An Air Force veteran who’s spent the past four months in a Massachusetts jail on charges of possessing a firearm without a license and possessing a “large capacity” magazine is finally free, at least for now.
We’ve been covering Kyle Culotta’s legal saga since shortly after his arrest in July, and this news is a long time coming. Culotta and his girlfriend were essentially living out of their car as they made their way from Arizona to New England to be with her family. They were in Massachusetts and trying to make a few bucks for food and gas by doing DoorDash when they were pulled over for supposedly failing to yield at an intersection. As we reported at the time:
The officer informed the couple that he going to have the vehicle towed due to the lack of insurance, and told them to get what they needed from the car before the tow truck arrived. As he was conducting an inventory of the items in the car, the officer discovered “several medium-sized casings that appeared to be an ammunition case.” Culotta acknowledged to the officer that there was both ammunition in the car and a Glock handgun on his person.
Culotta, being from Arizona, didn’t have a Massachusetts License to Carry, so that alone would have been enough to place him in cuffs at the scene under the state’s draconian gun laws. But police also found two other handguns, five rifles and “a fully stocked military-style ammo cases [sic] or carrier”.
There doesn’t seem to be any dispute that Culotta can legally possess these items under federal law, but in the state of Massachusetts it was enough for a court to deem the veteran dangerous and order him held without bond for up to 120 days.
Kyle reached out to the Gun Owners Action League in Massachusetts, who hired attorney Dan Hagan to represent him. Hagan was able to get the most serious charges dismissed, but despite Culotta’s lack of criminal history and the possessory nature of his charges, a judge denied bail to Culotta on three separate occasions… even while a road rage suspect accused of shooting at a vehicle was granted bail by another judge.
On Monday, months after his arrest, Culotta was finally able to walk out of the Worcester County Jail and House of Corrections and put his arms around his girlfriend. Culotta’s legal battle isn’t over, however. He’s due back in court for a pre-trial hearing in December, and prosecutors are vigorously pursuing charges of possessing a firearm without a license for the guns he lawfully purchased and legally possessed in Arizona.
“Post Bruen nothing like this should ever happen in the United States,” said Mike Harris, GOAL’s Director of Public Policy. “It just shows how the entire Massachusetts government, all three branches, have put lawful gun owners under siege -especially if you don’t live here. I’m beyond happy Kyle is finally out on bail and am infinitely impressed once again by Attorney Hagan and his legal team.”
“Today, Kyle breathes free air. A decorated Air Force veteran with a spotless record and a good heart, he should never have been treated like a criminal for simply exercising his constitutional rights,” said Attorney Dan Hagan. “What happened to him is a stain on our justice system — one that punishes good people instead of protecting them. His release on bail marks the end of one battle, but the beginning of another. We now move into the second phase, the case in chief, where we will fight relentlessly to secure a just outcome for Kyle and his family.”
By all accounts Culotta is a good man who was going through some hard times when he and his girlfriend were pulled over for a minor traffic violation. Even a citation for failing to yield would have been a financial hardship, and hiring an attorney like Hagan was well beyond his means. With all due respect to his original public defender, Hagan’s expertise in dealing with Massachusetts’ bizarre and draconian gun laws should be a big help to Culotta’s defense, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance of the Gun Owners Action League and donations from gun owners across the country.
We’ll be talking more about Culotta’s case with GOAL Executive Director Jim Wallace on Wednesday’s Bearing Arms Cam & Co, and if you want to chip in for Culotta’s legal defense you can do so here.
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