Massachusetts' Assault Weapons Ban Comes Under Fire

Massachusetts' chapter of the National Rifle Association is taking aim, not only at Attorney General Maura Healey's recent enforcement action, but to disarm entirely a state law banning assault weapons.

The Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts (GOAL) filed suit against Healey and others, including Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Monday, writing in a statement that the ban is "unconstitutional" and infringes on members' Second Amendment rights.

Massachusetts' longstanding ban prevents "law-abiding, responsible citizens from buying and keeping in their homes the most popular rifles in the country, as well as most standard capacity magazines," according to GOAL.

Under Massachusetts state law, which passed in 1998, "assault weapon" is defined as semiautomatic assault weapons, including all AR models, among others (full list here). Not included in the ban are semiautomatic rifles that cannot accept a detachable magazine that holds more than five rounds of ammunition or any semiautomatic shotgun that cannot hold more than five rounds of ammunition in a fixed or detachable magazine. The law also stipulates that "any of the weapons, or copies or duplicates of the weapons, of any caliber" are similarly banned.

It's that second stipulation that sparked outrage and put the ban in opponents' sights last summer.

That was when, in the wake of the deadly Orlando night club shooting, AG Healey issued an "enforcement notice" regarding what her office controversially called a "loophole" in the state's standing ban. That sparked a prior suit from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which Healey has asked be thrown out.

GOAL, under the umbrella of the NRA, is now seeking to tear down that action, along with the entirety of the assault weapons law.

In the 33-page civil suit, as related in The Boston Globe, GOAL and its fellow plaintiffs content Massachusetts' definition of assault weapons is a “non-technical, entirely fabricated, and political term of uncertain definition and scope.”

A spokesman for Healey told the Globe her office will "vigorously defend" a law that "keeps dangerous, military-style weapons off our streets."

Timeline:

Mass. AG Cracks Down on Assault Weapons Ban 'Loophole'

Gun Enthusiasts Up in Arms Over AG's 'Copycat' Assault Weapons Ban

Gun Association, Mass. Retailers Sue AG Over Assault Weapons Crackdown

Mass. AG Asks Court to Dismiss Assault Weapons 'Enforcement' Suit

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