Schwanda v. Bonney

• Decision Date: 07 August 1980
• Citation: 418 A.2d 163
• Parties: Henry John SCHWANDA v. Edward BONNEY et al.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

Page 163

418 A.2d 163

Henry John SCHWANDA v. Edward BONNEY et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued June 4, 1980.

Decided Aug. 7, 1980.

Powers & Bradford, Carl O. Bradford (orally), Freeport, for plaintiff.

Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson, F. Paul Frinsko (orally), Portland, for defendants.

Before McKUSICK, C. J., WERNICK, GLASSMAN and ROBERTS, JJ., and DUFRESNE, A. R. J.

DUFRESNE, Active Retired Justice.

In this appeal we are called upon to address the validity of a local ordinance of the Town of Freeport which imposes requirements beyond the statutory criteria for the issuance of licenses to carry concealed weapons.

25 M.R.S.A. § 2031 provides that no person shall carry any concealed weapon as particularized therein unless licensed. The statute delegates the licensing responsibility to the municipalities:

. . . the chief of police or city marshal of any city or the selectmen of any town may upon written application therefor issue to any legal resident of such city or town of good moral character, a certificate setting forth that such person has been duly licensed to carry such weapon mentioned in the certificate . . . (Emphasis supplied)

Freeport's Concealed Weapons Ordinance imposes criteria in addition to the statutory "good moral character" requirement:

Applicants for a license hereunder shall further certify in writing to the Chief of Police, together with the reasons therefor, that a license to carry a concealed weapon is required for the personal safety and protection of the licensee or required in connection with the employment of the licensee, and if the latter, the application and certificate shall be so endorsed by the employer.

On February 16, 1979, Henry John Schwanda, a legal resident of Freeport, filed an application with the Police Department of the Town of Freeport for a license to carry a concealed weapon. On his application Schwanda stated that he desired the reference license in order to protect his weapon from the weather and the brush while hunting or trapping.

The Freeport Town Council ¹ considered Schwanda's application at meetings on April 3 and 17, 1979. At these meetings Schwanda stated that he wanted the license to be able legally to cover up his weapon while hunting and travelling. Schwanda admitted that he did not need the license for self-protection or in the course of his employment. The Council denied Schwanda's application.

The transcript of the discussions at the Council meetings unequivocally supports the admission made in the answer to the instant complaint by counsel for the town officials

"(t)hat the Freeport Town Council voted to deny the issuance of a concealed weapons license to (Schwanda) the said Plaintiff for the primary reason that Plaintiff did not qualify for such license under Section 2.3 of the Concealed Weapon Ordinance; to wit, that the Plaintiff failed to certify that a license was 'required for the personal safety and protection of the licensee or required in connection with the employment of the licensee.' "

It clearly appears in this record that the Chief of Police and the members of the Council regarded Schwanda as a legal resident of "good moral character" within the meaning of the statute and local ordinance, but concluded that he did not meet the additional requirements of the Freeport ordinance, in that he failed to assert and prove that he needed a concealed weapons license either for self-protection or in the performance of his duties of employment.

Schwanda filed a complaint in Superior Court, Cumberland County, for review of the Council's action pursuant to M.R.Civ.P., Rule 80B. Since the pleadings admitted that the Council's denial of the license was based solely on the ordinance's requirement that the applicant have a need for such a license for his personal safety or in connection with his employment and that Schwanda had failed to show such a need, the plaintiff moved for summary judgment. This motion, pursuant to M.R.Civ.P., Rule 56(a), was accompanied by affidavit of the Freeport Chief of Police which averred that he had investigated and found Schwanda to be of good moral character. The Superior Court Justice ruled that the Freeport ordinance was in conflict with State law, to wit, 25 M.R.S.A. § 2031 and held null and void the provision of the ordinance requiring an applicant for such a license to show his need thereof for his personal protection or to carry on his employment. The Superior Court granted affirmative relief by ordering the Council to issue Schwanda a license. Judgment ensued, from which an appeal to this Court has been taken. We affirm the judgment of the Superior Court.

The question at issue is whether 25 M.R.S.A. § 2031 preempts municipal regulation of concealed weapons licenses.

Municipal corporations, as public bodies, may exercise only such powers as the Legislature has conferred upon them by law or which may have been granted to them directly by the Constitution. See State v. Fin & Feather Club, Me., 316 A.2d 351, 355 (1974); Article VIII, Part Second, Section 1, Constitution of Maine.

Whether the Legislature, by the enactment of 25 M.R.S.A. § 2031, did preempt the field respecting regulatory requirements in the issuance of concealed weapons licenses to the exclusion of the municipalities that perform the actual task of their issuance depends upon the interpretation of the legislative enactment which in turn must be traced to legislative intent. Legislative intendment always controls; this is a fundamental precept of statutory construction. Labbe v. Nissen Corporation, Me., 404 A.2d 564, 567 (1979); State v. Hussey, Me., 381 A.2d 665, 666 (1978); State v. Tullo, Me., 366 A.2d 843, 848 (1976). Courts should implement not only the intent but also the policy of the Legislature behind the legislation. State v. Bellino, Me., 390 A.2d 1014, 1021 (1978); Prudential Insurance Company of America v. Insurance Com'r, Me., 293 A.2d 529, 538 (1972).

The legislative history of a particular statute, as well as legislative activity concerning such or related legislation, is a helpful guide in ascertaining the intent of the Legislature. Finks v. Maine State Highway Commission, Me., 328 A.2d 791, 797 (1974); State v. Allard, Me., 313 A.2d 439, 447 (1973).

In interpreting a statute courts must presume that the Legislature did not intend unreasonable or absurd consequences, nor results inimical to the public interest. Woodcock v. Atlass, Me., 393 A.2d 167, 170 (1978); Clark v. State Employees Appeals Board, Me., 363 A.2d 735, 738 (1976); Reggep v. Lunder Shoe Products Company, Me., 241 A.2d 802, 805 (1968).

Initially, we observe that the statute, 25 M.R.S.A. § 2031, decrees a generalized prohibition against the carrying of concealed weapons: "(n)o person shall . . . wear under his clothes, or conceal about his person any firearm, . . ." Its licensing through municipal authorities is provided by way of legislative exception. The use of such broad mandatory prohibitory language respecting the carrying of concealed weapons, in juxtaposition with the licensing exception couched in specific limited terms

may upon written application therefor issue to any legal resident of such city or town of good moral character, a certificate setting forth that such person has been duly licensed to carry such weapon

does suggest, presumptively at least, a legislative purpose to control all aspects of the licensing of the carrying of concealed weapons to the exclusion of additional local regulations.

The anomalous result which would follow, if Freeport could impose its ordinance requirements...