A consortium of gun rights advocates, led by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners, challenged Massachusetts’ onerous process for a non-resident obtaining a license to carry (LTC).
Law-abiding citizens notoriously must wait as much as half a year just to complete the initial application protocol. In that time, they are mandated to make multiple in-person visits—a particularly burdensome requirements for a non-resident.
Even worse, non-resident permits are only good for one year before the exhaustive process must be repeated. Permits for state residents are in effect for six years.
But that may be about to change, and not a moment too soon.
Constitutional rights do not alter or expire when a person crosses a state line
SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut explained in a statement that the present process for permitting non-residents to carry in the Bay State is ridiculous.
“Thanks to the Massachusetts permitting scheme, non-residents who travel to—or even through—the state for business or vacation must follow the extremely long permit process or risk arrest and prosecution,” Kraut said. “The Second and Fourteenth Amendments clearly protect the right of ‘ordinary, law-abiding citizens’ to carry handguns for self-defense, and the state is violating the constitutional rights of non-residents with such a burdensome process to receive and renew a license to carry.”
Plaintiffs hope to follow the recent victory in California with another in Massachusetts
After success in battling California’s equally weighty process for issuing carry permits to non-residents, Second Amendment advocates could build considerable momentum with a victory in the Northeast.
After all, the Bill of Rights does not change when an individual crosses a state line. Fundamental rights apply from sea to shining sea, and the plaintiffs in this latest worthy challenge have a great chance at success.
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