Last week, the legislature approved the results of negotiations between the branches on their respective versions of gun safety legislation. Below appears an official senate press release which touches on the major provisions. The Chiefs of Police issued a statement endorsing the bill.
MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE PASSES firearm safety reform bill
Bill is the largest update to gun safety laws since 2014
BOSTON – Thursday, July 18, 2024 – The Massachusetts Legislature today passed a firearm safety reform bill that cracks down on the sale of ghost guns, strengthens the Commonwealth’s red flag laws, updates the definition of assault-style firearms, and limits the carrying of guns into polling places and government buildings while updating our current prohibition of guns in schools to include school transport.
“This agreement is the most significant gun safety legislation that Massachusetts has seen in a decade. It is the culmination of a multi-year process that began once the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority issued their disastrous Bruen decision, after which the House began a comprehensive review of how that ruling would impact Massachusetts, and of the Commonwealth’s gun laws generally. That process resulted in the historic bill that the House passed last October,” said House Speaker Ronald J. Mariano (D-Quincy). “While the Commonwealth’s existing gun laws have proven to be effective in preventing gun violence compared to other states, relative success is never a cause for complacency. That’s why I’m incredibly proud of this agreement, as it builds on the critical reforms that we made in 2014. I’m grateful to Senate President Spilka and our partners in the Senate for their collaboration, as well as Chairman Day and the members of conference committee for their tireless work on this issue.”
“While there is no appropriate measure of the pain and heartbreak that gun violence has caused in our Commonwealth and across the nation, I am proud that Massachusetts has always been a leader in gun violence prevention. This bill builds on that leadership,” said Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland). “Today the Legislature came together and acted on gun violence to protect our residents from gun crime, modernize our laws, and support communities torn apart by unnecessary violence. By incorporating the viewpoints of stakeholders across the state, this final bill positions us to save lives while respecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners. I am deeply grateful to Majority Leader Creem for her steadfast leadership over the past several months, as well as to Senator Lovely, the conferees, and each and every stakeholder who took the time to engage with us on this important issue.”
Following the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, the Massachusetts Legislature acted quickly to patch areas in the Commonwealth’s framework governing the issuance of licenses to carry firearms, which were undone by the Supreme Court’s actions. The bill passed today is a result of a comprehensive review of the Commonwealth’s gun laws, with the goal of proposing solutions to emerging threats in technology, such as the prevalence of ghost guns.
“Today, as we consistently do in the area of firearm safety, we take the lead in making the Commonwealth a safer place to live by giving law enforcement the tools they need to go after ghost guns, keeping battlefield weapons out of our neighborhoods, and keep our schools, homes, town halls and polling locations safe,” said Representative Michael S. Day (D-Stoneham), House Chair of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. “While Washington is paralyzed by dysfunction that endangers Americans across the country, we in Massachusetts address our challenges directly and take the steps necessary to modernize our firearm laws to keep us safe.”
“In the decade since we last updated Massachusetts’ gun statues, our nation and our commonwealth have continued to be rocked by mass shootings and gun tragedies at an alarming rate. This legislation proactively addresses the root causes of gun crime to curb the epidemic of violence and prevent tragedy before it strikes. It does so by ensuring that ghost guns, Glock switches, and assault-style firearms are kept off our streets and out of the wrong hands,” said Senate Majority Leader Cynthia S. Creem (D-Newton). “I am thankful to the Senate President for her consistent leadership in support of gun safety legislation and to my fellow conferees for their diligent work. With today’s vote, Massachusetts will once again be the national leader in gun safety. And more importantly, it will prevent shootings that devastate families and communities in every corner of the Commonwealth.”
“I am grateful for the leadership of the Speaker, who provided unwavering guidance and clear direction, and to Chair Michael Day who skillfully crafted this landmark legislation and allowed me to echo the voices of the victims of gun violence and their parents,” said Representative Carlos González (D-Springfield), House Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security. “This legislation strikes a balance between protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens and implementing common-sense measures to prevent the illegal use of firearms to save lives. Through this law, both chambers of the legislature are providing our law enforcement partners with the tools to track and trace firearms and hold accountable those involved in the possession, sale, or creation of illegal firearms. Today, the voices of countless victims, parents, and residents of Massachusetts have resonated within the walls of this building.”
“I would like to thank my Senate colleagues and fellow conference committee members for their hard work to take the best of both bills and put together a comprehensive piece of legislation that will help further protect the citizens of our Commonwealth while maintaining protections for our law-abiding firearm owners,” said Senator Joan Lovely (D-Salem).
Major provisions of the bill include:
Stemming Illegal Firearm Flow. This bill provides tools for law enforcement to target illegal gun trafficking by including an enhanced tracing system to track firearms used in crimes, modernizing the existing firearm registration system, and increasing the availability of firearm data for academic and policy use. The bill also enhances requirements for reporting lost, stolen and surrendered firearms.
Protecting Communities from Gun Violence. The legislation criminalizes discharging firearms at or near dwellings. It also prohibits the carrying of firearms on school busses, polling places, and government buildings with an exemption for law enforcement.
Additionally, the bill standardizes training requirements for individuals seeking a license to carry and will now require live firearm training. The bill also expands the list of who may petition a court for an extreme risk protection order (ERPO) against a person who poses a risk of causing bodily injury to themselves or others beyond just household members and law enforcement, to include school administrators and medical professionals. It creates a special legislative commission to study and make recommendations to improve the Commonwealth’s funding structure for violence prevention services and begins the process of directing the Massachusetts Secretary of Health and Human Services to seek federal reimbursement for violence prevention programs.
Modernizing Massachusetts Firearm Laws. The bill ensures that Massachusetts laws remain in compliance with the Bruen decision and provides standardization to our laws and the process of obtaining a license to carry a firearm for responsible individuals. The legislation also updates how we define assault-style firearms and places new restrictions on large capacity feeding devices that are currently owned. It closes loopholes that allow the modification of legal firearms into illegal automatic weapons and provides a legacy clause so all firearms legally owned and registered in Massachusetts as of the effective date of the bill will continue to be legal and may be bought and sold within the state.
Between 2019 to 2021, the Boston Police Department alone saw a 280 percent increase in the number of untraceable ghost guns it recovered on the streets. The bill passed today tackles this rise in untraceable guns by requiring the registration and serialization of frames and receivers and updates our definition of firearm to include unfinished frames and receivers.
Having passed both chambers, An Act modernizing firearm laws now goes to the Governor’s desk for her signature.
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Will,
I’m not sure if you remember me but I invited you to Harvard Sportsman’s Club a number of years ago. At the time, you appeared to have an open mind about both sides of this issue. Based on that, I have to say I’m very disappointed with this outcome.
This bill essentially bans all semi-auto firearms, from what I can read. Of course, the language in the bill is so absurdly overcomplicated, I could have gotten that wrong. If that is the case though, it would seem the legislature has made a huge gamble of getting a SCOTUS precedent they won’t like. It takes a lot of hubris to poke the bear like that.
Hubris is in full supply in MA legislature.
Thank you for your work on increasing gun safety in our state. It’s great to hear school and medical professionals can now raise their concerns in an official way, and prioritize our kids’ safety. It’d be great to increase mental support services for everyone in the state, including at schools – to address gun safety issues.
Will – I am very disappointed that this bill make it through both branches of the Massachusetts Legislature in it’s final form. While there are some provisions intended to reduce gun crime, it strips law abiding citizens and sportsmen of their constitutional right to posses semi-automatic rifles and shotguns. We all know that criminals do not follow the law and the restrictions in this bill will only affect those of us that are responsible gun owners. This measure was a gross misuse of the State’s power. From my perspective, it also seems like the language of this bill was created behind closed doors without adequate opportunity for public feedback. I fully expect that the Supreme Court will be reviewing the constitutionality of this bill. A very sad day for the many law-abiding sportsmen of Massachusetts.
It seems that save for ghost guns Massachusetts gun laws are already more than adequate and that therefore one mist conclude that most of these efforts are nothing more than the application of a wedge issue in an attempt to profit electorally at the expense of further dividing the citizenry of the country. An “assault-type weapon” includes features that stabilize one’s grip in home defense. It’s getting really hard to be a Democrat.
“Gun Violence” has become an over-used part of the political narrative. Roughly 60% of all gun-related deaths are Suicide. We have a mental health problem. As for the 40%, the vast majority are in the commission of other criminal activity (narcotics, larceny). Good people with guns in any location are not a danger to society. Bad guys with guns are not going to obey your “safe place” gun-free zone laws; they will target them. The 116 page bill is confusing to say the least. The bureacracy will create bottlenecks and lawsuits.
Thanks for your hard work on this difficult topic. I wonder if we can go further and ban the resale of police department guns so they don’t end up being used in crimes or against officers. This has become a large issue with over 50,000 known instance of police weapons used in crime. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/boston/news/police-guns-sold-massachusetts/
It seems like good policy would be to destroy old weapons rather than supply possible adversaries, like the federal law enforcement agencies are required to do. https://www.thetrace.org/2024/05/police-guns-sale-trade-used-crime-data/
Much thanks, President Brownsberger, for your vital work and important leadership advancing this life-saving legislation to reduce tragic gun deaths and catastrophic gun injuries across Massachusetts.
Shame on you and your colleagues for supporting and pushing this Bill which punishes law abiding gun owners – and does nothing to preclude criminals from using illegal firearms.
Like Paul Wilson above, I too had communicated with you about concerns with the draconian nature of this Bill. And like Paul, I was left with the impression that you would be fair about it. Wrong.
We’ll see you in court.