District Attorney Ryan Joins Chiefs of Police to Support House Gun Bill: Praises House Plan to Keep Weapons Out of the Hands of Mentally Ill, Drug Addicted and Violent Individuals
BOSTON- Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan joined the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police at the State House today to lend support to legislation passed by the House of Representatives, H 4285. The legislation includes a provision that would allow Chiefs of Police to refuse to issue a Firearms Identification Card to a person they determined to be unsuitable to possess a weapon.
The State Senate passed an alternate version of the bill, S 2284, that stripped the critical provision, leaving in place the current rule that requires police chiefs to issue a Firearms Identification Card even to applicants that have a long history of domestic violence incidents, serious mental illness, or substance abuse. An FID card authorizes its holder to purchase unlimited quantities of shotguns, rifles, and ammunition.
“Before someone is issued a permit to obtain a lethal weapon, we need to take basic steps to ensure that this person is not a threat to themselves, to their family members, or to their community. This legislation allows police to use simple common sense to make sure that rifles and shotguns don’t end up in the hands of people who are a threat,” said Ryan.
Ryan pointed to the case of Aaron Alexis, the Washington Navy Yard shooter who used a twelve-gauge shotgun to kill twelve people, including a former Maryland State Trooper, on September 16, 2013. In the aftermath of the killing spree, investigators realized that Alexis had been arrested in Seattle, Washington and Fort Worth, Texas for shooting episodes in 2004 and 2010, and that in August of 2013 he had reported to police in Newport, Rhode Island that he believed he was being followed by unidentified individuals who he claimed were using “some sort of microwave machine” to send vibrations through the floor of his apartment to prevent him from sleeping. Newport Police recorded the complaint, but had no basis to charge Alexis with any crime.
In September of that year, Alexis walked into a Virginia gun shop, passed state and federal background checks, and walked out with a Remington 870 Express Tactical shotgun and two boxes of shells. Two days later he arrived at the Navy Yard and attacked without warning.
“Under the circumstances, it should have been obvious that Aaron Alexis could not be trusted with a firearm. These facts – his prior shooting episodes, his delusional complaints – were known to law enforcement agencies and had been written up in formal police reports. And yet, amazingly, under the law as it exists today, a police chief in Massachusetts would have no choice but to issue Aaron Alexis a Firearms Identification Card. The bill passed by the House of Representatives would change that, and it’s a change that is long overdue,” said Ryan. “That’s why I stand with the Chiefs of Police and ask our friends in the State Senate to restore this important provision. I am hopeful that a compromise can be reached and a bill signed into law that does all we can to protect our citizens from gun violence.”