Massachusetts Permit to Purchase Firearms Case Ends in Favor of Plaintiff

AmmoLand ^ | June 3, 2024 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

The Second Amendment case of Morin v Lyver, granted certiorari, vacated, and remanded back to the First Circuit, has been decided in favor of the plaintiff, Alfred Morin.

In June of 2022, the Supreme Court published a clarification of how the Second Amendment should be treated by the Courts in the Bruen decision. Bruen gave clear guidance on how Heller should be applied. This was necessary because the Circuit courts had created a complicated two-step process that was used to sidestep the Heller decision. In Bruen, the court said the two-step process was one too many. The Court laid out a simple process to judge Second Amendment cases.

As a result of Bruen, four pending cases were granted certiorari, vacated, and remanded back to their circuits for rehearing using the Bruen process. Morin v Lyver was one of the four cases. It was remanded back to the First Circuit on October 3, 2022.

Morin was severely victimized as an honest man attempting to follow the law. He suffered significant legal damage for the attempt. Morin had been issued a Massachusetts license to carry in 1985. He had grown accustomed to legally going about armed. He visited the District of Columbia and was about to enter the Museum of Natural History when he noticed he was not allowed to carry firearms there. From casetext.com:

The Commonwealth issued Plaintiff a Class A license to carry firearms in 1985. His Class A license allowed him to carry a concealed firearm in public, and he had a habit of always carrying a loaded pistol on his person. In October 2004, Plaintiff drove from Massachusetts to Washington, DC, to visit his daughter. Unaware that the District of Columbia would not recognize his Massachusetts license, he carried his pistol with him.

[marktwain]

Alfred Morin was vindicated, but it took many years for the Supreme Court to hear the case.

[Vermont Lt]

I wonder how this guy drove from MA to DC thinking that his gun permit was reciprocal? It’s been pretty well known that the MA license is NOT recognized in other states because MA recognizes no other states.

I am not debating the “need” for a permit, but rather the common sense of this man—unless he was trying to be a test case.

[edwinland]

I sympathize with everyone who is victimized by the “Simon says” approach to gun laws in this country. But given those laws, isn’t it a kinda dumb that he just “assumed” DC would honor his carry license?

[ConservativeMind]

To be fair, the “District of Columbia” is not a state and is directly run by Congress.

You’d think it would not have the restrictions of various states, not unlike places like Burmuda.

[Betty Jane]

We need a case that causes the SC to rule that a permit in one state is valid in all states, like drivers’ licenses and marriage licenses. Then a follow up case to rule permits are not needed.

[sauropod]

review