WELLFLEET — Barbara Boone, 55, of Wellfleet was arrested on May 19 and charged with unlicensed ownership and improper storage of a large-capacity weapon after a video surfaced of her throwing her weapon and ammunition over a dune in Truro.
In a separate incident, Reid Mason, 22, a Truro firefighter, was charged in Barnstable District Court on May 24 with improper storage of five weapons and two backpacks of ammunition in his vehicle. Mason lives in West Barnstable; his guns were confiscated in an incident in Hyannis that took place just after midnight on Feb. 28, according to the Cape Cod Times.
The specific charges in both incidents — improper storage of a firearm — highlight the relatively strict gun laws in this state. Only Massachusetts and Oregon have laws that require firearms be secured, either in a locked container or with a trigger lock, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
According to the police report of Boone’s arrest, Wellfleet police received a complaint from Brittany Rolfs on May 18 regarding Boone’s possession of an unregistered and unsecured weapon. Rolfs had been in a relationship with Boone’s partner, Tia Scalcione, which is how Rolfs came to know of the weapon, she told officers.
The police visited Boone’s home but were told by Scalcione there were no weapons there. Scalcione gave them permission to search the property, but the police declined, in part to avoid disturbing the couple’s children, according to the officer’s report.
At 9 a.m. the next day, the Wellfleet police were alerted to a video of Boone throwing her ammunition, magazine, and weapon, a Taurus .380 handgun, over a sand dune. A confidential informant had sent the video to the Dennis police, who forwarded it to Wellfleet. Later that day, Rolfs emailed a copy of the video to the police.
Boone was arrested at her workplace in Provincetown. She led officers to the dune, but after a search involving police officers from Wellfleet and Truro and National Seashore employees, only the magazine was found. Boone was charged with three felonies.
Mason, the Truro firefighter, was not arrested, though the District Court authorized charges to be filed last week.
According to the Cape Cod Times, two police officers found Mason lying “halfway out of the driver side of a black Jeep parked outside of the 19th Hole Tavern in Hyannis.” Mason smelled of alcohol, had glassy eyes and disoriented behavior, and told officers he was “just sleeping,” according to the Times.
The officers took five firearms from the passenger seat and two backpacks with ammunition from the back of the vehicle. The guns were not loaded, officers told the court. The officers told Mason they were suspending his license to carry a firearm, but they did not arrest him or perform a sobriety test. Mason left the scene with a relative.
Mason’s father, Christopher Mason, has been the superintendent of the Mass. State Police since 2019. He previously worked for 17 years in the Cape and Islands district attorney’s office, according to the Times.
Reid Mason is currently suspended without pay from the Truro Fire Dept. Mason’s attorney argued that he did not break the law, but on May 24 Clerk-Magistrate Keith McDonough authorized the charges to be filed. Mason will be served a summons, McDonough said.
The police report is being withheld, Barnstable Lt. Mark Mellyn told the Times, “due to state law regarding the names or addresses of individuals contained or referred to in any license or application for a license to carry firearms.”
Boone, whose police report was released, did not have a license to carry a firearm.
