A Massachusetts man who was convicted of possessing less than an ounce of marijuana in 1975 is now seeking to own to own a handgun again.<\/p>\n
Steven Richmond, who was charged with a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge 40 years ago, has filed an injunctive relief asking Hingham Police Chief Michael Peraino to issue him a License to Carry so he may possess a handgun inside his home and transport it to a local gun range. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Complaint alleges that Richmond, in 1975, was convicted in Florida for simple possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, a misdemeanor for which Richmond paid a $252 fine and served no jail time,\u201d the injunction reads. \u201cRichmond has not been convicted of a felony or any other criminal offense considered disqualifying for the purposes of obtaining an LTC. Today, Richmond seeks to purchase a handgun for self-defense in his home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richmond can still own a rifle or shotgun within the confines of his home, but the Massachusetts native wants a handgun, and argued that a similar case landed in favor of the plaintiff. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis case is substantially identical to the facts presented in Wesson v. Town of Salisbury, 13 F. Supp. 3d 171, 178 (D. Mass. 2014), in another session of this Court,\u201d the injunction reads. \u201cIn that case, Judge Stearns entered a judgment in favor of plaintiffs, finding that their Second Amendment rights had been violated when they were disqualified from obtaining an LTC on the basis of a single, out-of-state conviction for simple possession of marijuana.\u201d<\/p>\n
Possession of small amounts of marijuana has all but been decriminalized in Massachusetts, and given Richmond\u2019s clean record aside from the marijuana charge, it\u2019s entirely possible the judge may rule in his favor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Massachusetts man who was convicted of possessing less than an ounce of marijuana in 1975 is now seeking to own to own a handgun again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":43407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[244,7,326,25,240],"tags":[132,122],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-43404","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-2nd-amendment-r2kba","8":"category-gunsamerica-authors","9":"category-brent","10":"category-current-events","11":"category-this-week","12":"tag-buzz","13":"tag-r2kba"},"yoast_head":"\n