kimmie1911
NES Member
Boston Gun and Rifle's application does say that you have to be a U.S. citizen. However, since it's a privately owned club, it wouldn't take much to change that. I'll check with them.
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Sorry, but you'll just be wasting your time. The BOD does not change Bylaws at BR&P, it is done only at the Annual Meeting in December each year. I also know that without BOD support, any changes to the Bylaws have ZERO chance of passage and I sensed no support for such a change when I mentioned this case and the change in law. I wish that I had hopes of such a change, but 13 years as an active member tell me otherwise. And with 4000 members, there is no sense that we need to change to gain/bring in new members.
Read the application form, top line or two specifies that one must be a US Citizen. I don't have my Bylaws handy, but I'm sure that it is in there (IIRC the club president mentioned that it would require a Bylaw change).
LenS, thank you for your confirmation.
So, it seems the only option I have here is submit the application without club membership see how Braintree PD will say to me.
Or get citizenship then get membership...
LenS, thank you for your confirmation.
So, it seems the only option I have here is submit the application without club membership see how Braintree PD will say to me.
Or get citizenship then get membership...
Shouldn't this open them up for a world of hurt in court?
So you have to have a club membership before Braintree will process your app?
Oh, they'll process it all right, and then they'll most likely deny you for not having one.
http://www.braintreepd.org/LTC.pdf
Boston Gun and Rifle's application does say that you have to be a U.S. citizen.
So you have to have a club membership before Braintree will process your app?
Hmm... And yet, there's no such STATE requirement, so the BPD is exceeding it's authority there. Wonder if there's another lawsuit in the offing...
LenS, thank you for your confirmation.
So, it seems the only option I have here is submit the application without club membership see how Braintree PD will say to me.
Or get citizenship then get membership...
Hmm... And yet, there's no such STATE requirement, so the BPD is exceeding it's authority there. Wonder if there's another lawsuit in the offing...
It's a long haul from Braintree but I was curious, so I checked. I don't see a requirement like that in Harvard Sportsman's Club's bylaws.
Yes, unfortunately.
Thank you, dwarven1, are you the member of Harvard Sportsman's Club? How is the club?
I'll check the application procedure there and I'm really interested in the IDPA training in Harvard Sportsman's Club as well.
"Suitability". Or so they claim.How is that legal?
"Suitability". Or so they claim.
How is that legal?
Too bad they don't know that being a member of a gun club has nothing to do with Suitability.
Is any other group beside aliens for membership at Braintree R&P? Do they admit blacks and Jews?
Too bad they don't know that being a member of a gun club has nothing to do with Suitability.
Rob Boudrie said:One thing to consider with BR&P is the possible history of the club's alien ban. It's quote possible that the ban was enacted because aliens couldn't own handguns.
There was a group of monkeys with a stairway with food at the top. Every time a monkey walked up the stairs to get the food, he was sprayed with water. Eventually, all the monkeys learned this and would not go up. A new monkey was introduced and when he tried to go up, the other monkeys knew about the problem and stopped him. The monkeys were replaced one by one until there were no monkeys left who had ever seen or experienced the water spray. Even so, all of these monkeys, who had no idea why, would stop any new monkey who tried to go for the food ... simply because it had always been done that way.
They will make the argument that if you don't belong somewhere that you have no way to practice (legally) and thus could be a danger to society if you ever use your firearm.
Remember that the US Constitution is null and void in MA and there is no recognition of the 2nd Amendment being applicable here.
It is terribly unfortunate that the inalienable and per-existing rights the framers had the foresight to protect are, after 200+ years, seen as uniquely 'American' rights that originated with the Constitution and only apply to Americans. A belief in our rights really gives us the responsibility to encourage and facilitate the exercise of fundamental rights by all people. It's sad that Braintree and other clubs have such a narrow view of rights and who should be able to exercise them. They unwitting play into the hands of those who think that the Second Amendment is 'different', and should be regulated 'differently' from other rights....
If I were to guess (and it is strictly a SWAG), the "US Citizens Only" requirement at a lot of clubs may well have been fallout from the McCarthy anti-communist witch-hunt in the 1950s or WWI or WWII worries about spies/enemies training in the US. [I do think that researching why this requirement came about could be of some historic interest.]
This. +1The police departments that insist on club membership are just using that as a way to make it more expensive and difficult for people to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
I think that if one looks carefully, they will find that many/most clubs in MA have this requirement. I'm sure that the history of such a requirement would be interesting to know.
According to my club's bylaws US citizenship is required too.
If I can ever find time to attend a meeting I think I have found yet another way to make myself "popular" around that place...
Yup!
I brought the subject up at BR&P right after I let the 60+ at the meeting know about the Comm2A win! Not one person spoke up and said "yes, we should re-look at this" and the club president reacted in a negative way towards the suggestion (I don't recall exactly what he said)....
TTBOMK nobody has successfully challenged most of the excessive BS used by some towns as "policy" to determine "suitability" . . . such as doctors letters, Notarized recommendations, club memberships (Atty Karen MacNutt lost that one against Boston many years ago), etc.
Actually, the MacNutt v Police Commissioner of Boston was to challenge the range test and the range test fee (in addition to the $100 LTC application fee). It had nothing to do with club membership. She lost on the range test but won in regards to the fee. The club membership requirement was challenged - see Victor v. Barkhouse, and was won, resulting in Randolph doing away with it's club membership requirement.
Police departments can no longer use this excuse for not taking applications from lawfully admitted permanent residents.
Three C&D letters and numerous calls to town attorneys in Arlington, Lynn, and Boston PD.It's not like we let them use the excuse either. How many C&Ds did we send plus the lawyer made how many more phone calls? Things didn't always go smooth but where people didn't try we made sure an effort was made.