Boston, MA –Democratic Speaker of the House Don Mariano is backing down on his plan to fast-track a massive gun control measure. His actions come two weeks after the National Association for Gun Rights issued a Travel Advisory for gun owners to and within Massachusetts in response to the 140 page bill.
News outlets are reporting the bill will be revisited in the fall due to “incendiary criticism from firearms owners.”
House Docket 4420 is a comprehensive gun control bill that would ostensibly ban more guns than any current law in the United States.
Some of the provisions contained in the bill include:
* Updates the state definition of “Assault-style firearm” to ban almost all semiautomatic firearms.
* Bans concealed carry of firearms at private businesses unless expressly permitted.
* Retroactive compulsory registration of all firearms.
* Registration of all firearms magazines/feeding devices, no grandfathering.
* Requires all feeding devices/magazines to have a serial number.
* Ban for anyone under age 21 from buying or carrying a semi-automatic shotgun or rifle.
* Lays out compulsory “safe storage” requirements.
* Changes the definition of firearm to include stun guns.
* Puts more regulations on firearms dealers.
“The Speaker is right to back down and if he were smart, he would kill the bill altogether,” said Dudley Brown, President of the National Association for Gun Rights. “Delaying the bill till the fall won’t dampen the pressure, it just gives us more time to rally our members in opposition.”
“The Travel Advisory stands. Gun rights and freedom are under relentless assault in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Nothing about the Speaker’s tactical retreat changes that,” said Brown.
The National Association for Gun Rights’ legal arm, the National Foundation for Gun Rights filed a lawsuit (Capen v. Healey) in September of 2022, challenging Massachusetts’s current ban on “assault weapons” and standard-capacity magazines.
The NAGR lawsuit argues the Massachusetts Assault Weapons Ban violates the 2022 Supreme Court decision handed down in the NYSRPA V. Bruen case, which stated gun control laws must find their justification in the history, text, and tradition of the Second Amendment.
The National Association for Gun Rights is the nation’s largest “no compromise” pro-gun organization, with 4.5 million members nationwide.
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