Anti-gun state senators in Massachusetts recently passed a sweeping gun-control bill that reads like a wish list for gun-ban advocates.
The measure, S 2572, was approved by the Senate on Feb. 1 and covers a lot of bases, all of them bad for lawful gun owners in the state. First, it would broaden the ban on common semi-automatic rifles that Massachusetts citizens are already under. If the new legislation were to pass, nearly any semi-auto rifle and many semi-auto shotguns would be outlawed.
S 2572 would also expand Massachusetts’ already restrictive “red-flag” law. The legislation redefines the state’s “extreme risk protection order” as: “an order by the court that orders: (i) the immediate suspension and surrender of a license to carry firearms or a firearm identification card which the respondent may hold; (ii) the respondent to surrender all firearms, rifles, shotguns, machine guns, weapons or ammunition which the respondent owns, possesses or controls at the time of such risk protection order; and (iii) the respondent to refrain from applying for any new firearms licenses or identification cards; provided, however, that an extreme risk protection order shall be in effect for not more than 1 year from the date of issuance but may be renewed upon petition.”
If passed, the measure would also expand the number of areas where possession of a firearm is forbidden. The bill’s language adds any state, county and municipal building to the list of areas where any gun, loaded or unloaded, is permitted.
Additionally, the measure would mandate serialization of legally owned firearm parts. Among other things, it would ban firearms, rifles and shotguns (Includes completed or unfinished frames and receivers.) that are not imprinted with a “valid serial number.” Additionally, unfinished frames or receivers must be serialized before they exist.
Senate President Karen Spilka pushed the measure through the Senate without even a public hearing, showing Democrats’ disdain for state gun owners.
“Today the Senate came together and acted on gun violence—rising above the divisiveness of this critical issue in the name of protecting our residents from gun crime, modernizing our laws and supporting communities who have been torn apart by unnecessary violence,” Spilka said in a statement. “I’m proud to lead a body that is committed to building on our Commonwealth’s record as a national leader on gun safety.”
The bill, which is the Senate version of one passed in the House last year, next goes to a joint committee for working out differences in the two restrictive measures.