacity".

It takes an extra level of foolishness to get a Glock 19 into that category.