Note that this man was one of the elite 324 who are allowed self defense of the 26,615 souls who live there. That is a rate of .012 of 1% that are so deemed.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/117/metro/Gun_found_in_Wellesley_Middle _School_traced_to_town_official+.shtml
Gun found in Wellesley Middle School traced to town official
By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff, 4/26/2000
ELLESLEY - In this affluent suburb, where for many life revolves around a stellar public school system, a sentence containing the words ''loaded gun'' and ''school'' is guaranteed to turn heads.
If that sentence also has the words ''Town Meeting member'' and ''criminal charges,'' it has the potential to unleash a full-blown scandal.
Yesterday, such words caused a stir among parents, teachers, students, and police after a parent discovered a loaded .32-caliber pistol lodged in a seat in the Wellesley Middle School auditorium Monday.
Police traced the semi-automatic firearm to Richard H. Forbes - an elected Town Meeting member, well-known attorney, and Wellesley's Republican Party chairman - who had apparently dropped the weapon from his pocket during a March 28 Town Meeting.
Yesterday, police charged Forbes, 54, with carrying a firearm onto school grounds and failing to notify police that he lost his weapon, both of which are misdemeanors. They also suspended Forbes' gun license, and were arranging for him to surrender the other weapons in his home.
Neither Forbes nor his attorney, Richard Egbert, returned calls yesterday, but friends and even Wellesley Deputy Police Chief William Brooks defended Forbes, saying he is ''an otherwise responsible citizen.''
Police said Forbes is one of 324 licensed gun owners in Wellesley, a town of 26,615 people where the average home sells for $514,000.
''I don't even know if it's against the rules to bring a gun to Town Meeting, but who the heck would think you would need such a rule?'' asked Laurence Shind, vice chairman of the Board of Selectmen.
Although no one was hurt in the incident, and the weapon apparently never touched the hands of any of the school's 830 students, news of the misplaced weapon sparked a swift and angry rebuke from school officials.
''How no child managed to find that gun between March 28 and now, I don't know, but we're very fortunate that a responsible adult was the one who did find it,'' said School Superintendent Matthew King. ''It's outrageous that somebody would bring a gun into a school, it's appalling that someone would bring a gun to a Town Meeting, and even more outrageous that he would lose it for three weeks. ... We are extremely lucky that the gun was not discovered by some young kid. This could have ended tragically.''
Richard Schwartzstein, head of the School Committee and the parent of a Middle School student, said he found the incident unfortunate, uncalled for, and unusual.
''This has nothing to do with our children or our faculty because this was a town event that utilizes a school building,'' Schwartzstein said. ''But it's alarming that anyone would bring a gun to Town Meeting, and not report losing it. All of that suggests a tremendous degree of irresponsibility.''
According to Brooks, Forbes told officials that he was aware that he had misplaced the small, Derringer-like pistol sometime following the meeting, but ''he assumed it was in his house, and it would turn up.''
Vin Juliani, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said he has known Forbes for years and believes that the crime he's been charged with, while serious, was unintentional. ''He obviously did not use good judgment, whether it was accidental or not, and the ramifications could have been devastating,'' Juliani said. ''The question comes up, should that person continue to serve on Town Meeting? That is a question only he can answer.''
While several parents and residents said they were not overly frightened by what happened, many said that Forbes should resign his elected position on Town Meeting.
''I say they should throw the guy out,'' said Al Smith, 69, a janitor for the town. ''What he did was so irresponsible. And worse than that, that gun could have ended up in the hands of some kid who doesn't know any better.''
Martha Stowell, whose son attends the Middle School, said her family moved to Wellesley from Tennessee solely because of the schools. The finding of a gun in the auditorium did not make her question that decision, she said, but it didn't do much to reassure her faith in the state's gun laws, largely perceived as the nation's toughest.
''I'm not all panicked and worried and upset,'' she said. But ''I really question why anybody in Wellesley needs a gun, why they need to take it to a Town Meeting, and why they would fail to tell anyone it was lost when children's lives are at stake.''
This story ran on page B2 of the Boston Globe on 4/26/2000.
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Gun Control: The proposition that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own panty hose, is more acceptable than allowing that same woman to defend herself with a firearm.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/117/metro/Gun_found_in_Wellesley_Middle _School_traced_to_town_official+.shtml
Gun found in Wellesley Middle School traced to town official
By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff, 4/26/2000
ELLESLEY - In this affluent suburb, where for many life revolves around a stellar public school system, a sentence containing the words ''loaded gun'' and ''school'' is guaranteed to turn heads.
If that sentence also has the words ''Town Meeting member'' and ''criminal charges,'' it has the potential to unleash a full-blown scandal.
Yesterday, such words caused a stir among parents, teachers, students, and police after a parent discovered a loaded .32-caliber pistol lodged in a seat in the Wellesley Middle School auditorium Monday.
Police traced the semi-automatic firearm to Richard H. Forbes - an elected Town Meeting member, well-known attorney, and Wellesley's Republican Party chairman - who had apparently dropped the weapon from his pocket during a March 28 Town Meeting.
Yesterday, police charged Forbes, 54, with carrying a firearm onto school grounds and failing to notify police that he lost his weapon, both of which are misdemeanors. They also suspended Forbes' gun license, and were arranging for him to surrender the other weapons in his home.
Neither Forbes nor his attorney, Richard Egbert, returned calls yesterday, but friends and even Wellesley Deputy Police Chief William Brooks defended Forbes, saying he is ''an otherwise responsible citizen.''
Police said Forbes is one of 324 licensed gun owners in Wellesley, a town of 26,615 people where the average home sells for $514,000.
''I don't even know if it's against the rules to bring a gun to Town Meeting, but who the heck would think you would need such a rule?'' asked Laurence Shind, vice chairman of the Board of Selectmen.
Although no one was hurt in the incident, and the weapon apparently never touched the hands of any of the school's 830 students, news of the misplaced weapon sparked a swift and angry rebuke from school officials.
''How no child managed to find that gun between March 28 and now, I don't know, but we're very fortunate that a responsible adult was the one who did find it,'' said School Superintendent Matthew King. ''It's outrageous that somebody would bring a gun into a school, it's appalling that someone would bring a gun to a Town Meeting, and even more outrageous that he would lose it for three weeks. ... We are extremely lucky that the gun was not discovered by some young kid. This could have ended tragically.''
Richard Schwartzstein, head of the School Committee and the parent of a Middle School student, said he found the incident unfortunate, uncalled for, and unusual.
''This has nothing to do with our children or our faculty because this was a town event that utilizes a school building,'' Schwartzstein said. ''But it's alarming that anyone would bring a gun to Town Meeting, and not report losing it. All of that suggests a tremendous degree of irresponsibility.''
According to Brooks, Forbes told officials that he was aware that he had misplaced the small, Derringer-like pistol sometime following the meeting, but ''he assumed it was in his house, and it would turn up.''
Vin Juliani, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said he has known Forbes for years and believes that the crime he's been charged with, while serious, was unintentional. ''He obviously did not use good judgment, whether it was accidental or not, and the ramifications could have been devastating,'' Juliani said. ''The question comes up, should that person continue to serve on Town Meeting? That is a question only he can answer.''
While several parents and residents said they were not overly frightened by what happened, many said that Forbes should resign his elected position on Town Meeting.
''I say they should throw the guy out,'' said Al Smith, 69, a janitor for the town. ''What he did was so irresponsible. And worse than that, that gun could have ended up in the hands of some kid who doesn't know any better.''
Martha Stowell, whose son attends the Middle School, said her family moved to Wellesley from Tennessee solely because of the schools. The finding of a gun in the auditorium did not make her question that decision, she said, but it didn't do much to reassure her faith in the state's gun laws, largely perceived as the nation's toughest.
''I'm not all panicked and worried and upset,'' she said. But ''I really question why anybody in Wellesley needs a gun, why they need to take it to a Town Meeting, and why they would fail to tell anyone it was lost when children's lives are at stake.''
This story ran on page B2 of the Boston Globe on 4/26/2000.
------------------
Gun Control: The proposition that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own panty hose, is more acceptable than allowing that same woman to defend herself with a firearm.
