MA Gun Law Changes

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Hello Shooters

I got a call from a friend telling me that he got an email from the instructor that taught his pistol class, claiming that the state had made some significant changes in the gun laws. He told me that apparently you can now open or conceal carry with a class A, and that now the DMV will have access to gun license information, which will give police information about your licensing when they run your tags? If this is true, I can't find anything to confirm; this but it seems to have come from a reliable source. If this is true I think it is absurd, cant wait to get pulled over and grilled about why I have a gun or asked if I'm carrying every time they run my tags. Sounds like a way for local police to harass class A holders and gets a little too invasive for my tastes. And please don't get me wrong I have a deep respect for Police but.... Does anyone else know about this or receive a similar email from this instructor? Any LEO's that can comment on this, how does this information change the way you will conduct a traffic stop? If none of this is true I cant image how my friend would have misconstrued the email from the instructor, which was sent out as a mass email. Please comment, the fact I haven't seen a post on this topic yet makes me skeptical that any of it is true or has gone into effect.
 
a lot of states have the info come up with your drivers license info. Here in Colorado, when my license was issued, the issuing department actually showed me what shows.
When They enter your plate number, the owners drivers license comes up and on that page it notes that I have a CCW license. The funny part is that it pops up in the same area that a felony conviction shows (or so he told me)

I was pulled over last week. . .it never came up in conversation, he didn't ask, I didn't tell. . . I got a verbal "warning" for speeding (58 in a 45) and sent on my way. I think in addition to speeding the reason I was pulled over is that there's currently not a plate on my car (new car with a temp plate taped to the inside of dark tinted windows)....

And there has been a bunch of discussions on here about whether a cop can see if you have a LTC upon running your info. and IIRC they can and have been able to for a while.
 
None of this is new. Open carry is perfectly legal if properly licensed, but isn't often practiced due to fears of having one's license revoked for lack of suitability.

The MTDs in most police cruisers can display information regardng a person's LTC.
 
None of this is new. Open carry is perfectly legal if properly licensed, but isn't often practiced due to fears of having one's license revoked for lack of suitability.

The MTDs in most police cruisers can display information regardng a person's LTC.
Yup, none of this is new, and there have been no significant recent changes in MA gun laws. So someone (your friend or his instructor) is mistaken.
 
And there has been a bunch of discussions on here about whether a cop can see if you have a LTC upon running your info. and IIRC they can and have been able to for a while.

From what I understand, at least in MA, this isn't automated, the LEO has to run a separate query to find this out. It might be trivial to do though, if they have a MDT in their
car. Some LEOs might do it as a matter of course.

In some states the query may be run automatically, but I don't think it is this way in MA.

-Mike
 
I have done "ride alongs" with LEO buddies and the LTC info can be obtained. That was my first question, first trip, first traffic stop. Most of the data retrieved during a traffic stop is valid license, registrations, any warrants, etc.

Mike is correct, a separate screen or request is done for LTC info if needed so yes they have the ability.

The only automatic search is done by the dispatcher during a domestic violence call.
 
A trooper showed it to me last year while my wife and I were sitting in the back of his cruiser. His MTD pulled up the registered owners of the vehicles, DL pictures and all. On one part of the screen or one one tab, can't remember which, there was what looked like a single character field denoting that we had LTCs. It was little more than a flag. He also said that detailed information on the drivers wasn't always available - I'm guessing probably due to communication issues.
 
In some states the query may be run automatically, but I don't think it is this way in MA.

-Mike

No question in my mind that the police already have access to that information in their cruisers... and whether or not they have to hit an extra key or two to get it is somewhat irrelevant to me.

What is of more concern to me is whether or not they choose to feed that information into their Veriplate license plate recognition system's on-board database. It certainly would be easy enough (if it hasn't already been done). It's not like that data are changing dramatically in any 24-hour period. Hardly!

This is where the potential for abuse is greatest. We already know they are feeding relatively trivial (i.e., non-criminal) information into the database such as parking tickets, lapsed licenses & registrations and expired inspection stickers... so why stop there?

CLMN
 
In many states the system that prints carry permits is the same that prints driver's licenses. Not so in MA, which is unfortunate as the quality of the permit would be better.
 
Don't answer that! You have the right to remain silent. [wink]

Is this a new version of the mile high club? There must be something we can call it.

To the OP. Think positively. Maybe if the LEO has that info he won't be as likely to shoot you when he's sees the butt of your gun sticking out of your jacket. J/K
But seriously, the LEO already has that ability so I'm not seeing it as a big deal.
 
What is of more concern to me is whether or not they choose to feed that information into their Veriplate license plate recognition system's on-board database. It certainly would be easy enough (if it hasn't already been done). It's not like that data are changing dramatically in any 24-hour period. Hardly!

This is where the potential for abuse is greatest. We already know they are feeding relatively trivial (i.e., non-criminal) information into the database such as parking tickets, lapsed licenses & registrations and expired inspection stickers... so why stop there?

CLMN

What's the big deal?
 
In many states the system that prints carry permits is the same that prints driver's licenses. Not so in MA, which is unfortunate as the quality of the permit would be better.

In Ohio they are not the same system but your LTC info makes it to the vehicle registration database and shows up when the cops run a car plated on your name.

I don't think the LTC info is tied here to driver licenses, only to vehicle registrations. Which makes sense since the cop doesn't have access to your driver license number until after he stops you but he can see the license plate clearly long before he does get out of the car.
 
What's the big deal?
Let's just say that I've had family stopped and harassed over nothing and leave it at that.

I am not a big fan of these Veriplate license plate recognition systems or, for that matter, mass surveillance systems in general.

CLMN
 
Oh f*** dude did you just divide by zero...

divide_by_zero.jpg
 
a lot of states have the info come up with your drivers license info. Here in Colorado, when my license was issued, the issuing department actually showed me what shows.
When They enter your plate number, the owners drivers license comes up and on that page it notes that I have a CCW license. //
According to a well-placed source at Nashua, NH PD - same deal. Are there any states where this doesn't show up?
 
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