Beginning Friday, all cases involving firearms that are to be prosecuted in Springfield District Court will be handled in this newly created session.
Hampden District Attorney Mark Mastroianni has announced the creation of a Firearms Session in Springfield District Court.
Updates a story posted Friday at 3:16 p.m.
SPRINGFIELD — Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni Wednesday announced the creation of a Firearms Session in Springfield District Court.
The session will be held several times a month, Mastroianni said, since the court does not have enough resources to run the separate session more often.
Beginning Friday, all cases involving firearms that are to be prosecuted in Springfield District Court will be handled in this session.
A designated judge will hear gun-related cases on scheduled days.
He said there are “gun courts” in district courts in Middlesex and Suffolk counties (see Suffolk County report at end of this article) — as there are in other places around the country — but those run every day.
The reason this is called a Firearms Session is because it is not a full-time court.
Mastroianni said with the judge shortage in Springifeld District Court, as well as the difficulty of having enough court officers, clerks and probaton officers, there is no way there could be a full-time gun court.
The session is being created in an effort to streamline, consolidate and coordinate cases involving firearms and better track them through the criminal justice system, Mastroianni said.
He said he can keep track of cases and avoid having unreasonable continuances.
“Ultimately, the session is aimed at reducing the amount of gun crime by establishing a system that will efficiently hold accountable those responsible for such crimes,” he said.
There will be no change in the amount of – or type of – gun cases his office decides to move from District Court to Superior Court by indictment, Mastroianni said, but all procedures after arraignment in those case while they are in District Court will be in the Firearms Session.
All gun cases will be transferred after arraignment into the session for processing of pre-trial matters, evidentiary motions and eventually.
The Firearms Session will handle all other charges in each case involving a gun. That means that if in addition to gun charges, there are drug charges, the whole case goes to the Firearms Session.
“Gun-related crime and illegal possession of firearms are significant public safety issues that must be effectively dealt with,” Mastroianni said.
Springfield police took a total of 231 guns off the street in 2012, he said.
Mastroianni said the ability to start this session was the result of the collaborative efforts of Springfield District Court First Justice William Boyle, Springfield District Court Clerk John Gay and the District Attorney’s Office.
The need for such a program in Springfield has been the subject of evaluation since the issue was raised by Springfield City Councilors Michael A. Fenton and Timothy C. Allen last March, Mastroianni said. The lack of court resources and staffing deficiencies have been a continuing consideration, he said.
Springfield police, working with Mastroianni’s office, will hold a countywide firearm buyback program on March 2.
The program, funded by private companies, will be held at police department headquarters, 130 Pearl St., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sgt. John M. Delaney said.
The program will be the Greater Springfield area’s first gun buyback since 2009, when a “gifts for guns“ exchange netted 98 firearms, including a German World War I pistol and a Japanese World War II rifle.