Can anyone who does not have firearms permit or FID card possess Empty ammunition cartridges.
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you should have seen the commotion when kids who picked up the brass blanks fired from the Garands at the memorial day parade. Hand a unlicensed friend a empty cartridge and then inform them they are felons.
Felony? Really? I know it's against MGL but I didn't think it was a felony.Hand a unlicensed friend a empty cartridge and then inform them they are felons.
Felony? Really? I know it's against MGL but I didn't think it was a felony.
It isn't, it's a misdemeanor (MGL 269-10(h)(1)), though it is a lifetime LTC DQ, and a 5 year FID DQ.
Wholy $IIit!. A piece of brass lands in your pocket and you loose a right for life!?!?!? Sounds as close to a felony as you can get without actually being one....it is a lifetime LTC DQ, and a 5 year FID DQ.
Is this a sign of our creeping paranoia, or do people really get charged for holding a souvenir empty casing?
so what happens when you have junk brass and you want to scrap it. Does the guy at the scrap yard have to have an FID?
Comm. v. Truong (2010) said:This court concluded that G. L. c. 269, § 10(h), criminalizes the possession of spent shell casings, which constitute "cartridge cases" within the meaning of the statute; further, this court discerned no ambiguity in that term that would render the statute void for vagueness.
This court concluded that G. L. c.269, § 10(h), which prohibits the possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card, plainly bears a reasonable relation to a permissible legislative objective, i.e., the protection of the public from the danger posed by the assemblage and usage of ammunition, and thus does not violate the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution; for the same reason, the statute does not violate the Massachusetts Constitution.
>snip<
[Note 6]Although we hold that G. L. c. 269, § 10(h), validly criminalizes unlicensed possession of any individual component of a cartridge, including shell casings, we note that we do not reach the question whether, or to what extent, the statute applies to unlicensed possession of shell casings for innocent purposes, such as for souvenirs or for resale as scrap metal.
OffshoreJ Every day since I joined this site, I've found my self to hate Massachusetts more.
Boy you can say that again, we are ready to move (anyone want to buy a house in Mass?) Already looking at the better gun laws ect. in other states. Narrowing down to TX, or TN.
My daughter has wanted to be in forensics since she was three years old. She has quite the reference collection of spent brass, shotgun shells ect. Sort of like a coin collection. Jeez, I had to tell her that was frowned upon by the law...... she's best to keep it too herself.
Nice.
At least it's a good lesson on how ridiculous law makers can be.
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It can also be a problem if you should drop an empty casing in your car and let an unlicensed family member use your car. Cops love to stop teenagers and rip their cars apart looking for drugs and alcohol. They'd love to find one of daddy's empty .45 or .223 cases to jam up a car load of teenagers. Thats why you make everyone in the house get an LTC or FID as soon as they are old enough.
Every day since I joined this site, I've found my self to hate Massachusetts more.