|
Four More Towns Found to Be Overcharging
Applicants
On Monday, January 15, 2008 GOAL was made aware of four
other towns that are overcharging applicants for their firearm licenses. To make
matters worse, at least two of these towns are requiring a doctor's letter as
part of the application process. As a result, GOAL has forwarded another request
for an investigation to the Massachusetts Inspector General's Office.
"We continue to find evidence that the state has no control
over nor any knowledge of what their licensing agents are doing," said Jim
Wallace Executive Director of Gun Owners' Action League. "Even with the mountain
of evidence that we have provided the Governor's office regarding these matters,
it seems he is unwilling to step forward and do what is necessary to protect the
civil rights of his constituents."
GOAL urges any of
our members that are being improperly treated by a licensing agent to bring the
information forward so that we may continue to address these incidents.
January 16, 2008
Gregory W.
Sullivan, Inspector General
Office of the
Inspector General
John W.
McCormack State Office Building
One Ashburton
Place, Room 1311
Boston, MA 02108
Dear Sir,
Recently, your
office investigated a complaint made by Gun Owners' Action League regarding the
city of Cambridge overcharging residents for firearms licenses. We are pleased
that your office has ruled in favor of our members and that the overcharging has
ceased. We are concerned, however, that your office closed the case prior to
ensuring that the applicants have received the refunds.
As you may
recall, GOAL also requested that your office to begin an investigation to see
how far this type of abuse has spread. In order to help you in this
investigation, our members have informed us that this practice of charging more
than the $100 fee set in statute has indeed spread.
Information
posted on the Internet shows that:
·
The town of Andover is overcharging residents by $10 (see
http://www.andoverps.net/police/forms/firearms_permit.html)
·
The town of Methuen is overcharging residents by $10 (see
http://www.methuenpolice.com/firearms_information.htm)
·
The town of Peabody may be charging an extra $10 (see
http://www.peabodypolice.org/support/armorer/)
·
The town of North Andover may be charging an extra $10 (see
http://www.napd.us/firearms.html)
We are also concerned that at least two of these towns are requiring an
affidavit from a physician. “Letter from the applicant’s
physician stating the applicant has no medical or psychological issues that
would preclude him/her from owning, carrying, or legally using a firearm.” This
is a clear violation of Chapter 140, section 131(g) “The application for
such license shall be made in a standard form provided by the executive director
of the criminal history systems board..”. Nothing in this section grants the
authority to a licensing agent to demand anything not specifically required by
the statutory standard licensing process. The affidavit would appear to be in
violation of the intent of the Americans with Disabilities act, also.
We would also like to bring to your attention paragraph (k) of Chapter 140,
Section 131. (k) Whoever knowingly issues a license in violation of this section
shall be punished by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $1,000 or by
imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than two years in a jail or
house of correction, or by both such fine and imprisonment. It would appear from
the evidence we continue to find that licenses are indeed being issued in clear
violation of this section and that action to prosecute may be necessary.
We regret that other state agencies have been unwilling to enforce these laws
and that GOAL is forced to turn to your department for assistance. Thank you for
your attention to these matters and we look forward to your quick action.
Sincerely,
James L. Wallace
Executive Director
_________________________________________________________________________
Cambridge License Fee Violation Update
As GOAL members are
aware, in late November our organization sent a letter to the Massachusetts
Inspector General's Office asking them to investigate illegal fee overcharges by
the City of Cambridge. We are pleased to announce that the Inspector General has
found these overcharges to be "dubious" and has ordered the city to cease
the practice. (To view the pdf letter from the IG's
office click here.)
While this is very
good news that the state has stepped forward to cease the overcharging practice
in this one city, there are still several issues that remain unresolved.
"Now that the city
has been found to be illegally overcharging lawful citizens for their licenses,
it is up to the state to ensure that those people are refunded," said Jim
Wallace Executive Director of Gun Owners Action League. "The City of Cambridge
is acting as a licensing agent for the state. That agent of the state has now
been found to have violated the licensing laws and steps need to be taken to
correct that."
To follow up, GOAL
has sent the following letter to the Governor requesting that he take action to
ensure that citizens are refunded and that the licensing responsibilities for
the citizens of Cambridge be handed over to the State Police.
December 31,
2007
The Honorable
Deval Patrick
Governor of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Dear Governor
Patrick,
As you may
recall, back in mid-November, we sent you a copy of our request to have the
Inspector General look at the policy of the city of Cambridge overcharging its
citizens for firearms licenses. After an investigation, the Inspector General’s
office determined that there is no statutory basis allowing a city or town to
charging any fee beyond those set in statute (copies of this correspondence are
enclosed).
We are pleased
that the Inspector General’s Office has acted to stop the illegal overcharging.
But this is only part of what now needs to be done. On behalf of the lawful gun
owners of this state, we hereby request that your office do the following:
-
Since the city of Cambridge
was acting as an official licensing agent your office must ensure that all
of the applicants be refunded (with penalties and interest) regardless of
how many years ago it took place.
-
Remove the licensing authority
from the City of Cambridge and place the responsibility for licensing those
residents in the hands of the State Police.
-
Disciplinary action must be
taken against the state’s licensing agent in the City of Cambridge.
-
Launch a statewide
investigation to determine how many other licensing agents are illegally
overcharging license applicants.
Governor, this
is yet another example of a state mandated licensing system which the state has
no control over. We look forward to hearing from your office on this matter and
your quick action to protect the civil rights of your constituents.
Sincerely,
James L. Wallace
Executive Director
The Honorable
Therese Murray, Senate President
The Honorable Richard Tisei, Senate Minority Leader
The Honorable Salvatore F. DiMasi, Speaker of the House
The Honorable Brad Jones, House Minority Leader
The Honorable James Timilty, Senate Chair Public Safety and Homeland Security
The Honorable Michael Costello, House Chair Public Safety and Homeland
Security
EOPS General Counsel Gregory Massing
Kelly Downs, Esq.
Cambridge legislative delegation
____________________________________________________________
GOAL Requests Mass. Inspector General to Investigate
License Fee Violations
Just prior to the Thanksgiving Holiday, Gun Owners' Action
sent a letter to the Massachusetts Inspector General Gregory Sullivan urging him
to conduct an investigation into firearm license fee abuse. Last week it came to
the attention of GOAL that the City of Cambridge was illegally charging license
applicants an additional twenty dollars to process their licenses.
"This additional charge is a clear violation of state law.
Sections 129B and 131 of Chapter 140 of the Massachusetts General Laws state
exactly what citizens can be charged for application fees," said Jim Wallace
Executive Director of GOAL. "There is nothing that grants local licensing agents
any authority to attach additional fees to the licensing process, that is to be
controlled at the state level. We are requesting that the Inspector General
conduct an investigation into the matter. If it is found that local authorities
have violated the law the state government should ensure that these practices
cease immediately and that citizens be refunded their money."
This is yet another example of a statewide licensing system that is out of
control. GOAL is urging all of our members that have been over charged for their
license applications to document what took place and forward the information to
GOAL Headquarters PO Box 567, Northboro, MA 01532
__________________________________________________________
November 19, 2007
Gregory W.
Sullivan, Inspector General
Office of the
Inspector General
ohn W. McCormack
State Office Building
One Ashburton
Place, Room 1311
Boston, MA 02108
Dear Sir,
We are writing
to request that you take prompt action to stop the City of Cambridge from
overcharging for firearms licenses.
Enclosed please
find a printout from the city of Cambridge Police Department website in which
they indicate that they are overcharging for all licenses by $20. They are
charging $120 for the Class A and Class B Licenses to Carry a Firearm, and $45
for the Restricted Firearms Identification Card.
Those fees are
set by statute at $100 and $25 respectively. Chapter 140, section 129B,
paragraphs 9A and 9B, clearly indicate that the licensing fee shall be $100, and
that the police department is to retain $25 of that fee.
“(9A) Except as
provided in clause (9B), the fee for an application for a firearm identification
card shall be $100, which shall be payable to the licensing authority and shall
not be prorated or refunded in the case of revocation or denial. The licensing
authority shall retain $25 of the fee; $50 of the fee shall be deposited in the
General Fund; and $25 of the fee shall be deposited in the Firearms Fingerprint
Identity Verification Trust Fund. ….
(9B) The
application fee for a firearm identification card issued for the sole purpose of
purchasing or possessing chemical mace, pepper spray or other similarly
propelled liquid, gas or powder designed to temporarily incapacitate shall be
$25, which shall be payable to the licensing authority and shall not be prorated
or refunded in the case of revocation or denial. The licensing authority shall
retain 50 per cent of the fee and the remaining portion shall be deposited in
the General Fund. …”
Section 131 of
that same chapter, pertaining to the License to Carry a Firearm, states:
“The fee for the application shall be $100, which shall be payable to the
licensing authority and shall not be prorated or refunded in case of revocation
or denial. The licensing authority shall retain $25 of the fee; $50 of the fee
shall be deposited into the general fund of the commonwealth and not less than
$50,000 of the funds deposited into the General Fund shall be allocated to the
Firearm Licensing Review Board, established in section 130B, for its operations
and that any funds not expended by said board for its operations shall revert
back to the General Fund; and $25 of the fee shall be deposited in the Firearms
Fingerprint Identity Verification Trust Fund. For law enforcement officials, or
local, state, or federal government entities acting on their behalf, the fee for
the application shall be set at $25, which shall be payable to the licensing
authority and shall not be prorated or refunded in case of revocation or denial.
The licensing authority shall retain $12.50 of the fee, and $12.50 of the fee
shall be deposited into the general fund of the commonwealth…”
We urge your
office to take action to stop the Cambridge Police Department from abusing the
public trust, and arrange to have all citizens who have overpaid the $20
reimbursed. We would also like to see any appropriate criminal charges levied.
Gun Owners’
Action League is concerned that this is not an isolated incident. We urge you to
begin an investigation to see how far this type of abuse has spread.
Thank you for
your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
James L. Wallace
Executive Director
|
.JPG){kind=small}
