Massachusetts Beaches

[fleavens]

Are all public beaches legally open to metal detecting?

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

What entity administers the ones you're inquiring about ? Eg.: City? County ? State ? Fed ?

 

[Sandancer]

All National Seashore beaches are off limits and have been for years. I remember years ago before I knew this I was carrying a cheap little detector with beach chairs and blankets toward the beach and a guard came running at me like I was carrying a gun. This eliminates about a third of the Cape Cod area. Also beaches at State Parks are off limits. Isn't big government wonderful. Maybe we can get Trump to drop these ridiculous regs. Most other public beaches are, however, open.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... Also beaches at State Parks are off limits....

Where are you getting that info ? According to the FMDAC website, state beaches in MA are ok. Albeit "so long as the ranger at that location says ok" type-of-thing. Fine then: Tell the ranger you lost your ring. Or to be really proficient, run a CL ad the day before for "lost ring at such & such beach". Print it out and bring it with you. Just announce (don't ask) that you're looking for this ring. And I bet they could care less. Heck, I bet they could care less even before any such ruse. Historic sensitive monuments ? Sure. But the beach ?

CA too has something akin to that "... with permission from Park office". But I can assure you, you DON'T need permission from the park office. The state beaches are detected here till we're blue in the face. Therefore whenever I read something similar on other state's for that list, it makes me wonder "really ?" It's probably more along the lines of "the authority there can decide to dis-allow" (in the same way they could come tell you that your boom box is too loud, etc...)

 

[Sandancer]

The prohibition of metal detecting in State Parks and on other State controlled areas such as State Forests and Wildlife Management areas is part of State of Massachusetts Law. There is a clause that implies that permission may be granted by Park Authorities under certain circumstances. I for one would not go through the trouble. Of course it is a big area and enforcement personnel are limited. As far as the National Seashore goes, it would take an act of congress to get "permission".

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... There is a clause that implies that permission may be granted by Park Authorities under certain circumstances.....

We can all agree that duly appointed LEO public-officials (cops, rangers, city gardeners, etc...) do indeed have some latitude to administer the duties they have. And it's impossible to "make laws" for every conceivable thing that *might* come up . So there are general catch-all type laws, such as laws that forbid "annoyances". Or "blocking sidewalks" (ambiguous on the amount of time you can stand there, etc...). So that a cop can use them to enforce, as is needed, to break up a street party, etc....

And in similar fashion, a ranger could come up to your camp site and tell you that your boom-box is too loud (d/t he might think it bothers your camping neighbors). But no one would think for a minute that you need to "go get the ranger's permission to play your boombox", eh ? The fact that, yes, he can come tell you to turn it off or turn it down (fully within his power of authority), does NOT mean A) it's wrong to listen to boomboxes, or B) that you needed his permission to turn it on the first place, etc...

So I am convinced that a lot of these "inquire at each kiosk" or "with permission from the ranger" type verbiage, probably STARTED as the answer to the "pressing questions" that md'rs posed a few decades ago. And the "safe" answer was always "ask at each kiosk" or "with permission". And then pretty soon, it just makes its insidious way into the actual law (and now exceeds simple "commentary" and has now become actual "code").

I admit that the MA was seems to be more than just "commentary", but I betcha it started as nothing more than "ranger's ability to tell you to stop", to eventually being "must get his OK beforehand". And I still wonder if this is one of those situations where you'd be hardpressed to find a ranger who even knows or cares about this [Unless, of course, scores of md'rs go asking, so that they are perpetually looking up and seeing this]

 

[Sandancer]

If I ever get into trouble detecting in any of these areas. I want you to be my lawyer[emoji106]