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Lax laws cause rise in illegal weaponsBy George Brennan October 05, 2008 6:00 AM Kenneth Webster Jr. was able to walk into a Maine gun shop with his driver's license and legally purchase the arsenal he gathered at his property in Marstons Mills, according to police. Webster likely walked out of the gun shop with a weapon, a safety brochure and no questions asked. It turned into a crime when he crossed the state line without a valid license to carry and stashed them at his remote property off Route 28 in Marstons Mills, Barnstable Police Sgt. John Murphy said. But that crime went undetected until police were asked in July to serve him with a restraining order sought by his estranged wife. They found more than 50 unlicensed firearms and other weapons. "In my opinion, part of the biggest issue is the lack of uniformity in gun laws and what it takes to legally purchase a firearm," Murphy said. "It's been fairly well documented through cases in this department that a lot of guns are purchased legally in other states and transported to Massachusetts.".. Guns and drugs The Webster case raises questions about just how many illegal guns there may be on the streets of Cape Cod and if there are any other secret stashes. And while there's no way to know for sure, police are certain that such stashes are on the rise with a large percentage of those weapons seized in drug-related arrests, Murphy said. "They go hand-in-hand with drugs," Falmouth Police Chief Anthony Riello said. Riello has been chief in Falmouth for a little more than a year and while the problem of illegal weapons isn't nearly what it was in the city of Pittsfield, where he served as chief, it is real. Despite Massachusetts' strict gun laws, which require background checks and varying degrees of firearms licenses, the relatively lax laws of surrounding New England states only contribute to the illegal weapons here, according to John Rosenthal, executive director of Stop Handgun Violence, a Natick-based group that successfully lobbied for Massachusetts gun law reform 10 years ago. Criminals and terrorists know, Rosenthal said, that Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are among 32 states that require no background checks to purchase a gun. "We should be very concerned about that," he said. "Maine is an hour away and no ID required. It's a little scary."
Last year's trace statistics from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives appear to back up Rosenthal's claims. Of the 1,538 firearms recovered statewide in 2007, law enforcement was able to trace 845 of them. And of those, 529 were traced to other states with Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont accounting for 173 of the weapons. In contrast, Massachusetts accounted for five of the firearms recovered in Maine in 2007 — or about 1 percent, according to the federal trace data. Many southern states also have lax gun laws that allow weapons to be purchased legally in one state and then sold or traded illegally in Massachusetts, Murphy said. James Wallace, director of the Northboro-based Gun Owners Action League, said the Massachusetts gun laws have been a disaster, only serving to make it tougher to be a lawful gun owner. He said he's never been shown evidence that the gun laws of other states are contributing to illegal guns in Massachusetts. "Why would a criminal go to another state and come back to Massachusetts to commit the crimes?" Wallace said. Seizures not uncommon While Webster's case is an extreme one, police seizures of illegal weapons on the Cape is not unique. Last May when Sandwich police arrested Jason Greene of Forestdale on drug charges, they seized a 9 mm handgun along with 800 Percocet pills and marijuana. He was charged with illegal possession of a firearm, along with drug charges. In August, Adam Clough, 24, of West Yarmouth and Shawntay DeBarros, of Marstons Mills were arrested along with another man in an Attleboro drug sting. Clough and DeBarros were also charged with illegal possession of a firearm because police found a loaded Smith & Wesson 9 mm handgun in the car. And, last January, a drug bust coordinated by Falmouth, Bourne, Mashpee and Barnstable, the Cape Cod Drug Task Force, state police detectives and the Barnstable County Sheriff's Department, included seizing a 9 mm Ruger semi-automatic handgun and the arrest of James Peters on outstanding drug and weapons charges. There is a reason why the cops were wearing bulletproof vests during that early morning raid. "There's a nexus between drugs and violence - whether that's guns, knives or physical violence," Murphy said. "It's becoming more and more common on the Cape." Massachusetts laws do little to help with illegal weapons, Sandwich Police Chief Michael Miller said. "The only people who obey laws are the ones who aren't going to cause you a problem," Miller said. Where they come from Top five states where firearms seized in Massachusetts were traced to in 2007, although the data is not a complete record because law enforcement does not trace all guns:
Source: U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Read the full article(The text of old articles, if missing, may be available in an archive, which sometimes requires a subscription.) | |
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