I never considered this with my kids when they roomed off campus in apartments. I, and they, would not have been comfortable with guns in the apartment. I do believe that the roommate with the guns had her privacy violated though.
Oh the joys of being a landlord.
If you read the letter the roommates sent the landlord it’s clear the situation is not what the Fox News story suggests.
The woman in question kept multiple loaded and unlocked firearms in an unlocked room. The roommates met with her and suggested a compromise-that she keep her guns but have trigger locks and a gun safe for her guns. That doesn’t seem at all unreasonable to me. I would be scared to have loaded, unsecured weapons where one of my kids was living. All it would take is for some drunken boyfriend to start goofing around with a gun and my kid could be shot through the wall.
https://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/0.jpg
ETA: It turns out one of the roommates recently lost her best friend to a shooting.
It sounds like the roommates were concerned and suggested what I and others considerable reasonable compromises. I wouldn’t want to live where there are multiple unlocked loaded guns lying around myself.
I figured the Fox News article would be missing a few details. Thanks for the other link.
In MA firearms aren’t licensed; the owner is. So either they are owned legally or illegally. It also doesn’t say that the guns were not secured as agreed to, so she could be complying with the compromise agreement. In any case, (and especially if the roommates are not licensed in MA) it is foolish of her to leave the guns accessible by the roommates as she could be liable for any criminal use.
MA law requires that a gun-owning transplant to MA get licensed in the state within 60 days. The grad student has an
interview for hers on December 11. It’s unclear from the publicly available information whether the interview was scheduled prior to when the 60 days expired or whether the Somerville Chief of Police decided to cut her some slack as the owner of a gun registered out of state.
MA law also requires that guns be kept in a locked container. It sounds like she did get one before the police inspection. However (and this is me reading between the lines) it sounds like by then the situation had deteriorated to the point where she was unwilling to assure her roommates she could live with the compromise they suggested.
Although I think searching someone else’s room is quite an invasion of privacy I can’t help but think there’s more to the story than her “They did it because I had a MAGA hat” comment suggests. I can’t see an apartment full of grown women searching someone else’s room on the basis of that alone.
All the roommates are responsible for whatever is in the apartment since they are sharing it. I would not hesitate to search a roommate’s room if I suspected unsecured guns, etc. Legal liability and risk extends to all the roommates and does not end at the threshold of her room.
I would ask about guns before searching someone’s room. Not clear that that happened. Don’t think DS has ever lived in a house without guns since he started grad school, but the roommates always had gun safes.
Other than the letter to the landlord we’ve only heard one side of the story. Something must have alerted the roommates to the possibility of guns. It sounds to me (again, based on the written accounts but reading through the lines) like after finding the guns they first tried to ask her if she had guns then (perhaps when she wouldn’t answer the question or confirm their presence) eventually had to admit they knew them to be there.
I would be super upset if my daughter’s roommates had firearms, especially unlocked. IMO, recipe for disaster.
Why wasn’t this issue addressed prior to Leyla moving in with firearms? The joys of living with roommates.
Probably because no one expected her to have guns and she didn’t volunteer the information.
Perhaps it never occurred to the roommates that Leyla was coming in armed? Although my H and adult sons own guns (we have a safe and when they were younger, the ammo was kept at grandma’s house), I never thought to have D ask her prospective roommates if they had guns and nobody ever asked her.
I would feel unsafe living with someone I didn’t know well who left loaded guns lying about.
@Sue22 They must be cutting her some real slack. I can’t think of a legal way that she can possess them in MA.
I agree it seems like there is more to the story.
What a sad state of affairs when college roommates have to inquire if the people they hope to live with have guns. Ugh.
I’d think if my kid were looking for a potential roommate, the first question(s) would be if they used drugs, nicotine products, pets, and guns. Also, I’d ask if they’re a slob too. And there would be a roommate agreement executed.
A quick google search shows where the woman claims the Sommerville Chief of PD says she is in compliance with all state and local laws.
Although gun ownership is more common in Western MA Somerville has a very low gun ownership rate (2.04%). The Cambridge rate is even lower, at 1.01%. Alabama has among the highest gun ownership rates in the nation, with around half of all adults owning guns. I’m not surprised the roommates came into the apartment with different expectations as to gun ownership.
This is why I assume between the time the roommates confronted her about the guns and the time of the inspection by the COP she’d gotten herself a gun safe, as required for storage under Massachusetts law. She does not yet have a MA permit but submitting an application and scheduling her interview probably puts her in compliance.
I see that. I did some searching and she does have 60 days but she will need to change her residency to MA. It isn’t clear if it is the law or not but the MA gun owners action league says you need to lock them up.