I was trying to understand what you meant . Hope you got that.
My understanding was before rule changes when they where off duty they had to follow the awb . I thought you where saying they should be allowed to own them after retiring .
Not exactly.
First it wasn't a "rule" change but a law change. Big difference wrt enforcement possibilities.
Previously it was very muddy and open to lots of interpretations.
- Any LEO could carry their duty weapons off-duty as well. They didn't have to turn in large-cap mags at the end of each shift.
- If a chief suggested/authorized or mandated off-duty carry, then anything they carried would be "for law enforcement purposes" and exempt from the ban.
- If a chief forbid off-duty carry then nothing other than issued weapons could have large-cap mags.
- One could make the case either way for mags privately purchased for duty use (PDs are stingy, only 3 pistol mags and a few rifle mags usually issued). Officers who took personal survival seriously bought and carried spare loaded mags with them to work each shift (BTW, these are usually the "good guys" who are on our side wrt 2A issues). Legality??
- Some departments don't supply guns but authorize private purchase of specific guns to be used on duty. This was another potentially gray area. And the day you retired, you'd become a felon for possession of the mags, etc.
New law:
- Any active LEO can purchase and possess any large-cap mags or new AWs, even for personal use only.
- The day they retire/leave the department, it is at least a gray area if they instantly become felons or not!
Let's put this in perspective of civilians now:
- Both Linsky and Patrick proposed laws that would have made Ruger 10/22s large-capacity guns. Thankfully that provision was dropped from the final bill, but let's play along that it did pass that way for a moment.
- 18-19 yo (for example) bought a perfectly legal 10/22 on his/her FID card.
- The day that the law goes into effect, said 18-19 yo is now a felon in possession of a large-capacity gun and magazines, facing a potential of 10 years in prison and Federal PP status for life just because they got up that morning!
- What was legal for them to own one day makes them a felon the next day.
- This is precisely what I object to in both the old and new laws wrt LEOs. It is unjust regardless of who the target is and needs to be changed. In the civilian case, we need to NOT change the law defining what is large-capacity. In the case of the LEO, we need to change the law to make it clear that if it was legal to own when active, it is legal to own when retired or leaving the department. [Best case is to make the AWB and large-cap mag ban both go away, but that would never fly politically in MA, so we need to focus on the next best thing.]