Massachusetts Nonresident Carry Permit Delay Lawsuit Moves Forward

Massachusetts tried to shake off a lawsuit over delayed nonresident carry permits by pointing out that the plaintiffs eventually got their licenses. A federal judge was not willing to let it disappear that easily.

In Lawson v. Campbell, Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Casper allowed the plaintiffs’ as-applied Second Amendment claim and Fourteenth Amendment equal-protection claim to move forward. That does not mean the plaintiffs have won the case, but it does mean Massachusetts now has to defend how its nonresident licensing system works in real life.

The complaint takes aim at one-year nonresident licenses, repeated renewal delays and no real grace period when the state drags its feet. Massachusetts residents can hold a License to Carry for six years. Nonresidents generally get one year, pay the same $100 fee, and can still be left waiting months while their old license expires.

That matters to hunters, travelers and regular gun owners who cross state lines and still expect constitutional rights to mean something. One plaintiff owns a hunting cabin in Massachusetts. Another travels into the state for work and family. The point is simple: the government should not be able to slow-walk paperwork until a lawful citizen is disarmed, then claim there is no injury once it finally gets around to issuing the card.

Rights do not stop being rights because a state wraps them in a licensing office. If a permit system is going to exist, it needs to be timely, fair and accountable. Anything less is just denial by bureaucracy.