In Mass
Author faces ten years in prison for non violent firearms violations:
Prolific writer Peter Manso, author of, among other books, biographies of Norman Mailer and Marlon Brando, has been indicted on a dozen firearms charges by a Massachusetts grand jury and faces years in prison.
Did he brandish a gun in public? Threaten a neighbor with a drive-by shooting?No, the guns were all stored, quite securely, in his locked and alarmed home. In fact, police discovered the weapons only when they responded to a burglar alarm while the writer was away. Either the guns were in plain view — evidence that Manso expected no legal trouble for their possession — or else, as Manso’s attorney alleges, “Truro police searched Manso’s house illegally while responding to the alarm.” (The Times of London reports they were “in a cupboard.”)
[…]
The main problem seems to be that Manso’s Firearms Identification Card expired after the passage of new legislation in 1998 — previously, FIDs lasted a lifetime; now they expire every six years. The new law has caused endless problems in the Bay State, since authorities have not been very effective about informing gun owners of the change. As the Globe reports, “In July 2002, a State House committee found that thousands of Massachusetts residents were probably unaware that they needed to renew fire identification cards.”
Gun control works (if your goal putting non-violent people in jail for a long time).
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:17 am
Man, Jersey isn’t even CLOSE to being that bad! What a nightmare he must be going through.
September 3rd, 2008 at 10:11 am
The scarier part, Unc, is that there are literally tens if not hundreds of thousands of people just like this in MA.
The FID was issued “FOR LIFE” prior to 1998. I know; I got one when I turned 15 (minimum age) in 1986.
When they passed the Gun Control Act in 1998 (fuck you very much Mitt), the FID changed to a 4 year expiration date.
There was no grandfathering of the FID. No warnings were sent out to FID holders.
And, guess what? The number of licensed gun owners in MA PLUMMETED. Well, take a guess why… When the FIDs expired, precious few people realized it, and the vast majority never reapplied for their permits.
So the gun grabbers make a whole boatload of people instant felons; there’s ZERO impact on crime, as the firearms in question are almost exclusively hunting rifles or shotguns; and they get to point to the falling gun ownership as evidence the GCA worked.
Have I mentioned lately that I hate this state???
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:04 am
I feel sorry for the unfortunate Mr. Manso, I really do. These charges are outrageous.
But if there is a silver lining, here we have a situation of a (presumably) well-heeled defendant facing serious charges of non-violent possession of ordinary firearms in his own home. This case would be an excellent vehicle to ask the U.S. Supreme Court if a state can license an enumerated individual right protected by the Second Amendment.
Mr. Manso certainly has standing. Unfortunately.
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:17 am
@Turk
I agree completely. It’s a shame that he will have to go through all of this, but it might be just be vehicle we’ve been waiting for.
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Sounds like a Canadian-style “Paper criminal”, i.e. Manso is a political prisoner and I hope he sues, too. Might benefit all gun owners in Mass. & elsewhere.
Canadians suffer this kind of indignity all the time. One of them, Bruce Montague, deliberately got himself arrested (let his licenses expire) to challenge the Canada’s gun laws in court. Good luck to him.
Details about his case are at http://www.brucemontague.ca
Bruce’s daughter has also done some good, Oleg Volk-inspired PSA’s on YouTube…check ’em out.
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Man that is pretty lame, I hope that he gets out of this without too much trouble.
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:55 pm
@JayG
“When they passed the Gun Control Act in 1998 (fuck you very much Mitt), the FID changed to a 4 year expiration date.”
Mitt was NOT Governor in 1998.
Gov. Argeo Paul Cellucci was the Republican governor who signed that bill into law. His “reasoning” when confronted by me at a campaign event was that his police advisors told him it was a good law.
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:10 pm
{slapping self upside head}
Romney signed the permanent AWB, my bad. You are right – it was Mr. Permanent 5 o’clock shadow Cellucci (who was an otherwise okay gov) who signed the 1998 law…
September 3rd, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Gun control works, for a given value of works, exactly as its advocates intend.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:32 pm
And I recently heard some talk-show host say that there are no political prisoners in the U.S.. Anyone jailed for such “crimes” is a political prisoner, pure and simple.
The case against Manso should be thrown out entirely, followed with charges filed against the perpetrators under 18 USC 242.