Amendment ID: S2572-9

Amendment 9

Proving Illegal Possession of a Loaded Firearm

Messrs. Velis, O'Connor, Brady, Cronin, Moore and Timilty move that the proposed new text be amended by adding the following section:-

SECTION X. Subsection (n) of section 10 of chapter 269, as so appearing, is amended by adding after the words “or paragraph (c)”, the words “or paragraph (h)(1), or Section 131M of chapter 140” and inserting at the end of that sentence the following words: “Where a party is unlicensed and unlawfully in possession of a weapon, it shall be sufficient to prove a violation of this subsection to prove that a party was knowingly in possession of such weapon, and that such weapon was in fact loaded. The Commonwealth need not separately prove a defendant’s knowledge that  an illegally possessed weapon was loaded to prove a violation of this subsection.”