Over the last few months, I have been covering the Massachusetts Gun Law Listening Tour(GLLT). I attended and wrote about eight of them. There were a total of 11 stops along the way. They spanned the Commonwealth, from Cape Cod to western Massachusetts. State Representative Michael Day (D) said he was doing this as he was assigned to take a “comprehensive look” at revamping the gun laws. He admitted that the laws were “confusing or outright contradictory, that compliance is a challenge.”
Now that the GLLT has been done for three weeks, Day rolled out his anti-gun bill that was 141 pages long. It’s impressive that it only took Day three weeks to get the text of this bill together since the wrap up of the tour. The bill, now dubbed the “Lawful Citizens Imprisonment Act” by the Gun Owners Action League (GOAL), adds new restrictions, gun and magazine registrations, and expands definitions – making up a whole new set of terms, while still giving law enforcement carveouts from the laws.
I know that there’s often a pissing contest between New Jersey and Massachusetts for who has the worst laws. Maybe this article will clear that up.
It is obvious by glancing at this bill that the GLLT’s were a complete sham, complete smoke and mirrors. Absolutely a dog and pony show so that dog Day got a good little pat on the head from his anti-gun higher-ups. During the three months long tour de bullshit, Day met with Gabby Giffords and posted on his Facebook page that he is “in awe of her perseverance.” I’m assuming she stopped by his Beacon Hill office to drop off a check with her list of demands for services rendered. Day was also sighted speaking at a Moms Demand Action event at the statehouse.
What’s new? This is just a sampling.
SECTION 48 of the bill:
- Mandatory registration of all guns and feeding devices.
- Privately made guns must be registered within 7 days
- Mentions a new term “Expiration date for registrant”
- Mandatory reporting of any modifications or new parts to a gun.
- Itemized list of parts if modifying or building a gun.
- Subsection (e) of this section implies there are no exemptions for registration for those traveling through the state.
SECTION 49 of the bill:
- Mandatory serializing of feeding devices.
- Confusing language on new residents and serializing guns.
- Must obtain a serial number prior to assembling a gun.
- Must register a newly assembled gun within 7 days.
- Any privately made gun must comply with all state and federal safety regulations.
- Mandatory reporting the manner in which production will take place, including whether an assembly kit or additive manufacturing will be utilized.
- Registration requirements will not apply to law enforcement.
SECTION 54 of the bill:
- Changes FID Card to “Long gun permit”
- Bans anyone under 21 from acquiring or carrying any semi-automatic rifle or shotgun.
- New term of “Judicial Stay” on applications.
- Maintains license revocation or suspension for not reporting change of address within 30 days.
- Mandates providing license to law enforcement if you are outside your own property even if you don’t own or possess a gun.
Currently, Mass. has a Firearm Identification card (FID) which allows someone to own or possess a non-large capacity rifle or shotgun. It also defines a “firearm” as a handgun. So, you can’t own a “firearm” with an FID card.
SECTION 56 of the bill:
- Mandates live fire training.
- Mandates a written exam.
SECTION 60 of the bill: (New Assault Weapons Section)
- New Assault Weapon definition now has a single feature test.
- New Assault Weapon definition now contains an extensive list of guns.
- New restrictions on where you can possess a pre-ban Assault Weapon.
- New restrictions on transferring high capacity feeding devices.
- Mandatory reporting of the transfer of a large capacity feeding device.
- The office of the attorney general shall promulgate rules and regulations for this section which shall include public notice and an outreach campaign to promote awareness of the provisions of this section.
- Bans the possession of any “automatic part”.
SECTION 173 of the bill:
Ban on possessing any gun, loaded or unloaded:
- “prohibited area” shall mean any of the following, including in or upon any part of the buildings, grounds, or parking areas of:
- a place owned, leased, or under the control of state, county or municipal government used for the purpose of government administration, judicial or court administrative proceedings, or correctional services;
- a location in use as a polling place or used for the storage or tabulation of ballots;
- an elementary school, secondary school, college, university or other educational institution including transport used for students of said institution and places where persons are assembled for educational purposes;
- any private property, including but not limited to residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, institutional or undeveloped property, unless the owner has provided express consent or has posted a sign indicating that it is permissible to carry on the premises a firearm with a valid and lawfully issued firearm license or permit under Chapter 140;
- A law enforcement officer may arrest without a warrant and detain a person found in violation of this section.
- These restrictions shall not apply to a law enforcement officer while in the performance of their official duties, or a security guard employed by the prohibited area while at the location of their employment and during the course of their employment.
Here’s a new definition or two:
”Assault-style firearm’‘, any firearm which is:
(a) A semiautomatic rifle with the capacity to accept a detachable feeding device and includes any of the following features: (i) a folding, telescopic, thumbhole or detachable stock or a stock that is otherwise foldable or adjustable in a manner that operates to reduce the length, size and other dimension, or otherwise enhances the concealability of the weapon; (ii) a pistol grip, forward grip or second handgrip or protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand; (iii) a threaded barrel or (iv) a barrel shroud.
(b) A semiautomatic pistol with the capacity to accept a detachable feeding device and includes any of the following features: (i) the capacity to accept a feeding device that attaches to the pistol outside of the pistol grip; (ii) a second handgrip or a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand; (iii) a threaded barrel; (iv) a barrel shroud; (v) a manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more when unloaded; or (vi) a buffer tube, stabilizing brace or similar component that protrudes horizontally behind the pistol grip, and is designed or redesigned to allow or facilitate a firearm to be fired from the shoulder.
(c) A semiautomatic shotgun with the capacity to accept a detachable feeding device and includes any of the following features: (i) a folding, telescopic or detachable stock; (ii) a pistol grip or bird’s head grip; or (iii) a forward grip.
(d) The semiautomatic version of any fully automatic firearm.
(e) Any firearm listed on the assault-style firearm roster created pursuant to section 128A.
Of course, they’ve turned the Ruger Mini-14, the Kel-Tec Sub2000, and the Hi-Point Carbine into “assault-style weapons.”
“Downloadable gun code”, digital instruction in the form of computer-aided design files or other code or instructions stored or displayed in electronic format as a digital model that may be used to manufacture or produce a firearm, firearm receiver, feeding device or firearm component using additive manufacturing.
“Feeding device”, any magazine, belt, strip, drum or similar device that holds ammunition for a firearm, whether fixed or detachable from a firearm.
“Downloadable gun code” seems to me like it’s also a First Amendment violation. “Feeding device” has now expanded to fixed or detachable magazines. There was a local manufacturer who went to far expenses to build fixed 10 round magazine receivers.
“Serial number”, a unique identifying number provided by a government entity.
This is a new one, too, “Provided by a government entity”? Does this mean the government is going to be building and serializing firearms?
“Personalized firearm”, a firearm manufactured with incorporated design technology or converted with such technology so that it: (i) allows the firearm to be fired only by the authorized user(s); or (ii) prevents any of the safety characteristics of the firearm from being readily deactivated.
One of the things they want you to report to them is if you’re making any changes to your firearm. Does this mean cerakoting? Does it mean changing forends? That is more what “personalized firearm” means to me.
Here’s a link to the Bill HD.4420. Pour yourself a drink and light a cigar when you read it. Or just read it on the toilet because you’ll be crapping yourself.
Let’s get this straight, too. Nothing here, Not. One. Thing! is going to prevent one crime, one robbery, one hold up, one rape, one murder, one school shooting. Not one! This only affects the people who take training, who pass background checks, who pay the extortion/application fee, who obey the laws, who don’t commit crimes.
I drove across the Commonwealth, took time from work, and wrote eight articles for the listening tour. I was asked by a Second Amendment “supporter” why I was doing it, driving over an hour to seven of the eight I went to, and writing about the stops. This needed to be done. I’m afraid that the patriots in Massachusetts are not going to write to and call their state representatives and house members to stop this. I am afraid they won’t, but they still should. Mass. is overwhelmingly occupied by Democrats on both sides in the State House. But we still need to be heard. We still need to write and call. The people that went to the listening tour stops were mainly Second Amendment supporters. The Commie Mommies were just that, paid by a little man to do and say what he tells them to say. But they all went as one unit. The gun owners went as individuals. It’s time the gun owners join their state’s organizations and do something. Write. Call. Get involved.
I hate sounding like I have Stockholm syndrome, but it hasn’t been too bad in Massachusetts. (Bite my tongue!) We have a roster of guns that we cannot get from a dealer, the “assault weapon“ ban, and “so-called high capacity“ magazine bans, but we used to be able to carry to stores, movies, and churches. With the new “sensitive areas,” needing permission to carry on private and public property, and all the other nonsense, I think Massachusetts is going to be worse than New Jersey. They’re certainly ahead of us as their crappy law is mostly enjoined at this time.
I know we shouldn’t trust Democrats. And I really know that we should not trust the anti-gun Democrats. But this shyster of a politician, Day, kept shucking and jiving, and telling us that he was going to take an honest look at the gun laws to make it less confusing and easier for people. Unfortunately, for freedom, he was a complete liar. I’m sure he had all of this drawn up before this sham was even started. I’m sure he was given this and did not have to put his mark on any of the provisions. He’s Massachusett’s equivalent of New Jersey’s biggest dunce, Assemblyman Danielsen (D), a backstabbing turncoat.
We can hope that Judge Bumb is able to set everything straight in the Garden State. And that it will spill over into the Bay State. Mass. gun owners need to be watching New Jersey and New York to see how they’re battling this. The Mass. legislators watched New Jersey and New York to see what restrictions Murphy and Hochul were doing, then it seems like all they did was cross out those state names and add Massachusetts in place. It’s almost as if these states got their marching orders from the same place. We’re going to need to have a Judge Bumb up here, provided the bill passes and gets enacted. As hopeful as I am that there’s a chance this won’t go through, we all know that Day had the text and votes way before he announced his little dog and pony show.
Thanks for reporting on this Charlie, and for attending the listening tours to tell the story!