Select Board votes 3-2 against recommending Sudbury firearm sales ban

SUDBURY — May 2, 2023 — Sudbury Select Board votes 3-2 against backing blanket firearm sales ban. The board recommended town meeting reject citizen petition Article 55, which would prohibit firearm sales and manufacturing in every Sudbury zoning district, hours before members voted on the article May 2. Chair Janie Dretler and member Lisa Kouchakdjian supported the petition; Vice-Chair Radha Gargeya and members Daniel Carty and Charles Russo opposed. Town counsel warned of likely Second Amendment and 14th Amendment litigation and noted no other Massachusetts or U.S. municipality has a total ban, while Brookline, Dedham, Plainville and Newton restrict firearm sales by district. "This cake's not fully baked," Russo said of the half-page article. Carty called the ban "picking a fight." The board also disclosed a Sudbury Police Sergeants' MCOP Local 307A contract through June 30, 2024, carrying 0.5 percent, 2 percent and 2 percent COLAs.