A 140-page proposal aims to modernize and reform Massachusetts firearm laws.
State Rep. Michael Day, D-Middlesex, said his bill would make sure state laws comply with the Supreme Court's recent decision to throw out a law which restricted access to concealed carry permits. He said while Massachusetts has some of the best gun laws in the country, reflected by the lowest rate of gun deaths, it doesn't mean the state is immune.
The bill would crack down on ghost guns, or untraceable firearms, along with rewriting licensing procedures and revamping regulations for training and selling firearms.
"That's why we took the approach of rewriting the licensing scheme to simplify it,” Day said. “In our minds, we tried to make sure it was intelligent and not contradictory. We also heard people need help. They're living in fear right now. They need to have better and clearer laws in the books. Our law enforcement professionals need better tools to go after these street guns that our plaguing our cities."
The Gun Owners Action League is opposed to the bill, saying it goes after anyone who owns a gun in a negative way. Executive director Jim Wallace said he tried working with Day, but feels he was lied to.
"For the first time in my career, I’ve had legislators call me saying, ‘Jim give us some amendments, you've done this in the past, help us fix this,’” Wallace said. “First time in my career I’ve told them you can't fix this. There are no amount of amendments to fix this. You have to start over with someone who is honest enough to work with the experts to figure out what they're trying to do and then go from there. We have to stop this bill."
The bill will be assigned to a committee and receive a public hearing before any debate in the legislature.