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Attorney General Maura Healey, surrounded by law enforcement and gun control advocates, announces a ban on "copycat" assault weapons on July 20, 2016.
(SHIRA SCHOENBERG / THE REPUBLICAN)
BOSTON -- Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced Wednesday that she will enforce a ban on the sale of what she called "copycat" assault-style weapons, effective immediately.
"Gun manufacturers have manufactured these weapons as legal versions of prohibited guns," Healey said. "These weapons are illegal. They are copies or duplicates of banned weapons, and they cannot be bought or sold in Massachusetts."
"The gun industry doesn't get to decide what's compliant (with state law)," Healey said. "We do."
Gun owners, however, said they had no notice of Healey's interpretation of the law and were still unsure of what would be included.
"I've talked to six dealers today, and no one's received anything," said David Bourdeau, owner of Tombstone Trading Company, a Brookfield gun shop. "Everything we have so far is second and thirdhand."
Advocates for the gun industry warn that Healey's ban is likely to face a legal challenge.
"You have a person that's unilaterally changing the laws without actually going through the process, then telling licensed retailers they're not allowed to sell something basically with no notice," said Jim Wallace, executive director of Gun Owners' Action League of Massachusetts, a gun rights advocacy group. "This is going to be probably a very interesting legal challenge at some point."
The move comes after mass shootings have spurred a national debate over gun control. Healey, like many other Democrats, supports additional gun control.
Massachusetts already bans the sale of assault weapons and of copies or duplicates of assault weapons. But, according to Healey, some gun manufacturers made guns that are very similar to assault weapons but with small changes. For example, they do not have a collapsible stock or a flash suppressor. That does not change the lethality of the weapon, but it does let the gun manufacturers claim it is not a copy of an assault weapon, so it is "state compliant."
Healey's directive to gun manufacturers clarifies the definition of "copy." Under Healey's definition, if a gun's operating system is the same as that of a banned weapon or it has components that are interchangeable with those in a banned weapon, the gun will be illegal to sell in Massachusetts.
According to Healey's office, an estimated 10,000 "copycat" assault weapons were sold last year in Massachusetts.
"These deadly assault weapons were designed for military use," Healey said. "They are meant to kill people in a very short amount of time. They do not belong in civilian hands."
The ban on selling the guns is effective Wednesday. Gun dealers with existing stock will have to sell them to dealers out of state.
Anyone who purchased one of these assault-style weapons before Wednesday will be allowed to keep it. But no Massachusetts resident will be allowed to possess an assault-style weapon that was purchased after that, even if it is bought elsewhere.
Healey said she notified gun dealers in a letter mailed Tuesday. The regulations were posted online Wednesday.
Although anyone who sells these guns can now be subject to criminal or civil penalties, Healey said her first step would not be enforcement, but would be working with gun dealers to inform them of the rules and answer their questions.
"What this is about today is providing notice, getting the word out, working with gun dealers," Healey said.
Even as Healey was announcing the move to the press, gun owners said they were still figuring out the policy. "At this point, our comment is no comment because we haven't received anything," Bourdeau said. "The conversation's premature until we get a notice and see how it's written by the state."
Wallace said the assault weapons ban has been interpreted one way for 18 years. Wallace said his group had not yet seen the language of the order Wednesday morning, although his phone was "ringing off the hook" after Healey outlined the move in a Boston Globe op-ed Wednesday morning.
"It would appear the attorney general has usurped legislative authority and somehow, under whatever power she thinks she has, to then change the interpretation of something that's been in place for almost two decades," Wallace said.
Healey announced the move surrounded by law enforcement and family members of gun violence victims. "It's really enforcing what's been there all along and having our attorney general stand up and say enough is enough with assault ban exemptions," said Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan.
Norwood Police Chief Bill Brooks, president of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, said, "The vast majority of gun shop owners scrupulously abide by state and federal law and are trustworthy businesspeople. Today's action will make it clear what's expected of them."
Gregory Gibson, the father of Galen Gibson, who was shot in a 1992 mass shooting at Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, said he "wholeheartedly supports" the initiative to "save other families from having to endure what my family suffered."
Nationally, a June shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people has revived congressional debate over gun control, with Democrats accusing the Republican-led Congress of failing to pass a bill. Assault weapons were also used in recent killings of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, apparently in response to police killings of black men.
Massachusetts gun control advocates said they will continue to push for a national ban on assault weapons. Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said only one-quarter of the guns recovered at Massachusetts crime scenes are legally bought in Massachusetts. The rest are purchased out of state.
"The federal lawmakers who could standardize sensible gun laws are missing in action," said Conley. "They'd rather tweet their thoughts and prayers for the dead than take action to protect the living."