2nd Amendment Story: Getting a License to carry in My home state of Massachusetts varies according to your local city or town...What about Your State?

For someone in Milford with a clean criminal record and certifiably sound mind, getting a license to carry a concealed weapon is not much tougher than filling out some paperwork and waiting for a background check. 

Not in Newton. Novice gun owners there cannot get an unrestricted license to conceal and carry a weapon — even if they have a spotless record. “It’s been consistent policy: not for first-time applicants,” Newton police Lieutenant Edward Aucoin said. “I’ve had people who come in here and want to get a license without having shot a gun in their life.” 

That difference, played out across the state, reflects a patchwork system in which geography, and gut instinct, can determine whether someone obtains what is known as an unrestricted Class A license, which allows him or her to carry not only a concealed weapon but loaded, large-capacity handguns, rifles, and shotguns without limits on use. It is the broadest gun license available under state law, held by 240,000 people.

Although applicants must clear a state background check — no felony convictions or restraining orders, for example — the final say goes to local police chiefs, who have discretion to reject any resident not deemed “suitable” for a license to carry. They also can limit permits to target practice, sport, hunting, or to people whose jobs are thought to put them at risk.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

In my own case, It wasn't until a new Police Chief came on board that I was granted an unrestricted license. Being a Veteran, NRA Lifetime Member, and belonging to two Gun Clubs, didn't matter to the older Chief. Hell, I had a License to Carry in New Hampshire where I have a place in the Mountains long before that right was granted in my home state.

What's your State like?

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