YES! First State In America BANS The Sale Of Semi-Automatic Rifles

[KamaAina]

http://bipartisanreport.com/2016/07/21/yes-first-state-in-america-bans-the-sale-of-semi-automatic-rifles-details/

Sadly, Democrats have had little luck getting Republicans to vote on legislation to address the massive gun problem in this country. On the bright side, however, some public figures are working to combat the problem at the state level.

One of those individuals is Maura Healey, the attorney general for the state of Massachusetts. Writing for the Boston Globe, she said:
‘Here in Massachusetts, 10,000 assault weapons were sold just in the last year — each one nearly identical to the rifle used to gun down 49 innocent people in Orlando. In the week after the Pulse nightclub massacre, sales of weapons strikingly similar to the Sig Sauer MCX used at Pulse jumped as high as 450 percent over the previous week — just in Massachusetts.’...

Fed-up with the multitude of excuses from Republicans, Healey decided to take matters into her own hands. According to her letter in the Boston Globe:
‘The Massachusetts assault weapons ban mirrors the federal ban Congress allowed to expire in 2004. It prohibits the sale of specific weapons like the Colt AR-15 and AK-47 and explicitly bans “copies or duplicates” of those weapons. But gun manufacturers have taken it upon themselves to define what a “copy” or “duplicate” weapon is. They market “state compliant” copycat versions of their assault weapons to Massachusetts buyers. They sell guns without a flash suppressor or folding or telescoping stock, for example, small tweaks that do nothing to limit the lethalness of the weapon.’

But on Wednesday, Healey plans to change all that. “On Wednesday,” she writes, “we are sending a directive to all gun manufacturers and dealers that makes clear that the sale of these copycat assault weapons is illegal in Massachusetts.”

Old tourism slogan: "The spirit of Massachusetts is the spirit of America!"

[Duckhunter935]

1. They have not banned them

Sorry but you are just plain wrong

[beevul]

2. Whos brainiac idea was it to try to ban 100+ year old firearm technology...

Whos brainiac idea was it to try to ban 100+ year old firearm technology, so close to a national election?

MA had precisely ZERO deaths from rifles in 2014, so what problem is this intended to solve?

"We'll fix those mass shooters in FL and CO by banning guns here in MA"?

Not to mention that the AG is making up her own definitions out of thin air, as opposed to using the definitions contained in the law itself.

Nowhere in the 1994 AWB does it mention "operating system" as a criteria. Nowhere.

On edit: To be clear, the MA ban is a word for word copy of the original federal AWB, so it doesn't have that either. The AG is inventing it out of thin air.



Would anyone really like to see a state-level trend of AGs making up the laws as they see fit?

Really?

[Nevernose]

10. I'm with you on the pragmatism

I've never hidden my desire to erase guns from the face of the Earth, but this bill during a presidential election year -- especially what seems to be a tight one -- is dumb as shit. We obviously can't put the genie back in the bottle, but there ARE smart decisions/laws that could be made.

The way an AG decides to interpret and/or prosecute, though, depends upon the individual state. We ALREADY have fifty states with fifty legal systems, often radically different.

[greiner3]

11. Election year

So you agree 80% of Americans want assault rifles banned too.

[Nevernose]

13. 80% of Americans don't vote, either.

Gun nuts VOTE. They vote, and vote, and vote again. Frankly, Donald Trump scares the shit out of me far more than any AK-47 ever could.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

3. Really shoddy reporting at bipartisanreport.com n/t

[G_j]

4. Massachusetts to enforce longstanding assault weapons ban by closing loophole

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2016/07/20/massachusetts-enforce-longstanding-assault-weapons-ban-closing-loophole

[jmg257]

5. Or not...but "assault weapons" anyway.

Last edited Thu Jul 21, 2016, 09:05 PM - Edit history (1)

Interchangeable parts or same operating system, so XM-15 banned same as original AR-15, but Mini-14 not so much.

[aikoaiko]

6. We'll have to see how this plays out.

It's a strange definition of duplicate or copy.

[Cryptoad]

7. I support any laws

that make it harder for idiots to obtain guns and ammo!

[Rex]

8. Excellent, this will make it harder to get those weapons.

A deterrent is a great thing, way to go Massachusetts!

[Calculating]

9. Assault weapons aren't really the issue IMO

I think the real issue is high-capacity magazines. An assault weapon isn't such a threat it it's limited by a 10 round magazine. Most of the mass killers have used 30+ round mags. I even own a few of these guns, and I feel a magazine ban is the most sensible regulation.

[NutmegYankee]

12. *YAWN*. Connecticut did that 3 years ago.

Mass is late.

[Xipe Totec]

14. Massachusetts has the right to regulate its militia however it pleases

It's in the constitution.

2nd amendment.

[jmg257]

15. Actually, congress is responsible for the guidelines for how the militias are to be armed.

That is in the Constitution, too.

(states do get to appoint officers and train (regulate) per the federal guidelines congress is also to come up with)

[Xipe Totec]

16. Nope. The 2nd amendment says federal government has no say

On how a state shall form a militia.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

[jmg257]

18. Nope, 2nd says well-regulated militias are necessary, and they can not be disarmed.

"the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."


How they are organized, armed and disciplined/regulated is the power given to congress.

The Congress shall have Power:

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

[KamaAina]

17. The word "regulated" as used at the time meant "trained"

But that is an interesting argument, that states have control over their own "militias" (gun owners).

[jmg257]

19. Interesting, but wrong. Although Heller did say 2nd allows for self-defense, which CAN be controlled

by the states.

The militias - not so much. They have too vital a role when called forth in federal service to be allowed to be rendered ineffective by the states. {'well-regulated militias are necessary'}


Purposes laid out in the preamble and guarantees made in the Constitution are based on the role of the militias of the several states. They must be uniform, and they must be effective.