BOSTON - The Massachusetts Senate is expected to vote Thursday on gun reform legislation introduced by lawmakers last week.

What You Need To Know

  • The Massachusetts Senate introduced gun reform legislation last week, and expects to vote on it Thursday

  • It will focus on expanding red flag laws and stopping the production of ghost guns

  • The Senate leadership presented the bill as a united front, but it's not unanimous 

  • Amendments were due by 5 p.m. Monday, and legislators have 48 hours to decide how they will vote

The bill aims to expand red flag laws, harassment prevention orders and mental health data by ensuring any agency that is allowed to issue a gun license is notified of any involuntary hospitalizations.

It also is looking to tackle ghost guns, assault weapons and Glock switches by requiring all parts of a gun to have a serial number, outlawing any 3D printing of guns, and banning devices that make guns shoot rounds at significantly faster speeds that mimic assault weapons.

State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, D-Middlesex and Worcester, thinks the bill tackles some very important issues.

“One homicide, one gun death in Massachusetts is one too many,” Eldridge said. “You've seen a number of stories recently about some, you know, family homicides, suicides of people that, you know, some who have a gun, that was not legal, but some that did have illegal guns.”

On the other side, state Sen. Peter Durant, R-Worcester and Hampshire, urged his fellow Senators to think about what the actual issues are, and if this bill really solves any problems. He worries about legal gun owners being criminalized overnight once this is signed.

The definition of assault weapon and semi-automatic weapon would be changed, and Durant said with no grandfather clause, those who have magazines with more than five bullets would be criminals overnight.

“I think one of the things that we have to be very careful of whenever we're trying to do something like this is ask ourselves what problems are we trying to solve?”  Durant said. “I'm not sure that question has been answered to satisfactory, at least in my mind.”

The state House introduced their version of the bill last fall. The Senate's bill now replaces that one.

If the bill is passed on Thursday, it will head back to the House, where representatives will likely do one of two things - pass it as is or refer it to a conference committee, where both branches will send legislators to hash out the details.