The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and Gun Owners Action League are suing Massachusetts for slow-walking the permit process for non-residents in such a painful way that it makes New Jersey’s process look kind and fair.
SAF and GOAL, along with three private citizens, filed the suit on Wednesday, August 13, in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Lawson vs. Campbell (Andrea Joy Campbell is the state Attorney General) challenges the onerous barriers erected by the state that severely infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of non-residents and ultimately leave them defenseless, compared to the process for residents.
In fact, the disparity in the treatment of U.S. citizens who are ultimately going through the same process to exercise the same rights is shocking and quite clearly unconstitutional, creating a tiered and unfair system.
Massachusetts non-resident permits are only valid for one year, while resident permits are valid for six years. Additionally, the process itself is so lengthy, arduous, and filled with delays that non-resident permit holders must file their renewals every year mere months after having received the prior permit. The initial permit application process often takes six months or more and includes repeated mandatory in-person visits to the commonwealth.
The complaint paints the picture in language we are all familiar with:
Yet, all of them [plaintiffs] are trapped in the same vicious cycle of inordinate delays in the licensing process, forcing first-time applicants to park their Second Amendment rights at the border for months on end before they can lawfully keep and bear arms within the Commonwealth and then, after their LTC is finally issued, trapping them in legal purgatory each year as they must subsist with an expired license for weeks or months as they await approval of their “renewal” applications.
The complaint documents how each of the plaintiffs have been embroiled in the difficult process, struck by unexplainable delays, hardships, and ultimately been treated as second-class citizens in a process that serves as the punishment.
They argue that ultimately, “…the Commonwealth’s licensing scheme, as enforced by the named Defendants, violates the fundamental Constitutional rights of all such individuals: foremost, the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, but also their rights to equal protection and to the privileges and immunities that must be afforded all Americans under the Constitution.
We will continue to watch this case and report on developments.
