(Photo by Patrick Hayes)Opinion article by Colleen Corbett
In the war of words surrounding the gun control debate, it’s often said that existing laws need to be enforced before new ones are considered. That’s just what Attorney General Maura Healey did last week when she issued an enforcement notice or directive that closed a loophole that allowed approximately ten thousand copycat versions of assault weapons to be sold in Massachusetts last year, even though Massachusetts is one of seven states with an assault weapons ban.
The ban prohibits the sale of semi-automatic assault rifles (like the Colt AR-15 and Kalashnikov AK-47) and high capacity magazines (10 or more bullets) as well as copies and duplicates of such weapons. As Healey outlines in her recent op-ed in the Boston Globe, the directive closed a loophole created by gun manufacturers to get around the Massachusetts ban. According to Healey, gun manufacturers “found a way to exploit our laws” by making small tweaks to copycat versions of these guns. The tweaks slightly changed features on these guns but made them no less lethal. The directive issued by Healey on July 19 states that if the gun’s operating system is essentially the same or if the gun has components that are interchangeable with a banned weapon, then it is a copy or duplicate and illegal for sale.
As Healey stated in her op-ed:
“It’s no surprise the Orlando killer chose an AR-15 style assault rifle. It’s a weapon of war, originally created for combat, and designed to kill many people in a short amount of time with incredible accuracy. It’s in the same category as weapons chosen by killers in Newtown, Aurora, and San Bernardino. These are not weapons of self-defense. They are weapons used to commit mass murder. And they have no business being in civilian hands.”
Healey said she believes that states are legally and morally bound to act on this issue due to the inaction by Congress:
“With this directive, we will ensure we get the full protection intended when lawmakers enacted our assault weapons ban, not the watered-down version of those protections offered by gun manufacturers.”
Healey expects this enforcement notice to be challenged in court by the gun industry. In June, following the Orlando mass shooting that killed 49 innocent people and injured another 53, the Supreme Court rejected challenges by the gun industry to the assault weapon bans in CT an NY. Many states passed laws banning assault weapons and high capacity magazines following the massacre of 26 children and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. Seven states, including Massachusetts, have enacted bans on assault weapons; other states with similar bans include the District of Columbia, California, Hawaii, Maryland, and New Jersey. The state ban in Massachusetts was adopted following the passage of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban under President Clinton in 1994. The Federal Ban had a sunset provision and expired in 2004, but the ban in Massachusetts had no such provision and has remained in effect.
After the recent spate of high-profile mass shootings using assault style weapons, public opinion may finally be shifting. A recent poll (July 7-11) conducted by the Associated Press-GfK found nearly two-thirds of respondents supported stricter gun laws with majorities favoring nationwide bans on semi-automatic assault weapons and on the sale of high-capacity magazines.
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