On Monday afternoon in Cambridge Massachusetts, Tyler Brown, 46, a man with a violent criminal history and documented mental illness walked onto Memorial Drive and fired as many as 60 rounds from a semi-automatic rifle at passing cars, striking and critically wounding two men.
A state trooper and a civilian with a permit to carry firearms eventually shot Brown and were able to take him into custody. Men with guns stopped Brown – not a “ban.”
The rifle Brown used appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle with a pistol grip, commonly referred to as an “assault rifle.” Massachusetts has had an assault rifle ban, often ranked as one of the most stringent in the nation, since 2016, demonstrating the futility of such “bans.”
Brown’s felony record should have prevented him from physically being able to carry out Monday’s shooting. In 2008 he was convicted of cocaine distribution. Then in 2014 he was convicted of assault with a knife and witness intimidation. Brown was on probation for those convictions when in 2020 he fired 13 rounds at a Boston police officer. He was convicted of assault and should have received a minimum of 10 years in prison, but the judge’s sentence incapacitated Brown for just 3 1/2 years, partially due to documented mental illness. He was released in May of 2025.
Clearly Brown is a danger to society given his criminal history and his documented mental illness. Yet, the court system failed to use the only certain tool in its toolbox – significant incapacitation.
Stopping violence involving guns begins and ends with incapacitating people who use guns in commission of their crimes. Monday’s shooting in Boston hammers the point home – bans prevent nothing, but incapacitation can – when it’s used.
Boston’s lesson is one Minnesotans should be watching closely. Last week the Minnesota Senate passed an “assault rifle ban” on a party line 34-33 vote. House leadership has so far refused to advance the bill, effectively blocking it from passage.
Minnesota law makers must heed the lessons from Boston – bans fail, but incapacitation is certain, when used. Focus efforts on ensuring our sentences are consequencial, not of “gun bans” which will only impact law abiding Minnesotans.
