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My friend is looking at time....

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Herrminator

Herrminator

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Alright so I know this guy, worked with him for a year and a real nice guy..he recently had a house fire and an unregistered rifle was found in the house, it was his grandfathers from the war and along with it his uniform and other war heir looms, no ammo. So they find the rifle whos barrel is rusty and I dont think it could have been fired... after the fire they say it smells like gun powder which was a total lie. Now he's looking at felon possesion of a firearm.

He was originally from New Jersey brought the rifle from there with his mother who is disabled..he came to MA in 6th grade so he wasn't aware of laws and his mother has severe schizophrenia..anyways I really dont wanna see my good friend thrown in a system where I know he's going to be counter productive, he's a good kid and hard worker. Is there anything we can do here...This scenario has to be pretty common..guns passed down in the family unregistered.
 
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Wow, that sucks. I was wondering if anyone actually got in trouble for old rifles from long-passed relatives. There has to be hundreds of thousands of households in MA alone that have unregistered old rifle put away (and typically forgotten) somewhere.
 
Have him contact one of the lawyers in this thread. My personal recommendation would be either Darius Arbabi, Jesse Cohen or Keith Langer.
 
I'm not clear on whether your saying "felony possession of ... " or "felon in possession of ..."

In either case, a good lawyer is crucial to a good outcome. In the latter case it's essential.
 
theGringo said:
I'm not clear on whether your saying "felony possession of ... " or "felon in possession of ..."

In either case, a good lawyer is crucial to a good outcome. In the latter case it's essential.
Click to expand...


he might have had a couple misdemeanors but no he's not a felon...

I told him I would go into court to help him/testify..
 
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Herrminator said:
I think he might have had a minor in possession of alcohol when he was like 19...
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In my day, you didn't get charged for that. The cops drank your beer, and that was punishment enough.

I hope your friend makes out OK. He needs a competent firearms lawyer. See that he talks to one of them at NES. A firearms conviction can loom very large in the future. Even if jail time is avoided, it's an ugly rap for employment and other purposes.
 
With all due respect to the three attorneys that we have here, this guy needs a CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY who is good at getting people off the hook wrt firearms. That is not usually going to be the same as a good attorney who can get you an unrestricted LTC!!

The name on the top of my list is:

Kevin Reddington
1342 Belmont St, Ste 203
Brockton, MA 02301
(508) 583-4280

He's successfully defended LEOs involved with shootings, etc. and has a stellar reputation.

I don't believe that I've ever met the gentleman, but if were in a legal jam involving firearms, that's who I'd be calling first.

I don't know if this "list" is valid or not, but FWIW:
http://www.superlawyers.com/massach...ton/87a6475f-4272-42b2-a8e4-0272807f8ba5.html

This is definitely good info on him:
http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/calendar/event.php?id=85641&cid=44&oid=0

Good luck, he'll need it!
 
Who (other than you) says he was ever in possession of the rifle? Maybe he knew nothing about it and his mother brought it. If he's smart enough to keep his mouth shut they should have a hell of a time trying to prove anything. Unless there are records from NJ putting the rifle in his family's possession, they'd be hard pressed to prove that it wasn't left in the house by a previous owner. Unless he or some "friends" have been running their mouths off, the worst that should happen would be that he ends up out a couple of thousand to have a decent attorney get the case tossed.

Ken
 
KMaurer said:
Who (other than you) says he was ever in possession of the rifle? Maybe he knew nothing about it and his mother brought it. If he's smart enough to keep his mouth shut they should have a hell of a time trying to prove anything. Unless there are records from NJ putting the rifle in his family's possession, they'd be hard pressed to prove that it wasn't left in the house by a previous owner. Unless he or some "friends" have been running their mouths off, the worst that should happen would be that he ends up out a couple of thousand to have a decent attorney get the case tossed.

Ken
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Seems like public discussion, particularly by anyone planning on testifying should be stopped and perhaps consider deleting this thread... [thinking]
 
well if the rifle was unable to shoot because of defective/ old parts/corrosion is it still considered a firearm?

And he's an honest kid he told the police how it was a family heir loom.....
 
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Herrminator said:
well if the rifle was unable to shoot because of defective/ old parts/corrosion is it still considered a firearm?
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Yes.
Herrminator said:
And he's an honest kid he told the police how it was a family heir loom.....
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That was a very stupid thing to do. Why, oh why, do people not STFU and lawyer up when questioned by police?

Why do parents FAIL to teach that to their kids? We must let go of the Ozzie & Harriett view of the police. They are your friends, up until the point they suspect you of a crime. Then they only pretend to be.

[thinking]
 
So, since the next step of getting a lawyer is clear, let me ask the logical next question:

What preventative measures have you all taken so that your relatives will not have to deal with this when you're gone? Assuming they can't/won't get licensed (based on age, politics or just plain laziness) would they know of a shop that will take the consignment? Will they know how to find fair values?
 
baystate said:
So, since the next step of getting a lawyer is clear, let me ask the logical next question:

What preventative measures have you all taken so that your relatives will not have to deal with this when you're gone? Assuming they can't/won't get licensed (based on age, politics or just plain laziness) would they know of a shop that will take the consignment? Will they know how to find fair values?
Click to expand...
I don't have to worry about that where I live.
 
Herrminator said:
well if the rifle was unable to shoot because of defective/ old parts/corrosion is it still considered a firearm?

And he's an honest kid he told the police how it was a family heir loom.....
Click to expand...

Honest but not smart. The police are not your friends; they ask questions so you can incriminate yourself. Time to lawyer up.
 
Half Cocked said:
First of all......what kind of rifle if I may ask?

Second...exactly what was he charged with?
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I think he told me it was a Remington 1903-a3 30-06 ...he basically just said he could be looking at a felony and might see time if the judge really wanted to make an example of him. He was charged with improper storage of firearm, no trigger lock(thrown out), Unregistered firearm, 3 counts of stolen property (he found town signs and a police license plate on the road and kept them in his room as decoration)
 
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Herrminator said:
he basically just said he could be looking at a felony and might see time if the judge really wanted to make an example of him.
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Was he actually charged with anything or not?

Depending on what he was charged with the gun would have to be operable (or easily made operable) to convict.
 
I'm confused. I thought that transfers were recorded in MA but that firearms were not registered. I also thought that there was no need of a permit to possess a firearm in your home. Can someone enlighten me?
 
Gammon said:
I'm confused. I thought that transfers were recorded in MA but that firearms were not registered. I also thought that there was no need of a permit to possess a firearm in your home. Can someone enlighten me?
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You cannot transfer to someone who does not have an FID, LTC A or B (depending on what it is, it may require an LTC-A - i.e. high cap).

As of 1998 all previously issued FIDs have expired which has turned a large segment of MA residents into criminals[thinking] as they don't realize this...

So, no, so far as I know, there is no way to posses this gun without a license, unless it had been rendered inert, but I am sketchy on the details there...

Ridiculous if we waste a single penny of our justice system on such things[angry]
 
BTW - There's a nice primer on MA gun laws in the Gun Law section. Read, take some rolaids, read some more, yell at something, kick something and then go get a license and buy as many guns as you can afford in protest.[wink][laugh]
 
Probably a question I should know the answer to but since the MA laws changed the Lifetime FID cards a few years back, thus rendering many MA residents into criminal possession (without a license) if someone moves into MA with firearms they have 90 days (I think) to get properly licensed to make those weapons legal.

Here's the question...do they then have to "register" those weapons via FA10 forms just as we do if we buy a rifle or shotgun out of state and bring it back to MA?
 
If the guns are brought with them when they come, no registration is needed. If they are left in the previous location, and brought in later, then they must be registered.
 
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