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State's high court rejects challenge to gun permit age limits

Print | Comments () Posted by Martin Finucane April 28, 2011 12:38 PM

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By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

The state’s highest court has rejected a challenge to the age limits set in the state’s gun permitting laws, saying the criminal defendant who had challenged the laws had no right to do so because he hadn’t even applied for permits.

“Because the defendant never applied … (and was not consequently denied solely on his age), we need not consider his claim that these provisions violate his Federal and State equal protection rights on account of effecting an age disqualification,” the Supreme Judicial Court said.

The court also noted that while a recent US Supreme Court decision found a right to keep firearms in the home for self-defense, the Supreme Court had not ruled out “regulations concerning who may possess a right to keep and bear arms.”

Aaron Powell was convicted in January 2009 in Boston Municipal Court of resisting arrest and various firearms after he pulled out a .22-caliber revolver while being chased by police in August 2008 in Roxbury. Powell was 18 when the offenses occurred.

Powell challenged the age limits in the laws requiring people to get a firearms identification card to keep a gun at home and to get a license to carry one in public. People under 15 cannot get FID cards, while people under 21 cannot get a license to carry.

“He could have applied for an FID card. He could have applied for a license to carry. If denied, he could have challenged the denial. He didn't do any of these things,” said Jake Wark, a spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.

“Challenging his gun conviction on these grounds is like a man who steals a book from the library appealing his conviction because he didn't think he could get a library card. It's an insult to every lawful, responsible gun owner," Wark said in a statement.