Just a few thoughts after reading through all this (although the original story was taken down).
Everyone's saying this guy's disarmed since his LTC was revoked. If he has an FID, then he still has access to certain long guns, and can keep his ammo and components. This is why every single gun owner reading this should double up on their licenses. Your LTC is not enough.
ATF is involved, I'm assuming because of his C&R. There's a detail in this story though that makes me wonder. In this recent news story from this thread it was mentioned that some people in Lowell were involved in dealing without an FFL and straw purchases. I'm not saying that this guy was involved in any wrongdoing, but it's definitely possible that ATF & Lowell PD are antsy to see so many guns in one place after dealing with that case recently or that there was something suspicious going on to make them believe that this guy was involved in some kind of unlawful dealing.
Many cities in Mass. have ordinances that bar any firearms sales other than by state licensed dealers, including those between licensed LTC/FID/C&R holders (Worcester is one such city). I checked, Lowell doesn't have one specifically, but City of Lowell Code of Ordinances 185-10(A)(4) bars the sale of firearms at a yard sale. No, seriously. He may have said the wrong thing when he reported the theft and made it sound like he was violating a state, federal or local law with sales, even if he wasn't.
Caselaw isn't clear on what is a "secured in a locked container." Good luck getting the courts to spell that one out. But even without that, it's possible that this guy's home vault was easily broken into. There's caselaw in Mass. where a homemade container wasn't deemed secure enough.
The updated news story that says "very, very secure" doesn't tell us if the LEO was saying that the basement was secure or if the vault itself was secure. Nitpicky but it could weigh into the case.
No offense, but a lot of you guys posting in this thread could be in similar shoes. Learn the laws, please, free legal advice all day on NES.
Everyone's saying this guy's disarmed since his LTC was revoked. If he has an FID, then he still has access to certain long guns, and can keep his ammo and components. This is why every single gun owner reading this should double up on their licenses. Your LTC is not enough.
ATF is involved, I'm assuming because of his C&R. There's a detail in this story though that makes me wonder. In this recent news story from this thread it was mentioned that some people in Lowell were involved in dealing without an FFL and straw purchases. I'm not saying that this guy was involved in any wrongdoing, but it's definitely possible that ATF & Lowell PD are antsy to see so many guns in one place after dealing with that case recently or that there was something suspicious going on to make them believe that this guy was involved in some kind of unlawful dealing.
Many cities in Mass. have ordinances that bar any firearms sales other than by state licensed dealers, including those between licensed LTC/FID/C&R holders (Worcester is one such city). I checked, Lowell doesn't have one specifically, but City of Lowell Code of Ordinances 185-10(A)(4) bars the sale of firearms at a yard sale. No, seriously. He may have said the wrong thing when he reported the theft and made it sound like he was violating a state, federal or local law with sales, even if he wasn't.
Caselaw isn't clear on what is a "secured in a locked container." Good luck getting the courts to spell that one out. But even without that, it's possible that this guy's home vault was easily broken into. There's caselaw in Mass. where a homemade container wasn't deemed secure enough.
The updated news story that says "very, very secure" doesn't tell us if the LEO was saying that the basement was secure or if the vault itself was secure. Nitpicky but it could weigh into the case.
No offense, but a lot of you guys posting in this thread could be in similar shoes. Learn the laws, please, free legal advice all day on NES.