When Democrats in the Massachusetts legislature unveiled their first version of the anti-gun legislation that was eventually adopted as H. 4885, the bill met with a lot of criticism; not just from everyday gun owners, but from the state's law enforcement community. The Massachusetts Association of Chiefs of Police originally came out in unanimous opposition to the bill, and several chiefs expressed their concern over some of the details in media interviews and on social media. 

Now the State Ethics Commission is accusing at least one of those chiefs of violating the state's conflict of interest law by publicly opposing and criticizing H. 4885. According to the Boston Herald, the commission says Ware Police Chief Shawn Crevier crossed the line by detailing his problems with the legislation and encouraging residents to contact lawmakers in several posts to the police department's official Facebook page.

As an appointed policy-making employee, Crevier was allowed to use public resources, including his title, staff time, and the department’s Facebook page, to provide “factual information that could help legislators make informed, fact-based decisions” about the proposal, the commission said.

The chief was also allowed to state his opinion on the bill about the gun law’s effect on public safety in Ware and on the department’s social media channels so long as they were “based on objectively verifiable facts and not on personal opposition to increased gun control,” the commission said.

“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 commission said.

Something tells me that if Crevier had expressed his personal opinion in support of the "Lawful Citizens Imprisonment Act" (as the Gun Owners Action League nicknamed the bill) this would be a non-issue. But because the chief dared to call the legislation a violation of our constitutional rights, he must be named and shamed. 

A post from July 2023, which was signed “Ware PD,” took aim at the bill’s constitutionality, criticized the creation of gun-free zones, and encouraged residents to reach out to gun rights groups to oppose the measure, according to the State Ethics Commission.

Later the same summer, Crevier had the Ware Police Department administrative office post to Facebook three more times with statements in opposition to legislation in the House and a similar proposal in the Senate, regulators said.

The four posts were “shared several thousands times,” the State Ethics Commission said in a statement 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 commission said.

The Ethics Commission isn't trying to sanction Crevier, which would likely lead to another outpouring of opposition from chiefs around the state. Instead, regulators with the commission sent Crevier a "public education letter" spelling out what commission members say he is and isn't allowed to talk about on social media. 

In a statement to the Herald, Crevier said the gun reforms that Gov. Maura Healey signed into law this summer “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 said.

Crevier is absolutely right about the focus of the new law, which imposes a wide variety of new mandates and restrictions on gun owners, gun sellers, and firearm instructors, as well as local police departments and a number of state agencies, but fails to crack down on those who use firearms in the commission of a crime. He's just not allowed to say that on social media, apparently. 

I'm glad to see that, despite the Ethics Commission's attempt to silence Crevier, he's still willing to criticize the new gun control law in conversations with the media. And if the Ethics Commission says the chief isn't allowed to call the new gun law seditious and treasonous, there's nothing they can do about private citizens saying the same thing. In fact, there's no reason why Massachusetts gun owners can't call out the Ethics Commission for its tyrannical attempt to chill the chief's speech, which is yet another intolerable act by state officials trying to silence the opposition to their latest infringements on a fundamental civil right.