reason number 561 to never move to Massachusetts as if you needed another
one a harvard graduate student has been threatened with eviction from her
Massachusetts apartment because her roommates found out she's a legal gun
owner and it made them anxious
let it snow let it snow and snow
after a confrontation with her roommates she was told she had to choose between her guns and her
apartment but you see living in Somerville Massachusetts 24 year old
Leyla Pirnie knew about the anti-gun climate and had
chosen not to tell her roommates about her politics or her guns so how did they
find out how silly of you to ask of course they searched her room while
she was away she told the Washington Free Beacon, "a few weeks ago I came back
to my apartment from a weekend trip and was confronted by one of my roommates
who asked if I had guns in the house after being told
far too many lies to count my roommates finally admitted that they searched my
closet under my bed and all of my drawers in pursuit of finding my guns."
but why did they feel so compelled to search her room because they saw she had
a MAGA hat and is from Alabama because apparently having a red hat and being
from the south makes you a second-class citizen without the luxury of privacy
and property rights the roommates put two and two together and just assumed
that she had something and became determined to find it when Leyla asked
her roommates why they didn't just ask her about it
one girl told her that "fear took over her body and she felt compelled to
search my room until she found proof"
what ensued afterwards was a whirlwind of nervous emails and a very thinly
veiled eviction notice once the roommates found the guns one of them
chose to email landlord Dave Lewis the president of Avid Management a property
management company that had only a one-star rating on Yelp even
before this happened The roommate wrote that they urgently
needed his attention and action requesting immediate intervention
because the roommates were feeling uncomfortable and unsafe according to
the email laila explained to them that she was properly licensed and in legal
compliance but the roommates insisted that their presence causes anxiety and
deprives us of the quiet enjoyment of the premises to which we are entitled
they then demanded she keep the guns locked up with trigger locks unloaded
and locked in a gun safe which is more than even these state requires and to
top it all off even with all of those safety measures in place the roommates
were concerned that the guns would just go off on their own randomly shooting
people in the dead of night and so requested that the unloaded
double-locked guns be stored without their firing pins because in a home or
self-defense situation you want to be fumbling with a fire pin and trying to
put your gun back together
they also apparently didn't believe she was licensed because they demanded she
still go and get all the proper licenses and permits and that if she didn't
comply with all of these requirements she would have to move out this email
then inspired the landlord to call the police to come and inspect the apartment
and the guns in question to their surprise the police confirmed that all
the guns are legal and were being stored appropriately and scheduled Leyla for a
police interview this month as part of her permitting process it seems she had
only been living in the state since September and Massachusetts does allow a
60-day grace period for new residents to obtain the proper licenses seeing as
this happened in late October I'm guessing she was still within this
window because to my knowledge she hasn't been arrested or slapped with a
felony the landlord then went on to say that
because Leyla has a quote difference in philosophy and lifestyle and thought it
absurd that she would have to choose between her apartment and her guns it
would be best for all parties if she finds another place to live
he didn't give Leyla any other options but so generously offered to waive the
250 dollar roommate change fee he also asked everyone to remember that we are
all human beings with our own thoughts opinions and beliefs that all need to be
respected unless you're a conservative gun owner and then reminded everyone
that one of the roommates is a French girl with PTSD and is probably suffering
because of Leyla's guns oh and she would have to move out in the middle of finals
week which is basically death to a grad student now to be fair as landlord this
guy can do pretty much whatever he wants with his property including kicking
people out of it and I can see the economics of his side
losing the rent from one tenant versus losing the rent from the rest of the
tenants but how the landlord and roommates got to this point is beyond
shady and if the roommates had just minded their own business to begin with
none of this would be an issue up until they went snooping in her room and found
her guns the roommates all thought of Leila as a valuable housemate another
thing to consider here is Massachusetts has really crazy tenant laws which is
probably the only thing that has stopped the landlord from handing her an
official eviction notice eviction in Massachusetts is a long process that
requires a whole bunch of court appearances and legal fees and the
courts are almost always on the tenant sides
nowhere in the lease did it restrict firearm ownership or storage and Leila
did not stop paying rent so the guy wouldn't have much of a case they have a
contract that she did not violate so instead this guy is telling Miss Pernis
that she can either move out on her own accord or the roommates will all move
and she can foot the $6,000 rent herself he gave her no options but told Leila
that this isn't an ideological issue it was merely a practicality because
feelings were hurt hurt feelings is not a reason to force someone out of their
home doing so is a breach of contract and I can't imagine that flying in the
courts well okay so it might fly in the liberal courts of Massachusetts
let's be real this girl goes to Harvard she's not exactly a hardened criminal
I get the roommates not wanting to live with her but political differences does
not give you the right to violate someone else's privacy and their private
property and that's the part that none of them are talking about Leila and her
father have both refused the landlords deal and Pernis has lawyered up
personally I wouldn't want to live with any of these folks at this point anyway
but I understand why Leila is standing her ground
she told the free beacon that she became a gun owner after a college relationship
turned physically abusive that's a pretty good reason to own a gun but no
one has asked her about that and no one has even tried to understand her side
instead they've just condemned her as someone who owns things that scare them
that is both your liberty related and firearm thank yous for the week please
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