Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Not when they're used as intended with some semblance of skill, they're not.
Same with firearms, with FAR fewer injuries and deaths. How many people has the MA college student injured or killed with her firearm(s)? None.
Relevant stat:
Americans own about 400 million firearms. There are 270 million registered vehicles in the US. There are about 100,000 firearm-related serious injuries/deaths each year, but there are 330,000 serious injuries/deaths each year solely attributable to texting while driving (NTSB). Vehicles are 2/3 the number of injurious/lethal devices as firearms, yet result in 3+ times the number of serious injuries/deaths. Surprisingly, no one is lobbying to heavily restrict or ban vehicles and/or cell phones and mobile devices, even though there is no Constitutional Right to either a vehicle or a cell phone or other mobile device.
In your own home you certainly have the right to live with or without firearms. I don't want guns in my house either and would not live with someone that owned them. What is the story here?
What? You've got it backwards. Only one person's Constitutional rights are being violated. Hint: it's not the roommates.
She started Harvard in September as a grad student after graduating from Alabama in 2017. She moved into the house in September of this year.
She lived in Tuirkey for 12 years of her life and graduated from Fairhope High School in 2009. A Google search tells me there is a Fairhope High School in Fairhope, Alabama. I think it is safe to assume she was a new resident of Massachusetts. It's amazing what you can find by following links throughout the thread as well as doing a little searching elsewhere. It's not clear from these links where she lived from 2017 after graduating from Bama until staring at Harvard. This maybe when she lived in Florida as it seems likely after graduating is when she worked in Doral.
Of course, if by chance she moved to Massachusetts before moving into the house, that means she had no intention of getting her certification within 60 days in her new state.
"and charged with possession of a firearm without a license and possession of ammunition without a license.
State laws CANNOT override the Constitution. 2nd amendment, "the RIGHT of the people to KEEP AND BEAR ARMS SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED".
Unless you want states to redefine "infringed"!
Correct. That's made clear in the US Constitution, Article VI:
"This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."
That's why the Colorado baker won his case against a Colorado state agency in the recent SCOTUS ruling.
I find it interesting that so many people are unaware that one can temporarily live in another state without becoming a legal resident of that state. Do you all live under a rock, or what?
...
I don't really understand why this has become a gun rights debate. It isn't. It's an object lesson in how not to choose a roommate. People do have a right to own guns. People who do not want to live with guns have a right to a gun-free home. People who cannot reach any kind of agreement about the matter should not attempt to live together. People who are considering living together should be honest about their habits and expectations.
That is all.
remember that georgia town that passed that law requiring every head of household had to own at least one firearm.
You'd be surprised the number of new residents that come into MA and are ignorant of the firearms laws here and just assume they are the same everywhere. Can get you in some serious hot water in this state with what would be perfectly legal in the three states to our north. Felony in one state...and no big deal in NH/VT or ME. The storage and transport laws here simply don't exist in many other states. When you have such a wide range of laws and regulations across 50 states, these sort of blunders happen quite frequently.
NYC usually has this happen almost monthly at various tourist attractions. People just think they are safe to travel to other states based on what they understand is legal in theirs.
Gun culture in MA is pretty much suppressed/shunned. You simply don't admit you own firearms to strangers. Doesn't surprise me what happened, but I've seen the same thing happen over pets in an apartment. If you move to MA and want to own firearms, keep it to yourself. If you want to put a MAGA hat on, definitely don't do it in Somerville which is vying to become the nex Cambridge.
Ignorance is no excuse. There are mandatory minimum punishments that include jail time, and/or thousands in fines for their mental failures and lack of respect for state law.
I'm thinking that local MA authorities actually know better. Note that the student in question has not been arrested for having a firearm in MA.
Think carefully about that... They don't want to trigger an attention-grabbing SCOTUS case that would surely be brought on Article IV grounds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by InformedConsent
Why? Are you afraid someone would exercise their Constitutional Rights? Are you afraid that that the US Constitution's Article IV might actually have to be observed? Or were you just making a point via sarcasm?
Quote:
Originally Posted by EveryLady
There sure appeared to be several guns that were accessible ... loaded ... without locks. Not only were the guns apparently found in that condition, the roommates wrote that Pirnie told them she "kept" the guns "unloaded and unlocked."
The roommate memo (which was a request for assistance to the landlord written before this became public) stated Pirnie agreed after the house meeting to both use a trigger lock and a gun safe or other appropriate container. That goes beyond Massachusetts law, which as you point out only requires one of the two. Never were the roommates comfortable with the situation but that was the "compromise."
I'm assuming that gun owners need not specify reasons for owning guns in any Massachusetts (permit) but maybe they do. Me, I'd sure be uncomfortable with why Pirnie publicly said she had them:
One mixture that cops hate encountering is domestic disturbance plus guns. It can be lethal. No way would I want my daughter to be living where there was some possibility that could play out depending on Pirnie's judgement.
We don't know what prompted the initial roommate search. I tend to believe Pirnie that it did occur; the roommates don't mention the discovery itself. Per Pirnie, various roommates later came up with "excuses" as if it were accidental. For all we know, she may well have discussed dating situations with her roommates and how she would want to handle another abusive situation leading her roommates to wonder if she actually had guns.
Regardless, the roommates now know how she might use them ... the landlord concluded the situation is too volatile, even to where he offered to mediate the final split ... she's gone public ... this is over with the gun safe and any MA permitting appearing on the scene way too late.
They need only finalize the divorce.
Appeared to be loaded and unlocked. All hearsay. Come back with facts.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
