Updated July 27
A 65-year-old Edgartown woman is being charged with failure to report an unauthorized firearm and her license to carry was suspended by the police chief after she waited 10 days to report a lost gun, according to a police report.
Catherine Tobin, 65, reported the gun, a .380 calibre Sig Sauer rainbow edition pistol, missing on July 15, the report states. She reported that she lost the firearm sometime between a visit to the Black Dog Cafe in Tisbury and helping a friend move in Edgartown on July 5. “Tobin said her handgun was holstered in a black Kydex holster and was on her side. Tobin said she knew she had the firearm on her person at the cafe because she remembered it being uncomfortable,” the report states. “… Tobin speculated at some point she removed the firearm from her side as it had been bothering her to the point where it left a rash. Tobin does not remember where the firearm ended up from there.”
Police asked Tobin why it took her so long to report it missing. “Tobin said her life has been very busy and she finally decided to report the gun lost on the advice of her brother,” the report states.
According to the report, Tobin has a Florida license. When an officer in Edgartown called Tobin to tell her that her license had been suspended and to bring it to the station, she allegedly said she was “currently in West Tisbury and would get [there] eventually. Tobin said she was phoning her attorney and then hung up.”
Attorney Casey Dobel called to arrange for Tobin to turn in her license, as well as a .9mm Sig Sauer pistol and some ammunition, according to the report. Dobel told police she was “prepared to report it stolen.”
The missing firearm was reported to the county communications center to be put into the national database and other Island police departments were alerted to the gun.
Reached by phone Friday, Tobin ended the call after The Times asked if she would comment on the missing gun.
Police Chief Bruce McNamee said he suspended Tobin’s Massachusetts license to carry, which she can appeal. He has no jurisdiction over the Florida license. “Firearms licensure is a serious responsibility and has to be treated as such,” McNamee told The Times. “Fortunately calls like this are very rare. Of the licenses I’ve issued, I can’t think of a person who lost a firearm and ultimately never recovered it.”
Police have searched for the gun, but have been unable to recover it, the chief said.
Tobin has not yet received a summons to appear in Edgartown District Court on the charge of failing to report the gun missing, Dobel said Tuesday. She declined further comment.
The missing gun comes on the heels of a public records revelation that the Tisbury Police Department can’t account for a department issued Glock, which was first reported missing in 2017. Former Police Chief Daniel Hanavan and retired Sgt. Timothy Stobie, the department’s former armorer, gave conflicting statements on the gun’s whereabouts. Ultimately it was also reported as missing in the national database and an attempt by former Chief Mark Saloio to have the missing gun investigated was rejected by town administrator Jay Grande. No one has been charged in that gun’s disappearance.
Updated to clarify that the summons has not yet been issued.
Studies show that five out of six gun-possessing felons did not purchase a handgun or otherwise get one through legal means, but instead procured an illegal weapon through the secondary market, or by theft. The information strongly supports the fact that handguns used by criminals are most often stolen or traded between each other, and therefore become nigh impossible to track in any meaningful fashion. All of these would be deemed illegal weapons. Biden wants to ban guns but he would only be banning legal ones mostly from law abiding citizens.
Andy– you were doing good until you got to the lie about Biden
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/jul/22/national-house-republicans/no-joe-biden-doesnt-want-ban-handguns/
QUOTE “Why should we allow people to have military-style weapons ***including pistols with 9mm bullets*** and can hold 10 or more rounds?” UNQUOTE – Biden
Ok, why should we?
Richard- you know sleepy Joe has dementia, so if you can find one quote from a few years ago while he was running for president, why should you worry ? He has no idea he said it , right ?
Your quote actually seems accurate by the way– good work.
Keller
During a CNN town hall on Wednesday, President Biden said he is “continuing to push” for a ban on weapons that can fire multiple rounds, including handguns.
The statement came after an audience member asked how he planned to address gun violence at the federal level “to actually bring about change and make our local cities safer.”
Engelman–your ability to spread misinformation about nearly every topic is breathtaking… Your quote ” Chicago for example has the tightest control in the nation and to no avail” is a flat out lie.
“DOES CHICAGO HAVE THE TOUGHEST GUN LAWS IN THE NATION?
No. Trump and his administration have wrongly made this assertion . Chicago passed a ban on handgun ownership in 1982. Those who’d already purchased and registered their handguns were allowed to keep them. In 2010, the ban was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, and in 2013, Illinois became the last state in the nation to approve concealed carry.
Illinois is considered to have fairly tight gun laws. The state requires gun owners to obtain licenses and face background checks. It also imposes waiting periods on purchases. But unlike New York and California, Illinois, among other things, does not ban assault weapons or large-capacity magazines and does not require a state license for firearms dealers or one to sell ammunition, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.”
https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-us-news-violence-laws-in-state-wire-64e34cffb7db4dc7bf9bcda2ea201ea7
Keller, this is what liberals like you always do. You take a comment that is not precisely accurate but provides a compelling substantive truth–Chicago notorious for illegal gun ownership and violent gang related crime and you dissect it in an attempt to refute. Ok St Louis has more per capita crime. Ok many guns come from neighboring states, ok it used to be two years ago but not now. You take something that is generally true and a major problem and try to make it go away by peeling an onion with facts that dont make anyone anymore comfortable. You are still faced with a compelling truth but you feel better by minimizing it with superflous truths.
PRESIDENT Biden does not want to “ban guns”. Yet Another lie out of the mouth of this person.
Carla, If you watch Biden stumble through his CNN townhall speech you would see he wants to ban handguns.
No Andy, he does not want to ban guns. He doesn’t want to take them either. What he, and a rapidly growing cross section of Americans want, is tighter control on them. Yes, there are people in this country who want a total ban on all guns, but unfortunately for your narrative, Biden is not one of them.
Donovan, Chicago for example has the tightest control in the nation and to no avail. It aint the guns its the thugs who own them and by restricting them you only restrict law abiding citizens and not the bad guys. Everyone knows that but the Dem narrative is always banning or tightening. This is about culture not about guns.
Joe Biden wants to ‘ban guns?’
According to whom?
Has Barack Obama grabbed your guns yet?
Can you recite your study sources ? Thank You
andrew– you got to be careful with those statistics— you know, it’s been statistically proven that 5 out of 4 people have trouble with fractions..
especially when there are no links to any of the studies, and they are seemingly just pdooya’s ( pulled directly out of —-) that’s pronounced pa-doo-ya — it’s a real term— .
so, Andy– what does this have to do with the missing gun, and the fact that a presumably responsible gun owner from Florida just misplaced her gun and perhaps some criminal on the vineyard has it ? I bet you would really worry about this if i said it was probably just left on the table, and an illegal from wherever found it and now has it— Shiver me timbers– call out the keystone cops..
Andrew when was the last time you saw that a gun was stolen? Serious criminals do not steal guns. Guns are so cheap and easy to come by. Gun manufacturers and dealers have no incentive to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, they are 30+% of the gun market. The guns in criminal hands started out in the hands of Proud Parotic Americans who believe in the right to bear arms. When a PPA is down on his luck he can always find someone willing to give him a good price for his gun, especially if he asks no questions.
Of course she hung up on you. She’s facing criminal charges. In journo school, you would have learned to call her attorney, not the defendant.
Makes me feel so safe to know there are “Good Gals with Guns” in case one of those Bad Guys with Guns comes in wanting a bowl of chowder.
Jay– I haven’t seen you in years– hope you are well
Good comment.
The good gal no longer has the gun. Could be anywhere by now. Great isn’t it?
Why the hell was she carrying a gun while at the Black Dog Cafe?? Really, she needs to go back to Florida. Lucky for everyone that she didn’t accidentally shoot someone.
You would be surprised how many people on this island carry concealed guns everywhere they go.
But your forgetting the gun started as a legal weapon before the criminal got it. Many hate gun control until a close friend or family member are shot.
There is no such thing as a legal or illegal weapon, except for those modified illegally. The legality or illegality is in its possession, not the weapon itself.
Catherine Tobin needs to enter the “Shrug-Your-Shoulders Defense” employed to such resounding success by the Tisbury Police.
This defense usually results in zero charges, zero jail time, and zero effect on ones state pension.
“Your Honor, all I want is to be treated like I was on the Tisbury Police.”
“Pupek, take those handcuffs off and release her with the court’s apologies.
Next case?”
“Because I can” is a bad reason to do anything. Just because this person has (well, had) the right to carry, that doesn’t mean it’s a logical choice. I’d bet the odds of needing a gun for self-defense at TBD are overwhelmingly outweighed by the chances that you’ll accidentally hurt yourself or someone else. Or leave said gun out in the open where a child could find it. Please don’t bring weapons with the potential to end a life into the equation just to grab a bagel on MV. Never thought that would need saying. People are snippy nowadays at restaurants, but not gun-level snippy. If you can’t even keep track of your weapon, you have no business owning it. This is not like losing sunglasses or a wallet. It’s your duty to be on alert about the location of something deadly.
Yup – just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. If you do, you’d better be able to live up to the privilege that a license confers – or lose it if you don’t.
katie– spot on–
The one question never answered seems to be WHY. Why should anyone be allowed to carry automatic or semi-automatic weaponry ? Please. Someone give a rational explanation for this. Is it for sport ? Rent one at a range. Personal protection ? C’mon. Not credible. The zombies aren’t here yet. Is it the slippery slope of “1st the semi”s than our handguns” ? Even many of us liberals would protect the 2nd amendment. There is no answer.
Mr Kelfer, it is clearly the slippery slope argument. The same argument pro choice people use in never wanting any limitation on abortion. They are afraid Roe will disappear and the 2nd amendment types think you will come after all guns.
Well oh well where did all that proliferous chatter come from?
First you see the gun then you don’t? Sounds to me like intense lessons should be taught on how to manage and handle a gun before owning one.
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