Ware Police Chief Shawn Crevier used his official place and public sources to advocate towards and rally opposition to proposed gun reforms that have been winding by Beacon Hill over the previous yr, a transfer state regulators stated was possible a violation of the battle of curiosity legislation.
The State Ethics Fee stated they discovered “reasonable cause to believe” Crevier violated the legislation when he directed an administrative staffer on the division to draft 4 statements opposing the laws and directed the individual to submit it to their official Fb web page.
A submit from July 2023, which was signed “Ware PD,” took goal on the invoice’s constitutionality, criticized the creation of gun-free zones, and inspired residents to achieve out to gun rights teams to oppose the measure, in line with the State Ethics Fee.
Later the identical summer time, Crevier had the Ware Police Division administrative workplace submit to Fb three extra occasions with statements in opposition to laws within the Home and the same proposal within the Senate, regulators stated.
The 4 posts have been “shared several thousands times,” the State Ethics Fee stated in an announcement Wednesday.
“The statements encouraged people to advocate against the bills, which they characterized as ‘treasonous’ and ‘seditious,’ and referenced the opposition of a private organization of law enforcement officials of which Crevier was a member,” the fee stated.
In an announcement to the Herald, Crevier stated the gun reforms that Gov. Maura Healey signed into legislation this summer time “does very little actually to address gun violence, all it does is penalize the current and future law-abiding gun owners, which only emboldens criminal offenders to increase gun violence.”
“The focus of this bill should have been on the criminal element. As a law enforcement official, one of my primary objectives is the safety of my residents, and this new law takes minimal strides to achieve that,” he stated.
The proposal he criticized has turn out to be a flashpoint for Second Modification rights advocates and gun house owners, who say the measure goes too far and can find yourself punishing on a regular basis residents as soon as it takes impact in October.
A coalition of gun shops, sportsmen golf equipment, and advocates are within the strategy of gathering signatures to right away droop the legislation and place a query earlier than voters in 2026 asking them to repeal it.
Beacon Hill Democrats who authored the proposal have argued the legislation is supposed to maintain everybody in Massachusetts secure, together with schoolchildren, adults, firearm house owners, and legislation enforcement.
The legislation bans individuals underneath 21 from proudly owning semiautomatic rifles or shotguns and reworks guidelines round firearms licensing, seller inspections, carrying and transporting weapons, areas the place a gun is prohibited, “assault-style firearms,” and huge capability feeding units.
A neighborhood affiliate of the Nationwide Rifle Affiliation, the Gun House owners Motion League, has filed a federal lawsuit difficult the statute’s provisions masking firearms licensing, together with necessities round licenses to hold and firearm identification playing cards.
Because the invoice wound its means by the Legislature over the previous yr, many gun rights teams and house owners opposed it, together with Crevier, the police chief in Ware, in line with the State Ethics Fee.
As an appointed policy-making worker, Crevier was allowed to make use of public sources, together with his title, employees time, and the division’s Fb web page, to supply “factual information that could help legislators make informed, fact-based decisions” concerning the proposal, the fee stated.
The chief was additionally allowed to state his opinion on the invoice concerning the gun legislation’s impact on public security in Ware and on the division’s social media channels as long as they have been “based on objectively verifiable facts and not on personal opposition to increased gun control,” the fee stated.
“Crevier’s actions as police chief in having the four anti-gun law reform statements drafted and posted on the WPD Facebook page were, however, political activity prohibited by the conflict of interest law because the statements included his personal opinions on matters outside of the WPD’s purview, such as the legality and constitutionality of the proposed gun law reforms and whether the proposed legislation was treasonous or seditious,” the fee stated.
Regulators on the State Ethics Fee resolved the matter with a public schooling letter despatched to Crevier quite than an adjudicatory continuing “because the conflict of interest law’s application to political activity by public employees is complex, easily misunderstood, and in need of further public clarification,” they stated.
“The commission expects that the public education letter to Crevier will provide public employees in similar circumstances with a clearer understanding of how to comply with the law,” the fee stated in its assertion.
