Vote ‘NO’ on Article 1 👎🏼

Unconstitutional, Mean Spirited And Misses The Mark Relative To Public Safety

A proposed Gun Sale Zoning Bylaw, to be decided at fall town meeting, will grant to an elected board (Planning Board) the right to make case by case decisions on matters relative to a second amendment right.  It will duplicate existing authority, which is already granted in state law to the Chief of Police, to examine applications relative to firearms businesses in town.   By granting special permit authority to the Planning Board, it allows the Board to consider factors other than specific zoning compliance in the approval or rejection of such establishments.  This is not the Planning Board’s role. The Board does not have the expertise or institutional knowledge to render such decisions. The Chief of Police has the expertise and knowledge and continues to retain this authority under state law.  

This bylaw will create a duplication of that authority which raises the possibility of a conflict between the Planning Board and the Chief on a particular matter. This would ultimately lead to litigation that most likely would end in a decision unfavorable to the town.  The special permit grant of authority to the Planning Board, in effect, subjects the constitutional right to sell firearms to an arbitrary process, increasing the risk that an unlawful decision will be rendered.  

This matter was raised at the October 2023 town meeting and it was defeated. The 

Planning Board decided to resurrect this matter using their authority to circumvent a two-year mandatory moratorium relative to the resubmittal of defeated zoning matters.  During that time, attempts were made to reach a compromise on this matter, which would have resulted in support for the site plan provisions of the bylaw, if the Planning Board’s exercise of special permit granting authority was removed.  The Planning Board rejected this compromise.  

There is no definable public safety goal justifying this bylaw.  It is purely to harass and 

impose additional burdens and restrictions on the freedom to own and purchase firearms.  No evidence has been presented to establish any claim that this process has been or will be abused in town. The Chief of Police has the authority to regulate the issuance of such permits.  This article should be rejected because it is an unconstitutional provision that violates the second amendment. It is also a mean- spirited proposal that will have absolutely no effect on gun violence.  As a public safety-measure it completely misses the mark.  It should be rejected once again.

Vote ‘NO’ on Article 1