So, how about municipal laws protecting the 2nd Amendment? Anyone know?
I doubt it. Ordinances and bylaws have very little weight legally anyway, so even if a town passed one, it would be a token gesture.
I also think that gun rights groups should hold off on pushing for new state level legislation until some of the cases make their way through the federal court system. Lately in Mass. the policy has been to compromise or trade off in order to make improvements in certain areas. Making the wrong move to get a bill passed now could self-castrate Mass. gun owners. A lot of this work will be done for them without any compromise. Putting money towards those court fights would be the best way to kill time while waiting for things to change IMO.
Hold fast.
Also, the Katrina bil was never passed so. IIRC the way current laws are written (in theory) any ,gov offical can declare an "emergency" and order a confiscation.
Sort of. Legally, your LTC can be revoked for "suitability" at any time, and they can take any guns/ammo you have, unless you have an FID (which would only cover the ammo and some of the guns, but still wouldn't allow a total confiscation). They can't take an FID unless you're statutorily prohibited, but there's no penalty at the state level if they take it or items you could have lawfully possessed with it anyway. Any LTC or FID denial/revocation/suspension must be in writing per MGL 140-131(f)/ MGL 140-129B(4) to be valid, and they need a warrant to search for your guns even if the revocation is valid (although a warrant shouldn't be too hard to obtain if you have a license and FA-10's filed).
While there is no penalty at the state level for violations of this, under 42 USC 1983 damages can be sought (and have been) against Mass. police officials in federal court who search without a warrant to seize guns for a revoked LTC or who revoke your LTC vindictively for excercising your 1st amendment rights,
even if you're statutorily prohibited from having the license in the first place. The Mass. SJC acknowledged that the chiefs screwed the pooch in both of those cases.
Also, the Mass. SJC has ruled that you have a 5th amendment right to not disclose anything about a firearm, even if an FA-10 was filed on it & no further transfers have been documented since then, and a warrant search doesn't produce said firearm. A court also cannot force you to produce the gun(s) or acknowledge anything about them based on an FA-10, or hold you in contempt for keeping your mouth shut re: their location or existence.
What this means is that as things stand today in Massachusetts, you must be notified of your license revocation in writing, you don't have to let LE inside to search for or take your guns without a warrant, if they can't find the guns with a warrant you don't have to explain anything about them or help locate them, and FA-10's can't be used to make you do anything. If they choose to violate your rights (which thanks to Heller & McDonald are your individual rights), you can sue their pants off at the federal level. The legality of an "emergency confiscation" hasn't been tested in the Mass. courts, but I don't think it would rise to the level of exigent circumstances required in order to legally take place without a warrant.
You'll still be out the guns in the short term if they bully their way over you, but legally you do have some clear cut protections. I still wouldn't want to move back there though.