Does Massachusetts Need More Gun Control?

Do assault weapons and large ammunition clips need to be banned again in the U.S.?

Advocates of expanding gun laws in Massachusetts, including some top law enforcement officials, will be speaking on the subject today in Boston, according to the Boston Herald.

Those expected to speak at a press conference at the Art Institute Boston include the State Public Safety Secretary, a State Police Major, Boston's Police Commissioner and the chairman of Stop Handgun Violence, a non-profit that supports further gun control, according to the Herald.

Those speaking plan to ask Senator Scott Brown and others in congress to end their opposition to a ban of assault rifles and high volume ammunition clips.

A spokesmen for Brown told the Boston Globe that the Senator believes such control should be up to states. In 2004, then-Governor Mitt Romney approved a permanent ban on assault weapons in Massachusetts. A federal assault weapon ban passed in 1994 expired in 2004 and hasn't since been renewed.

The Brady Campaign, a gun control advocacy group, ranked Massachusetts as having the third-strongest gun control laws in the country in 2011, trailing California and New Jersey.

But many guns come over the border from nearby states with looser laws. According to the Globe, 212 of 1,020 guns recovered in Massachusetts by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that were traced by to their state of origin came from either New Hampshire or Maine.