Massachusetts’ lawful gun owners will have more red tape to navigate as a bill signed into law this week by Democrat Gov. Maura Healey will further infringe on their right to keep and bear arms as protected by the Second Amendment.
On Thursday, Gov. Healey signed the sweeping 116-page anti-gun measure, H. 4885, into law, making already restrictive Massachusetts even more unfriendly for lawful gun ownership. In fact, the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) called the measure “radical” and one of the “most extreme gun control bills in the country.”
“With Governor Healey’s signature, Massachusetts has enacted one of the most egregious and freedom-restricting laws in the history of the Commonwealth,” Randy Kozuch, NRA-ILA executive director, said in a statement following the signing. “We are thankful for the bipartisan group of legislators who stood against gun registries and the banning of commonly owned firearms and standard magazines. NRA will be challenging this law to restore the rights guaranteed to Bay Staters by the U.S. Constitution.”
The measure makes a number of changes that will affect gun owners. It raises the age to own a semi-automatic rifle or shotgun to 21 years old, expands definitions for modifications and parts that convert a semi-auto into a full-auto firearm and bans them, prohibits so-called “ghost guns” and also expends the list of places where carrying a firearm is banned to include government buildings, polling places and schools.
The law also adds more firearms to the commonwealth’s banned list of so-called “assault weapons,” makes the state’s “red-flag” law even more unconstitutional enabling more categories of people to report gun owners, requires standardized safety training, including a live fire component, for all firearm license applicants, establishes a worthless commission to study the funding structure for violence prevention services and establishes an equally worthless commission to study the status, feasibility and utility of smart guns and microstamping.
Of course, you can always tell how bad a piece of firearms legislation is by looking at what gun-ban advocates say about them. And this one is no exception to that rule.
“For years, we’ve been on the frontlines, advocating for our lawmakers to enact this gun safety bill into law, and we couldn’t be more excited to finally see our hard work pay off as the Governor signs this critical legislation into law,” said Maxine Slattery a Massachusetts Moms Demand Action volunteer.
“From a prohibition on deadly ghost guns, to strengthening our state’s red flag law, and keeping firearms out polling places ahead of the 2024 elections, this bill included many common sense gun safety measures that will further strengthen our defenses against gun violence,” she continued. “We know there’s not one gun safety measure that will keep our communities safe, and that’s why we’re grateful to our lawmakers for getting this bill enacted into law and providing us with yet another tool to keep our communities safe.”
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