Massachusetts gun laws are so screwy even prosecutors can’t always figure out what they say and mean, which begs the question about how gun owners are supposed to know if they’re in compliance or not.
A few months ago a young man named Samuel Lacus was told he had to surrender his firearms and ammunition to local police after he was served with an abuse prevention order… one that was quickly dropped by the petitioner. Despite that, police entered Lacus’s home and seized multiple firearms before charging him with five counts of possession of illegal “assault style firearms”, six counts of “untraceable firearms”, and one count of improper storage.
As Gun Owners Action League noted at the time:
The case addresses many of the issues facing lawful gun owners after the passage of Chapter 135 in 2024.
In the arrest report:
- It is claimed that an AR lower is in fact an assault style firearm and the same goes with an upper. It is also the first time we have heard the term – “finished lower/upper”. That term does not appear in the law.
- The charges of unserialized lowers are concerning since the law states:
Chapter 140, Section 121C: All firearms shall have a serial number in accordance with the requirements of this section within one year after the online serialization system is available…“This is a bomb that we have been waiting to be dropped on someone post Chapter 135,” said Jim Wallace Executive Director of GOAL. “There are so many unconstitutional layers to this case that it could be a landmark judicial scenario effecting hundreds of thousands of lawful citizens. From the beginning GOAL has taken a very conservative approach when advising the 2A community about these new laws. We have often taken criticism for “over reacting”, but this case is precisely why we have taken that stance.”
Well, Mr. Lacus got some good news this week. GOAL is reporting that Hampden County prosecutors have decided to dismiss all of the “assault style firearms” charges after his attorney Dan Hagan argued that they were improper “because the grandfathering clauses in Chapter 135 bring ownership dates into question and the police report uses terms that do not appear in the law.”
“This is a great day for Mr. Lacus, but it is also a great day for GOAL, its members, and the Massachusetts firearms community as a whole. GOAL’s advocacy and education efforts are making a real difference. I am sure that law enforcement and prosecutors are listening and it is beginning to be reflected in their charging decisions,” said GOAL Board Member and Attorney Dan Hagan. “GOAL fights on every front: legislative, legal, and educational. Today’s result is proof that a strong organization, backed by engaged members, can move the needle. Even in a state as hostile to gun rights as Massachusetts.”
This is great news, even though Lacus is still facing charges for possessing unserialized firearms and improper storage. It’s really odd that the prosecution is still pursuing a case against Lacus for having unserialized firearms since the statute gave owners a one-year grace period to serialize guns once the online serialization system became available. As far as I can tell, the system came online last September or October, so Lacus should still be within that grace period.
Of course, the entire serialization scheme is completely ahistorical and should be tossed out as a violation of the Second Amendment, but for now it remains in effect, and apparently that one-year grace period is viewed as optional by some prosecutors. Lacus and his attorney still have some work cut out for them, but this is a good development… and yet more proof that Chapter 135 and its sweeping changes to Massachusetts gun laws are unworkable in both theory and practice.
Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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