In a closely contested decision, Plymouth’s Select Board voted 3-2 on Tuesday to support Police Chief Dana Flynn’s proposal to exempt the town from a new state law banning firearms in public administrative buildings and properties, including parks. The measure, backed by Flynn, now heads to Town Meeting members for a final decision on April 5.
The state law, known as “An Act Modernizing Firearms Laws,” was signed by Governor Maura Healey in July and went into effect in October. It prohibits firearms in municipal buildings and public spaces but includes an option for towns to opt out. Flynn argued that the restriction leaves Plymouth’s public spaces vulnerable, calling them “soft targets” for potential attackers. He pointed out that the ban affects roughly 8,000 licensed gun owners in Plymouth, preventing them from carrying their weapons into places like Town Hall, while only active and retired law enforcement officers are exempt.
Flynn highlighted that Rochester, a nearby town, has already opted out of the law, and others are considering it. He believes allowing responsible gun owners to carry firearms could enhance safety. However, not everyone agrees. Select Board Vice Chair Kevin Canty voiced concerns about the risks of armed civilians intervening in a crisis. He questioned how police would distinguish between a “good guy with a gun” and an aggressor in a chaotic situation, suggesting that additional armed individuals could complicate police response efforts. Flynn countered that officers are trained to assess situations carefully and would expect law-abiding gun owners to follow their commands.
Canty also raised the possibility of a “good guy” with poor aim inadvertently escalating a threat. Flynn acknowledged that any armed person introduces some risk but maintained his stance. Town Manager Derek Brindisi supported Flynn, arguing that the state law “disarms” town officials while leaving the public’s actions unchecked. He noted that employees could face discipline for carrying weapons, yet the town has no way to monitor whether concealed, licensed firearms enter public buildings undetected.
Opposition came from Select Board members David Golden and Canty. Golden rejected the idea that armed civilians would make public spaces safer, calling it reliance on “vigilantes” rather than a real security strategy. He pressed Flynn for alternative safety measures, but the chief offered none at the time. Meanwhile, board member Charlie Bletzer, who voted for the exemption, warned that enforcing the ban would require full-time security—a step the town hasn’t taken. “Right now, anyone can walk in with a gun, and we’ve been lucky so far,” he said.
Board Chair Dick Quintal tipped the vote in Flynn’s favor, citing the chief’s expertise, joined by Bletzer and John Mahoney. The decision has sparked debate as the National Rifle Association challenges the state law in court, though not specifically over the public building provision.
Plymouth residents will settle the matter at the upcoming Town Meeting, weighing public safety against the rights of licensed gun owners.
COMMENTARY:
The debate over carrying weapons in public spaces, as seen in Plymouth’s recent Town Meeting proposal, taps into a deep vein of American history where the right to bear arms has been both a practical necessity and a cultural cornerstone. From the nation’s founding, the ability to carry weapons freely was shaped by a rugged frontier existence, revolutionary ideals, and a mistrust of centralized authority. This commentary explores how this history unfolded, with specific references to key moments and practices that normalized carrying arms everywhere.
In the colonial era, firearms were ubiquitous. Settlers in places like Jamestown (1607) and Plymouth Colony (1620) carried muskets and pistols not just for hunting but for defense against Native American tribes and wildlife. The English tradition of militias—armed citizenry ready to muster—crossed the Atlantic, embedding the idea that every man should be armed. Laws in Virginia by 1631 even mandated that colonists carry weapons to church, reflecting both the insecurity of the frontier and the expectation of self-reliance.
The American Revolution (1775-1783) cemented this ethos. Militiamen, ordinary citizens with their own muskets and rifles, were pivotal at battles like Lexington and Concord (1775). The image of the armed farmer defending liberty fueled a narrative that weapons in civilian hands were a bulwark against tyranny. This was no mere wartime expedient; it was a principle enshrined in the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, which declared the people’s right to keep and bear arms for the common defense.
The Second Amendment (1791) to the U.S. Constitution crystallized this legacy: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” While scholars debate its militia context, early Americans interpreted it broadly. In the 1790s, citizens openly carried pistols and long guns in towns and countryside alike, with no federal restrictions and scant state ones—firearms were tools of daily life.
The early republic saw this freedom expand as the frontier pushed west. During the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806), explorers carried rifles and pistols across uncharted lands, relying on them for survival. Settlers in places like Kentucky and Tennessee in the 1790s and 1800s routinely bore arms in public spaces—cabins, trading posts, even courts—without legal challenge. The 1813 Kentucky case Bliss v. Commonwealth, which struck down a concealed carry ban, affirmed that carrying weapons openly was a protected right.
The 19th century’s westward expansion further entrenched this norm. In the Oregon Trail migrations (1840s-1860s), pioneers carried firearms openly for protection against bandits and wildlife. Towns like Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s had lax gun laws; despite later myths of strict “no carry” zones, historical records show cowboys and townsfolk alike kept weapons handy in saloons and streets, with ordinances often ignored.
The Civil War (1861-1865) reinforced the tradition. Both Union and Confederate soldiers returned home with rifles and revolvers, and post-war chaos in the South saw freedmen and whites alike arming themselves. The 1866 Civil Rights Act indirectly supported this by ensuring freed slaves could bear arms for self-defense, a right upheld in the 1870s by the Supreme Court in United States v. Cruikshank—though it limited federal enforcement.
Post-war industrialization didn’t curb this trend. In urban centers like New York and Chicago in the 1880s, concealed carry grew, but open carry remained common and largely unregulated. Factory workers and merchants carried pistols to protect against crime, a practice unchecked until the Sullivan Act of 1911 in New York introduced permits—still an exception, not the rule.
The Wild West, romanticized in dime novels of the 1870s and 1880s, reflected reality: guns were everywhere. Figures like Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok carried revolvers in public, often as lawmen and citizens simultaneously. Tombstone, Arizona’s 1881 gunfight at the O.K. Corral arose partly because local ordinances clashed with a culture where carrying weapons was second nature.
Even as cities grew, rural America clung to this heritage. The Winchester “repeating rifle that won the West” (introduced 1866) became a household name, carried by farmers and ranchers into the 20th century. State constitutions—like Texas’s 1876 version—echoed the Second Amendment, ensuring broad carry rights with little restriction.
The early 20th century saw some pushback. Prohibition-era violence (1920s-1930s) led to the National Firearms Act of 1934, targeting machine guns and sawed-off shotguns, but handguns and rifles remained widely carried. Gangsters like John Dillinger flaunted tommy guns, yet law-abiding citizens still bore arms in public without federal interference.
World War II (1941-1945) bolstered this culture anew. Returning GIs kept their sidearms, and surplus weapons flooded civilian hands. The 1940s and 1950s saw no national move to restrict carry; in states like Vermont, “constitutional carry” (no permit needed) persisted from the 1790s onward, a living relic of early norms.
The civil rights era (1950s-1960s) highlighted armed self-defense again. Black activists, like the Deacons for Defense in Louisiana (1964), carried rifles to protect against Klan violence, echoing the Revolutionary ideal of arms as a shield for liberty. Even urban riots saw citizens arming themselves, with little legal consequence.
The late 20th century brought contention. The Gun Control Act of 1968, spurred by assassinations, regulated interstate sales but didn’t ban public carry. Meanwhile, the NRA, reborn as a rights advocate in the 1970s, pushed back against emerging restrictions, citing historical precedent. States like Florida (1987) pioneered modern concealed carry laws, reviving the 19th-century norm.
Into the 21st century, this history fueled “open carry” movements. Texas’s 2016 law allowing handguns on college campuses nodded to frontier days when weapons graced every public space. The Supreme Court’s District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) reaffirmed individual gun rights, though it sidestepped public carry specifics.
The 2022 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen decision went further, striking down restrictive carry permit laws and invoking history: Founding-era Americans carried arms freely, and modern limits must align with that tradition. Justice Thomas cited colonial and 19th-century practices where public carry faced few barriers.
This legacy explains Chief Flynn’s stance in Plymouth. Historically, Americans carried weapons into town halls, churches, and parks without question—bans are the anomaly, not the norm. From militias to pioneers, the armed citizen was a fixture, a mindset Flynn evokes in calling bans “soft targets.”
Critics like Golden and Canty reflect a modern shift, where urbanization and mass shootings prompt skepticism. Yet history shows no golden age of strict control—carry was pervasive, often chaotic, but deeply ingrained. Plymouth’s 1620 settlers would recognize Flynn’s logic more than Canty’s caution.
Today’s debate mirrors this tension. The NRA’s lawsuit against Massachusetts echoes 19th-century resistance to nascent gun laws, while opt-out clauses recall local autonomy from federal edicts. April’s Town Meeting will test whether Plymouth honors its armed past or pivots to a restricted future.
In sum, U.S. history reveals a nation born and bred with weapons everywhere—courts, trails, towns, and halls. From 1631 Virginia to 2025 Plymouth, the thread is unbroken: Americans carried arms, legally and culturally, as a right and a reflex, shaping debates like this one.
ARTICLE:
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