Should a New Hampshire resident who drives across the state line into Massachusetts be arrested for bringing his legally-owned firearm with him?
The Bay State’s top cop says yes, and that’s exactly what’s happening to two New Hampshire gun owners who had the unfortunate luck of being involved in a traffic accident in Massachusetts.
Both are now being targeted by Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan, despite a Lowell District Court judge’s ruling that Granite Staters cannot be prosecuted in Massachusetts for lacking a Bay State license if they legally possess a gun in their home state.
The petition to prosecute New Hampshire residents Dean F. Donnell and Philip Marquis, both charged with unlicensed possession of a firearm, is scheduled to be heard by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Sept. 10.
Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell — a far-left Democrat — has filed a brief in support of Ryan and defending the commonwealth’s right to prosecute Donnell and Marquis. New Hampshire’s Republican Attorney General, John Formella, has filed a friend-of-the-court brief of his own defending the New Hampshire residents.
“This is all about ensuring that responsible gun owners can protect themselves without fear of unjust legal consequences when they cross state borders,” he said in a statement. “Upholding these rights is essential for safeguarding personal safety and reinforcing the principle that the Constitution must be respected and upheld nationwide.”
Formella argues that Massachusetts “severely encroaches upon the fundamental rights of New Hampshire citizens protected by the Second Amendment.”
“A New Hampshire citizen living on West Hollis Road in Hollis, N.H., might cross into Pepperell, Mass. by visiting a next-door-neighbor or walking down the road to find better cell phone reception,” Formella wrote. “Surely the Second Amendment’s protection of a person’s right to carry a firearm for self-defense is not so fragile as to allow Massachusetts to compel a New Hampshire citizen to choose between exercising his or her right to self-defense and visiting the Buffalo Wild Wings at the Pheasant Lane Mall, or a next-door-neighbor on West Hollis Road-Brookline Street.”
Formella also pointed out there is zero precedent for “such restrictive measures against non-residents.”
Former state Senate President Chuck Morse, who is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, praised Formella’s defense of Granite State gun owners.
“I am thrilled to see the Attorney General’s Office stand up for the Second Amendment rights of New Hampshire citizens, even in a Massachusetts Supreme Court case,” Morse stated. “We do things right here in the Granite State.”
In her petition to the Massachusetts SJC, Ryan called Coffey’s ruling dismissing the charges “erroneous” and claimed “the judge’s rationale deprives the Commonwealth of its right and obligation to enforce its laws equally for all those who are within its borders.”
Ryan also disputed the claim that prosecuting Donnell and Marquis lacks precedent “because history supports the existence of a licensing scheme to prohibit dangerous individuals from having firearms.”
Dismissing the charges, according to Ryan, would “deprive the Commonwealth of its sovereign right to equally regulate conduct with respect to all within its borders.”
Campbell’s office has issued a statement supporting Ryan and Massachusetts’ right to prosecute Donnell and Marquis, arguing that the commonwealth “applies its laws evenly to residents and non-residents alike.”
“Nothing in the Constitution prohibits Massachusetts law enforcement officers from enforcing state law within its own borders, simply because someone is from a different state,” Campbell added.
Campbell claimed in her amicus brief that jurisdictions matter.
“Until an individual—whether resident or nonresident—has been so confirmed in the jurisdiction where he or she proposes to carry, that individual does not presumptively fall within ‘the people’ to whom the Second Amendment refers,” she wrote.
State Rep. JR Hoell (R-Dunbarton), who also serves on the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition’s leadership team, told NHJournal, “There’s a reason why every national and well-respected gun ownership rights organization is paying attention” — including the pro-liberty CATO Institute think tank — to the Massachusetts case.
“Law-abiding citizens not prohibited under state and federal law should not be put in jail for simple possession of a firearm when they travel between states,” Hoell said.
Neither Donnell nor Marquis have a criminal history, and Hoell pointed out that under Massachusetts law, unlicensed possession of a firearm results in a mandatory minimum sentence of two-and-a-half years.
Hoell added NHFC filed a brief with the Massachusetts SJC opposing the prosecution of Donnell and Marquis on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers has also entered the fray.
In its brief supporting the defendants, MACDL argued that “these cases illustrate the fundamentally unconstitutional nature of Massachusetts’s non-resident handgun licensing laws.”
The cases against Donnell and Marquis, according to MACDL, have far-reaching implications.
“Because of Massachusetts’ licensing scheme, all visitors to Massachusetts find themselves in grave legal risk, through little or no fault of their own,” the brief states. “That scheme therefore violates the constitutional rights of all these interstate travelers.”
