Drugs and guns in Shrewsbury

[Joe G]

My wife showed me this when I came home tonight.

//telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070104/NEWS/701040659/1154/SUBURBS

The subject of the article is a FOAF. I'd met him a few times, and he's a nice guy. According to our mutual friend he had an FID card and never knew that they expired - hence the gun charges. At least the judge didn't go overboard on him; the article says he was released on personal recognizance.

I was really surprised that the article was not as sensationalist as it could have been. If it had been the Globe, they would have been writing about his 'arsenal' and the danger that he was to his community. But in any case, as this was on the front page of the T&G's second section, his life has been radically changed. I know our mutual friend was shocked to read this. I imagine all his other friends are too. Chalk up one more victim of victimless crime and soon-to-be non-gun owner for life.

The one gun-related lesson I can take away from this is to remind any old-timers with "lifetime" FID cards that they're expired and they need to get a new one.

 

[FalArAk]

Clicky

 

[Shane]

possession of a firearm without an FID card

I keep seeing this charge popping up. can they still charge you with this if your found with a handgun, have no LTC, but actually have an FID?

 

[Bruce for NH State Rep]

Umm...if he was caught growing pot in his backyard, he can kiss his FID card good-bye, regardless of whether it was current or not.

 

[Shane]

Umm...if he was caught growing pot in his backyard, he can kiss his FID card good-bye, regardless of whether it was current or not.

OF COURSE...

if guy has an FID card and a pistol.

which CHARGE would this create in a court of law?

would they still use possesion of a firearm without an FID card?

 

[Bruce for NH State Rep]

Don't know, but I've seen that wording quite a bit.

 

[Thor67]

Really, isn't finding 12 plants just a colossal waste of money? The time and helicopter fuel used to find this really could have been better spent locking up the real criminals I think.

I'm sure the 12 plants were "personal use." I personally think all drugs are bad, but I don't fancy myself anyone's conscious or health protector.

Many bigger fish to fry in this case.

 

[M1911]

I keep seeing this charge popping up. can they still charge you with this if your found with a handgun, have no LTC, but actually have an FID?

I'm not sure exactly what you are asking. Are you asking if it is legal to possess a handgun if you have a valid FID? The answer to that is no. See MGL C140 S129B Paragraph 6:

(6) A firearm identification card shall not entitle a holder thereof to possess: (i) a large capacity firearm or large capacity feeding device therefor, except under a Class A license issued to a shooting club as provided under section 131 or under the direct supervision of a holder of a Class A license issued to an individual under section 131 at an incorporated shooting club or licensed shooting range; or (ii) a non-large capacity firearm or large capacity rifle or shotgun or large capacity feeding device therefor, except under a Class A license issued to a shooting club as provided under section 131 or under the direct supervision of a holder of a Class A or Class B license issued to an individual under section 131 at an incorporated shooting club or licensed shooting range. A firearm identification card shall not entitle a holder thereof to possess any rifle or shotgun that is, or in such manner that is, otherwise prohibited by law. A firearm identification card shall be valid for the purpose of purchasing and possessing chemical mace, pepper spray or other similarly propelled liquid, gas or powder designed to temporarily incapacitate. Except as otherwise provided herein, a firearm identification card shall not be valid for the use, possession, ownership, transfer, purchase, sale, lease, rental or transportation of a rifle or shotgun if such rifle or shotgun is a large capacity weapon as defined in section 121.

Note that in the context of this part of the law, the word "firearm" basically means a handgun.

I suspect that the actual charge may be violating MGL Chapter 269 Section 10: http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/269-10.htm

It would not surprise me if the wording of the charges in the newspaper bears little resemblance to the actual charges -- newspaper reporters are having a good day when they actually get someone's name spelled correctly. Anything more complicated than that is basically beyond them.

 

[Mr Weebles]

From the article:

The Massachusetts National Guard supports the anti-drug effort in the state by providing drug intelligence, communications, thermal imagery and linguistic support, and by assisting in cannabis eradication, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Web site. The helicopter reconnaissance missions are common in other states, including California, Tennessee, Oregon, Kentucky and Hawaii, where the rate of marijuana cultivation is high. All 50 states participate in a marijuana eradication program developed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 1979.

Well, THANK GOD the combined money, time and resources of the Massachusetts National Guard ,the USDOJ and the Shrewsbury Police were used to apprehend this scofflaw. With the confiscation of these twelve marijuana plants, the drug war is just about over. And we won! Kudos.

We live in a strange country.

 

[Patriot]

Damn, I hate it when those firearms don't get their licenses.

TBP

 

[Weerd Beard]

What's gonna happen to the guns?

I wouldn't mind a Dan Wesson .357....

 

[csharpdev]

Well you need that license to restrict you to all lawful purposes, without it your guns may wonder off and kill someone.

 

[JonJ]

This guy is just plain STUPID.

 

[M1911]

This guy is just plain STUPID.

+1

Growing pot in your backyard is terminally stupid.

 

[drgrant]

I agree that this guy was a moron on multiple levels.... but one has to
wonder about all the mental masturbation over a dozen pot
plants. This guy sounded like he was a serious threat to society! oh
noes!

 

[calsdad]

Forest Trees


Which ones do you guys see? So let me get this straight - The National Guard is flying anti drug missions over our towns ( apparently to confiscate 12 marijuana plants ), burning up taxpayer dollars, spying on people, etc. etc., because they apparently have nothing better to do with their time.

And you guys sit here and argue over the minutia of losing the FID card - and some of you actually think this is a good thing because you might be able to get some confiscated guns at a discount price?

Does anybody here really get it? Today it is 12 marijuana plants - tomorrow it is the guy who has too much ammunition or too many guns in his house - or maybe he buried his life savings in the back yard because he doesn't trust the banks. What does it matter - none of these things are the goverments business. What did this guy really do wrong? Can anybody answer that question? Did he harm anybody? Did he rape, rob, steal, murder, infringe on anybody's god given politically correct rights? He grew some plants - for all we know it wasn't even him - maybe it was neighborhood kids growing the damn things and he didn't even know about it. God knows I have all sorts of crap growing in my backyard that I don't recognize. If some kids decided to smoke a few joints and dropped the seed in my backyard and the damn plants grew in among the weeds I probably would not even know about it. Until the National Guard flew over my house with a helicopter and spotted the things ( I wonder how they do that anyway) - then my ass would be in jail, and the local papers would talk about the drugs and guns they found at my house.

This sort of stuff is making me think more and more that quite frankly we are stuck in a police state. When your entire life can get screwed over for something like this then the country we allege to be the United States of America - is no more.

Calling the guy a moron because he didn't renew his FID card is not going to save your ass - you had better smarten up.

 

[calsdad]

BTW - they have been flying over more than the towns mentioned in the article - over the summer I was doing a lot of work outside, as I have been for a few years now. This summer there was quite a bit more airplane/helicopter overflights of my general area than what I remember being usual. This included planes circling constantly - helicopters, and some military helicopters.

Now it all makes sense.

Hint - if you are burying your guns you had better be careful about it.

 

[JonJ]

Ya, I said he's stupid and I'll stand by that.
He admitted to the police that the plants were his. He allowed the police to search his house. Sure they would have gotten a warrant but why make it easy?
The police are NOT YOUR FRIENDS when you are the subject of an investigation!
He knows or should know that cultivating marijuana is illegal. He was also found to be in possession of psilocybe mushrooms and Percocet (must be without a prescription.
He didn't renew his firearms permit whatever class it was.
These things are all illegal. We don't have to like or agree with the laws but we have to abide by them or face the consequences.

He drew the attention to himself. No one else did.

 

[Weerd Beard]

In Maine I heard about many of the big-time farmers getting shut down because of helecopter flybys (forcing them to take the crop indoors where they were busted by massive electricity bills...ect ect)

Now I'm far from an expert on this, but you can cover a lot of area with a helechopter. While sweeping the area looking for the big-guys they found a small-time pot-grower. What do you want them to do, look the other way?

Should it make a difference if an under-age fellon pulls a .22 mouse gun on you or a .454 Ruger Alaskan?

He broke the law, he got caught, he should be punished. Its that simple. It doesn't matter if he has glaucoma, or if his father beat him, or if he's mad that the Red Sox lost Jonny Damon. Illigal is illigal.

As far as the National Guard being used. Unless they were out to sting just this cat, I could care less.

-Weer'd Beard

 

[bazfoo]

Really, isn't finding 12 plants just a colossal waste of money? The time and helicopter fuel used to find this really could have been better spent locking up the real criminals I think.

I'm sure the 12 plants were "personal use." I personally think all drugs are bad, but I don't fancy myself anyone's conscious or health protector.

Many bigger fish to fry in this case.

I totally agree. There are far worse things going on that need to be stopped. I'm guessing flying around in a helicopter is much easier than trailing a shipment of cocaine, or even finding it to begin with.

I find myself leaning libertarian more an more every day

 

[M1911]

This sort of stuff is making me think more and more that quite frankly we are stuck in a police state.

If the US was really a police state, then you could shortly expect to be arrested, jailed, and beaten for having criticized the government. You know that's not going to happen, which is why you feel free to criticize the government here and elsewhere.

This type of demagoguery does not help your argument.

 

[Weerd Beard]

If the US was really a police state, then you could shortly expect to be arrested, jailed, and beaten for having criticized the government. You know that's not going to happen, which is why you feel free to criticize the government here and elsewhere.

This type of demagoguery does not help your argument.

+1

 

[KMaurer]

Even the strictest police state allows its subject to grumbles as long as it's taken the necessary steps to ensure that they're impotent, broadly demonized, and a distinct minority. Think of it as a relief valve, venting the thought crimes that might otherwise build up to constitute an actual problem.

Ken

 

[Mr Weebles]

Y'know, something struck me as strange about this story ...

Isn't the National Guard prevented from participating in law enforcement activites by the Posse Comitatus Act and the Insurrection Act? There are exceptions when authorized by Congress, but I'd be surprised if this type of activity would fall under Congressional purview.

 

[M1911]

The guard has been doing this kind of thing for decades.

 

[Joe G]

Ya, I said he's stupid and I'll stand by that.
He admitted to the police that the plants were his. He allowed the police to search his house. Sure they would have gotten a warrant but why make it easy?
The police are NOT YOUR FRIENDS when you are the subject of an investigation!

I agree. I don't know what he was thinking, except that maybe getting busted for pot is no big deal. Better to not aggravate the cops and get retaliated on? It sounds like the arrest was civil. It could easily have taken a nasty turn.

He knows or should know that cultivating marijuana is illegal. He was also found to be in possession of psilocybe mushrooms and Percocet (must be without a prescription.

I found out a bit more about this. Seems the mushrooms were from his college days - some 20+ years ago. He never bothered to throw them out. The percs were from his wife's perscription. He took a few on a ski trip because of old injuries, didn't use them and left them locked in the drawer because they were no longer in a child-proof bottle and he as kids. Yeah, he should have tossed the shrooms and put the percs back into the bottle. Yeah, he smokes pot every once in a while. My own personal libertarian leanings make me say "so what." The paper write-up made him look like a big addict instead of a recreational toker.

He didn't renew his firearms permit whatever class it was.

He had an FID and never found out that they now expire. When this change was enacted how many times did we say that somebody's going to get burned. Well here's a somebody. You may or may not feel strongly about him smoking pot, but he had no intentions of violating gun laws.

These things are all illegal. We don't have to like or agree with the laws but we have to abide by them or face the consequences.

True. And his ignorance of the changed gun laws probably won't help during his trial.

He drew the attention to himself. No one else did.

I don't see how you draw this conclusion. He was growing plants along the border of his yard/woods behind a barn, with his guns locked safely away. It's not like he's flying hemp flags and packing heat when he goes grocery shopping. I don't know how much more quietly you could do what he did. It took the National Guard helicopters to find his 12 plants, not a mere cruiser drive-by.

My sympathies lie with the criminal/victim. The gov has got better things to do with its (my) resources than hunt down pot heads.

 

[bazfoo]

Even the strictest police state allows its subject to grumbles as long as it's taken the necessary steps to ensure that they're impotent, broadly demonized, and a distinct minority. Think of it as a relief valve, venting the thought crimes that might otherwise build up to constitute an actual problem.

Ken

Well put.

 

[M1911]

t's not like he's flying hemp flags and packing heat when he goes grocery shopping. I don't know how much more quietly you could do what he did. It took the National Guard helicopters to find his 12 plants, not a mere cruiser drive-by.

The guard and the state police having been doing this for years, here and in other states. They've gotten pretty good at spotting plants.

Whether the govt. should do this or not is a different issue. Personally, I'm in favor of legalization of marijuana.

But growing plants on your own property, outdoors where they can be seen, is simply stupid.

No, I don't grow pot nor do I smoke it.

 

[sksguns]

He had an FID and never found out that they now expire. When this change was enacted how many times did we say that somebody's going to get burned. Well here's a somebody..

My brother-in-law and his brother wanted to go hunting this year. So when they went to get their hunting licenses they were refused because their FID's expired. I told them about the change and I know they must have renewed at least once since then and I have no idea why people still seem to think in this state that FID's don't expire....they didn't get burned or anything like that but they didn't go hunting either.

You may or may not feel strongly about him smoking pot, but he had no intentions of violating gun laws...

Personally, I have no issue with people smoking pot.....I think they are just like cigarettes but with a bonus....I don't like being around when poeple are smoking it or cigarettes but i have no issue if one wants to partake. I do not. That's my choice.

 

[Coyote33]

Speaking of Shrewsbury:

Shrewsbury town officials can begin searching for a new police chief

possession of a firearm without an FID card

I keep seeing this charge popping up. can they still charge you with this if your found with a handgun, have no LTC, but actually have an FID?

See: another possession w/out valid FID card