Massachusetts Teen Allowed to Walk After Gun Bust. Now He’s Charged With Murder.

An 18-year-old high school student from the Boston area is now facing murder charges after allegedly gunning down a 20-year-old at a gas station. And though Massachusetts Democrats love to talk about how their restrictive gun laws make the state a safer place, in this case the teen was let loose after an arrest earlier this year for illegally possessing a handgun. 

In fact, MassLive reports that Christian Peebles was in court for a hearing on that gun charge just one week before he allegedly shot and killed Darryl Aleo. 

Peebles faced a charge of carrying a firearm without a license in June, but he was 17 at the time — so he was charged out of Suffolk County Juvenile Court, documents related to his case show.

After his June 29 arraignment on that charge, Peebles was released on personal recognizance. Court filings show the case had hearings on Aug. 6 and Sept. 30, the latter coming one week before Aleo was killed. A third was set for November. Peebles’ presence was waived during that September hearing, the records show.

Under Massachusetts law, those arrested for carrying without a license can be held without bond for up to 180 days in some cases after a “dangerousness” hearing is held. Air Force veteran Kyle Culotta, you might remember, was stuck behind bars for about four months after he was pulled over for a traffic violation and he informed police about the lawfully purchased firearms he had in his car as he was moving from Arizona to New Hampshire.

The law applies to juveniles too, so depending on where Peebles’ case ended up, if a judge found him to be a danger to himself or others he could have been behind bars through the end of September, or maybe even the end of the year. Based on MassLive’s reporting, though, it looks like prosecutors never even attempted to keep Peebles in custody after he was arrested for carrying a gun without a license. 

Hindsight is 20/20, and maybe there was nothing in Peebles’ past to suggest that he posed a danger in the future. That was definitely the case with Culotta, though, and he still spent months in jail after a judge decided he was too dangerous to be released on bond. 

When Massachusetts voters head to the polls in November, they have the chance to send a message to the Democrats who dominate the state legislature. Question 9 would repeal the latest iteration of the state’s gun laws and revert them back to the slightly less oppressive statutes that were in place before Chapter 135 was rushed into place two years ago. The new laws are such a mess that some of them are still not even enforceable, and are so confusing that some non-residents have been charged with a crime that doesn’t exist when transporting their guns through the state. 

Repealing Chapter 135 won’t fix every problem with Massachusetts’ gun laws. It might not even make a difference when it comes to who is deemed dangerous and who gets released back into society after an arrest. It would still be a big step in the right direction, though, and would let lawmakers know that even in liberal Massachusetts, the people recognize that peaceable gun owners aren’t the problem.  

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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