Gun owners aim to loosen firearm rules

BOSTON — A gun owner rights group has filed a proposal to roll back the state’s firearm licensing rules in response to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Legislation filed by state Rep. Jeffrey Turco, D-Winthrop — on behalf of the Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts — calls for eliminating the “suitability” standard that gives local police chiefs discretion over issuing or denying firearm licenses, and shifting that authority to the state’s licensing system.

Under the proposal, police chiefs would become “licensing agents,” while the state would oversee the system with the power to investigate “unconstitutional or unlawful actions” of local agents. It would also repeal a section of law that allows police chiefs to deny applicants if they are deemed to be unsuitable.

The proposal, which requires legislative approval, comes in response to a Supreme Court ruling which on June 23 struck down a New York law requiring applicants to show “proper cause” to get a permit to carry a firearm in public for self-defense.

The high court’s conservative majority ruled 6-3 that the New York law violated the Second Amendment, which has prompted reviews of firearm licensing laws in Massachusetts and other states that heavily restrict gun ownership.

“The state has a firearm licensing system that is now basically in violation of a Supreme Court ruling,” said Jim Wallace, GOAL’s executive director. “They need to take responsibility for this, especially now that we are facing constitutional violations.”

The group’s proposal would prohibit restrictions on firearm licenses and eliminate a requirement for basic safety courses to get a firearm identification card.

Wallace said his group fully supports training for new gun owners, but argues that the Supreme Court ruling means the state “can’t legally put hurdles in front of people exercising their civil rights.”

He noted that the training requirement became a barrier to people getting a firearm licenses during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the state shut down firearms training courses to help prevent spread of the virus.

To be sure, Massachusetts has some of the most stringent gun control regulations in the nation, and police chiefs have broad discretion to approve or deny licenses and can go to court to deny them to people whom they feel are unsuitable.

State law also bars certain “prohibited” applicants from getting a firearm license, including anyone under 21, and those who have been convicted of a felony or who are subject to a restraining order.

Wallace said the proposal doesn’t seek to change other aspects of the state’s gun laws, such as the list of prohibited individuals, even though his group disagrees with some of the prohibited categories.

Police chiefs defend the suitability standard — as well as their control over issuing state firearms licenses. They argue that they are the first line of defense against dangerous individuals in their communities.

“We believe that the suitability standard saves lives,” said Mark Leahy, a retired Northborough police chief and executive director of the Massachusetts Association of Police Chiefs, which hasn’t reviewed the proposal.

“And there is due process and protections built into the law to make sure that it doesn’t get abused,” he added.

Last week, Attorney General Maura Healey issued an advisory to firearm licensing authorities that based on the court’s ruling they are now prohibited from enforcing a provision of state law that allows them to deny an applicant if they lack a sufficiently “good reason” to carry a firearm.

But Healey said state law still allows licensing authorities to ask applicants about their reasons for seeking a license to carry and deny an application, or revoke or suspend a license, if an applicant is deemed “unsuitable” because they could pose a risk to public safety.

Wallace said the guidance doesn’t reflect the Supreme Court’s ruling and argues that the state’s suitability standard is unconstitutional based on the decision.

“This method in Massachusetts has been widely abused by licensing authorities to restrict or deny all manner of people based on arbitrary personal opinions,” he wrote in a letter to Healey’s office. “Doing away with this type of discriminatory prejudice is absolutely at the core of the court’s decision.”

Wallace said the AG’s guidance and a subsequent advisory issued by the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security have also created “confusion” for gun owners with restrictions on their licenses that he said are now invalid.

He also wrote that the court’s ruling made it “exceedingly clear” that restrictions on carrying firearms in public places must meet the “historically sensitive area” standard, such as schools and court houses.

“As such, state and local law enforcement need to be advised that any state laws or local ordinances that ban the carrying/possession of firearms in public places that are not strictly historically sensitive areas can no longer be enforced,” he wrote.

Gun control advocates blasted the group’s plan to take away police chiefs’ licensing authority, arguing that local control has helped give Massachusetts one of the lowest gun violence rates in the nation.

John Rosenthal, a gun owner and co-founder of Stop Handgun Violence, said taking away the authority of local police chiefs to issue firearm licenses would compromise public safety amid an epidemic of gun violence nationwide.

“Police chiefs know their communities best,” he said. “They are the ones who know individuals who have exhibited dangerous behavior that would make them ‘unsuitable’ to have a firearm.”

Rosenthal said there is “nothing” in the Supreme Court’s decision that licensing authorities can’t use “objective standards or discretion,” and shrugged off the likelihood of GOAL’s proposal being taken up by the state Legislature.

“It’s a grandstanding measure,” he said. “They’re just using the New York ruling to get attention, but nothing is going to happen with this misguided effort.”

Christian M. Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for North of Boston Media Group’s newspapers and websites. Email him at cwade@northofboston.com.