Bartley-Fox Law
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The Bartley-Fox Law (also known as the Bartley-Fox Amendment) is a
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
law that sets a one-year
mandatory minimum sentence Mandatory sentencing requires that offenders serve a predefined term for certain crimes, commonly serious and violent offenses. Judges are bound by law; these sentences are produced through the legislature, not the judicial system. They are inst ...
for anyone found to be illegally carrying a firearm. It was passed by the
Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...
in 1974 and took effect in April 1975. Studies on its effectiveness have been mixed, and its strict provisions have been subject to criticism. __TOC__


Background and passage

The Bartley-Fox Law was co-sponsored by, and named after, Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives David M. Bartley and retired judge
J. John Fox J. John Fox (d. October 4, 1999 in Needham, Massachusetts, Needham, Massachusetts) was an American judge known for his central role in the founding of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachuse ...
. The text mandates a one-year prison sentence for anyone convicted of possession of a
firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...
without a license in the state of Massachusetts, and added two years to the sentence of anyone convicted of committing a crime with a gun. Bartley-Fox passed the
Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...
without any significant opposition, becoming the first such law ever to be enacted in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The law was originally intended to come into effect in January 1975, but Bartley led an effort to delay it until April 1 to ensure that the state's citizens were fully aware of the significant penalties. To accomplish this, Bartley-Fox was accompanied by extensive publicity of the fact that the ban on unlicensed possession of handguns would now be strictly enforced. As part of the campaign,
TV spot A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
s aired beginning in February 1975 with the slogan "If you are caught with a gun, you will go to prison for a year and nobody can get you out." Despite these efforts, newspapers reported in April that authorities were "swamped" with individuals trying to obtain the legally required gun licenses and firearm identification cards. In July 1975, Bartley and Fox authored an
op-ed An op-ed, short for "opposite the editorial page", is a written prose piece, typically published by a North-American newspaper or magazine, which expresses the opinion of an author usually not affiliated with the publication's editorial board. O ...
in ''The New York Times'', where they stated that the law was "designed to remove the temptation to carry guns and thereby reduce the chance that they will be used ... Only the person who insists on carrying a weapon without legal authority need fear this law." Two months later, they wrote a
letter to the editor A letter to the editor (LTE) is a Letter (message), letter sent to a publication about an issue of concern to the reader. Usually, such letters are intended for publication. In many publications, letters to the editor may be sent either through ...
of the same paper after the two attempted assassinations of US President Gerald Ford:


Effects

Politically, the Bartley-Fox Law was criticized by both sides of the United States' gun debate. Pro-gun advocates like the
National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent Gun politics in the United States, gun rights ...
(NRA) opposed it for placing restrictions on a person's ability to carry a gun, with one NRA spokesperson stating that "it only affects the lawful gun owner, who is turned into a criminal."
Gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...
advocates, on the other hand, opposed the law's one year mandatory minimum sentence. Still, a 1981
Gallup Gallup may refer to: *Gallup, Inc., a firm founded by George Gallup, well known for its opinion poll *Gallup (surname), a surname *Gallup, New Mexico, a city in New Mexico, United States **Gallup station, an Amtrak train in downtown Gallup, New Me ...
opinion poll indicated that 62% of Americans would support state-level legislation like Bartley-Fox, although 58% would oppose any law that would ban handguns—including Massachusetts, which in the same year rejected such a measure for the seventh straight time. Also in 1981, the administration of Governor
Edward J. King Edward Joseph King (May 11, 1925 – September 18, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 66th Governor of Massachusetts from 1979 to 1983. A member of the Democratic Party until 1985, he then became a member of the Republican ...
removed what they called "unfriendly" signs on Massachusetts state borders that advertised the Bartley-Fox Law, in an effort to increase tourism. Early research and reporting on the law's effects was mixed. In May 1975, one month after Bartley-Fox went into effect, ''The New York Times'' reported that year-over-year gun violence was down for April—a "fragmentary kind of statistic, the sort of preliminary number from which it is dangerous to generalize," in the paper's view, but Massachusetts officials saw it as the "first faint suggestion that the tough new legislation may work." One year later,
James Vorenberg James Vorenberg (October 1, 1928 – April 12, 2000) was the Roscoe Pound Professor of Law and Dean of Harvard Law School, former Watergate Associate Special Prosecutor, and first chair of the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission. Biography Born ...
released a report concluding that in the first year of the law, it had not significantly affected
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
' violent crime rate, nor had it significantly reduced the rate at which guns were used in robberies and other premeditated crimes. A 1977 study by James A. Beha, II concluded that after the law had taken effect, people were being sentenced to prison for illegally carrying firearms five times more often than before it had taken effect. His findings also indicated that criminal justice officials did not frequently attempt to evade the mandatory sentences imposed by the law; instead, people charged with illegal carrying of firearms were generally either convicted in accordance with the law, or were found not guilty. Another 1977 study by Deutsch and Alt reported that the law was associated with a decline in gun assaults and armed robberies, though this finding has been challenged by other researchers. In 1979, Glenn L. Pierce, William J. Bowers, and other researchers reported that the law reduced the rate of gun assault and armed robbery in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, and that it also had the unintended effect of increasing citizens' reporting of crime there. Similarly, Pierce and Bowers reported in 1981 that the law reduced the rate of gun assaults and criminal homicides in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, but that the punishments actually imposed by the law did not seem to be responsible for this reduction. They also reported that the decline in gun assaults was more than offset by an increase in non-gun armed assaults. In 1983, James Q. Wilson argued in ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' that: In 1986, the law was subject to criticism after Sylvester Lindsey, a Massachusetts citizen from
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, was sentenced to the one-year mandatory minimum sentence after using an unlicensed gun in an undisputed case of self-defense. In a unanimous opinion, the
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the court of last resort, highest court in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the di ...
stated that there was no leeway in the law for the court to consider any alternative, even though "it is possible that the defendant is alive today only because he carried a gun that day for protection." The controversy led to a series of articles in ''
The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
'', and Lindsey's sentence was eventually commuted by the
Massachusetts Governor's Council The Massachusetts Governor's Council (also known as the Executive Council) is a governmental body that provides advice and consent in certain matterssuch as judicial nominations, pardons, and commutationsto the Governor of Massachusetts. Council ...
. In 1989, the '' Globe'' noted that crime had increased significantly in the lower-income neighborhoods of Boston, leading "some public officials to question whether Bartley-Fox has lived up to its promise." The same article noted that some officials had been critical of the law for not being tough enough, stating, "The one-year mandatory jail term, officials say, applies to people who illegally carry a firearm on their person, but not to those who unlawfully maintain a gun on private property." One year later, the ''Globe'' reported that increased enforcement of the law had resulted in a reduction in the number of pending cases working through Boston's legal system, from 86 to 8. In addition the force caught 36 fugitives who had been evading their prison sentences, and were able to remove 16 names due to court
acquittal In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...
s and deaths. In a 1997 book ''Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control'',
criminologist Criminology (from Latin , "accusation", and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'' meaning: "word, reason") is the study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is an interdisciplinary field in both the behavioural and so ...
Gary Kleck argues that even if one assumes that the Bartley-Fox Law was effective in reducing crime in Massachusetts, this may not mean that different mandatory sentencing gun-carrying laws would be effective if they were implemented elsewhere. A 2004
National Research Council National Research Council may refer to: * National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development * National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome * National Research Council (United States), part of ...
report concluded that "collectively, this body of research seems to suggest hat the Bartley-Fox Law hada broad impact on gun crime in Boston. However, it is unclear whether the firearms sentencing enhancement or the mandatory sentence for illegal gun-carrying generated the impact."


See also

* Constitutional carry * Gun laws in Massachusetts


References

{{Reflist Firearm laws Massachusetts law 1974 in Massachusetts 1974 in American law