AWB violation overturned in Dedham

If they damaged the gun/mag it's pretty obvious that this was tampering and not a cursory investigation of the firearm.

All that's obvious is the Norwood PD don't know how to properly remove a fixed mag, because they're not subject to the Healey edict.
 
Im curious to see what happens to the Cops in this case for falsifying evidence...Or is this another case of " We investigated ourselves and found no wrong doing.

You and I, and everyone else here knows the answer to that - not a damn thing.
 
Bravo sir. Bravo.

Was the prosecution arguing using the law, or the Healy edict? From the post, it sounds as if they were using her interpretation of the law? That would make it the first time?
If you read the post, the lower was built into a pistol. AR Pistols with detachable magazines are assault weapons, not under Healey made up sh*t, but under the law. Insertion of the department 30rd mag showed it had a "detachable" magazine. You then had a lot of evil features
1) over 50oz
2) magazine outside grip
3) copy of full automatic
4) possibly threaded barrel, we dont have enough info
5) possibly foregrip for off hand, not enough info

Any two and you have an assault weapon under original federal law incorporated into MA law.

Getting the "its detachable" thrown out was critical. Had it been a rifle and been otherwise MA compliant, you would have been down to Maura-land violation. Because it was a pistol, if detachable, real violation.

Good job defending this.
 
If you read the post, the lower was built into a pistol. AR Pistols with detachable magazines are assault weapons, not under Healey made up sh*t, but under the law. Insertion of the department 30rd mag showed it had a "detachable" magazine. You then had a lot of evil features
1) over 50oz
2) magazine outside grip
3) copy of full automatic
4) possibly threaded barrel, we dont have enough info
5) possibly foregrip for off hand, not enough info

Any two and you have an assault weapon under original federal law incorporated into MA law.

This is how I understand it as well.
 
From the 1994 AWB:

(C) a semiautomatic pistol (1) that has an ability to accept a
detachable magazine(2) and has at least 2 of--
``(i) an ammunition magazine that attaches to the pistol
outside of the pistol grip;
``(ii) a threaded barrel capable of accepting a barrel
extender, flash suppressor, forward handgrip, or silencer;
``(iii) a shroud that is attached to, or partially or
completely encircles, the barrel and that permits the shooter
to hold the firearm with the nontrigger hand without being
burned;
``(iv) a manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more when the
pistol is unloaded; and
``(v) a semiautomatic version of an automatic firearm; and
``(D) a semiautomatic shotgun that has at least 2 of--
``(i) a folding or telescoping stock;
``(ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath
the action of the weapon;
``(iii) a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 5 rounds;
and
``(iv) an ability to accept a detachable magazine.''

No detachable magazine, no assault weapon.
 
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From the 1994 AWB:

No detachable magazine, no assault weapon.

No, I get that part. What I meant was, the pd was going after the guy for what was actual law, not Healy’s thing.(even though they were dead wrong, and in my opinion, criminally manufacturing evidence by destroying the fixed magazine and inserting rheir own.)
 
covers all of Norfolk county
Not so for District Court. Norfolk County has District Courts in Wrentham, Stoughton, Dedham and Quincy (may be others, just these are ones that I know of and have been in on business), so the towns are divvied up for each courthouse.

If they damaged the gun/mag it's pretty obvious that this was tampering and not a cursory investigation of the firearm.
Absolutely.

Dumbasses probably didn’t know what they were dealing with. But why did The State prosecute?
Probably the same ADA and MSP Ballistics "expert" I dealt with, both great at making non-crimes sound like real crimes.

No, I get that part. What I meant was, the pd was going after the guy for what was actual law, not Healy’s thing.(even though they were dead wrong, and in my opinion, criminally manufacturing evidence by destroying the fixed magazine and inserting rheir own.)
Absolutely. This was a setup to punish him regardless of anything else he may have done.
 
Further charges are pending, and I would assume one of those charges is what led to the initial arrest, and the discovery of the firearm in question, upon confiscation for the other charges.
At worst, I hope the defendant can mount a unified defense
where the PD's handling of the gun is used to impeach the veracity
of any testimony on the other charges.
 
Dealing with a PD many years ago over "guns" they are out to charge anyone and everyone with something.
I do believe PD are only on the side of charges and convictions. I would bet there was not a single officer/chief/DA that even mentioned that tampering with evidence was a bad Idea. Or they laughed it off and said "whats the worse outcome they let the guy go"
 
We need Rights Enforcement Agencies to combat(or replace) the blatantly illegal and aggressive Law Enforcement Agencies. Cops are supposed to be the good guys. Hell, I’d be a cop if the law was about justice but it doesn’t seem that way these days. Seems to be more about enforcing beurocratic “rules”.
The way to do that is to reduce them to the sitcom level of "one bullet issued. Use it wisely".

Or another plan from a sci fi writer from the 30s, draft police like we do jury: from the general populace at random every registered voter gets a turn enforcing and patrolling. 5 days a year minimum requirement. Maybe less or more in some cities based on population.

I think this author had a plan of officials and politicians being similarly randomly drafted, but they had 90 day long events.

Judges were in for a single case only. (Same cycle as jury.)
 
Dumbasses probably didn’t know what they were dealing with. But why did The State prosecute?

Because the state or some kopsch don't like being made sport of. So they go full retard. Also this guy apparently is facing other charges beyond the gun.. a common prosecution tactic in MA is to build up a mountain of garbage to get the accused to suck for a plea deal faster.... Remember what happened to MTBS guy? Guy had like 13 charges against him and all but like 2 were dropped....
 
If they damaged the gun/mag it's pretty obvious that this was tampering and not a cursory investigation of the firearm.

This shit right here is part of the reason I like the DSI fixed mag lower. Sure they could do the same shit with that, but it's harder to argue that the magazine is detachable when there's no mag catch milled out at all.

But this is absolutely tampering and someone should go to jail for it!
 
Joe Morgan is a stand-up dude. There are FFL's in MA that are willing to send some ignorant dummy down 495 with "permanently altered" 30 round magazines with 10 round governors put in with electrical tape by their "gun smith".
Joe did his research, checked with the right people and worked around to make a legit MA ok option for us. To hear that Joe paid the guys legal fees just reinforces my opinion of him. Rock solid character there.
 
Im curious to see what happens to the Cops in this case for falsifying evidence...Or is this another case of " We investigated ourselves and found no wrong doing.

Think you answered your own question there.

WTF, this is why I don't trust in the law, cause cops will break it if they arrest you.
 
Joe Morgan is a stand-up dude. There are FFL's in MA that are willing to send some ignorant dummy down 495 with "permanently altered" 30 round magazines with 10 round governors put in with electrical tape by their "gun smith".
Joe did his research, checked with the right people and worked around to make a legit MA ok option for us. To hear that Joe paid the guys legal fees just reinforces my opinion of him. Rock solid character there.


Thanks Don, I appreciate that.
 
This shit right here is part of the reason I like the DSI fixed mag lower. Sure they could do the same shit with that, but it's harder to argue that the magazine is detachable when there's no mag catch milled out at all.

But this is absolutely tampering and someone should go to jail for it!

DSI....yeah they make the 2nd best fixed mag stuff around. Also, doubtful that the owner of DSI would have stepped up and paid the defense attorney bill, taken vacation days to attend the hearings, and provided testimony on behalf of the defendant.
 
If you read the post, the lower was built into a pistol. AR Pistols with detachable magazines are assault weapons, not under Healey made up sh*t, but under the law. Insertion of the department 30rd mag showed it had a "detachable" magazine. You then had a lot of evil features
1) over 50oz
2) magazine outside grip
3) copy of full automatic
4) possibly threaded barrel, we dont have enough info
5) possibly foregrip for off hand, not enough info

Any two and you have an assault weapon under original federal law incorporated into MA law.

Getting the "its detachable" thrown out was critical. Had it been a rifle and been otherwise MA compliant, you would have been down to Maura-land violation. Because it was a pistol, if detachable, real violation.

Good job defending this.


Thanks. It was interesting, and the CMR definitions definitly came into play here. To them, a fixed magazine means permanently attached (welded, fused, etc). If you read CMR 501 7.00, you will see the definition of “capable of accepting a large capacity feeding device” allows the magazine to be removeable with alteration.

Our argument, in part, was that a magazine has several servicable components...that may need to be removed for repair or replacement. This was a fantastic outcome, and I am glad to say I particicpated to the fullest extent possible.
 
I know it probably can’t be discussed right now because of pending cases, but am I the only one wondering how this person ended up with this charge against him?
 
any more info on this case?

I'm sure it's still ongoing.

I am broke as a bum lately but I am absolutely going to spend some money with Joe when I can. In fact I'm going to look into buying one of those awesome keychains right now. Bravo sir, you stepped it up bigtime to help your customer out.

ETA: Check is in the mail Joe!
 
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