DeLeo: Court, Not Legislators, Will Assess AG's Assault Weapons Crackdown

BOSTON, MA — Despite push-back from numerous state legislators, efforts to curtail the state attorney general's powers regarding gun control won't go forward this legislative session and, ultimately, may fall to the courts.

That's according to House Speaker Robert DeLeo who, according to the Associated Press, ruled out action on Maura Healey's assault weapons crackdown as the formal legislative session drew to a close Sunday.

Healey sent an enforcement notice to 350 Massachusetts gun dealers on July 20, telling them her office is cracking down on the sale of certain modified guns, which will now be treated as "copies and duplicates" of assault weapons as defined (and long banned) under state law.

Read more from Patch:

Healey has since received push-back from Gov. Charlie Baker, lobbyists, outraged gun owners, and numerous state lawmakers. Critics call her action an overstep.

But as legislators hammered out the final details on numerous large pieces of legislation over the weekend, DeLeo told the AP he expects Healey's enforcement action will be taken up by a different branch of government — the judiciary.

"There's no possible way we could have an issue such as a gun debate be debated and acted upon within two days," the Winthrop Democrat told MassLive.com. "Probably ultimately it will be the courts that will decide as to whether she had that authority."

Read the full story from MassLive here.

>> Photo by Alison Bauter, Patch staff