This is an interesting story, and why we need to fight against gun control:
Richard Ahlstrand, of Auburn, Massachusetts, faces criminal charges after encountering a bear in his back yard and shooting the damned thing to avoid being mauled or eaten. Specifically, as noted at Reason 24/7, he’s charged with “illegally killing a bear, illegally baiting a bear, illegal possession of a firearm and failure to secure a firearm.” All of these charges, once translated from Massachusetts to American, seem to stack up to outrage that Ahlstrand didn’t make his yard completely inhospitable to animals that are rarely seen in the area, and then investigated a suspicious noise with a weapon in hand rather than cower under the bed. Worst of all, he actually defended himself when he encountered danger.
According to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Ahlstrand had a 50-gallon drum of birdseed in his backyard, and this appears to be the basis of the “baiting”charge against him. Leaving the birdseed outside might be considered a foolish idea in an area where bears are known to congregate, but the same article quotes the police chief claiming that “bear are not common in Auburn” with the last such sighting about a year ago. So Ahlstrand shouldn’t have had birdseed because … ?
When confronted by the bear, Ahlstrand had a shotgun with him — in his own backyard, remember — because he’d heard a noise and thought he’d seen a bear the day before.
As Joe Biden said “Get a Shotgun!” except in Massachusetts you need an FID card to posses that shotgun. Also while black bears in this area have been known to attack people, the bigger concern is property damage. Still if the bear thinks he now owns the seeds he might be aggressive if you think maybe you have rights to your own backyard.
And again, remember guns aren’t just for two-legged predators!
So I bet that the “illegal posession of a firearm” is on account of his lifetime FID being expired by the state in ’99/’00 without any notice to him of that expiration.
He messed up. He had a state document that stated he could legally own a firearm. He believed that this meant he could legally own a firearm.
Ex Post Facto laws could help him out. So far the Lifetime FID has not yet been challenged in court.
His story fell apart when he went into the house to get the shotgun and then went out to kill the bear. That hardly bespeaks of fear, but does speak of baiting and out of season hunting.