The Massachusetts House of Representatives voted 120-38 Wednesday to pass a sweeping gun bill that cracks down on unregistered “ghost guns” and enhances the current state assault weapons ban.
"We are in the midst of a public health crisis, and it is unrelenting," Boston television station WBTS reported Democratic Rep. Michael Day saying as he introduced the measure. "Thoughts and prayers are not enough. As Abigail Adams said, we have too many high-sounding words and too few actions that correspond with them. It's time for the House to once again act in this area and ask for your support on this bill."
Although Massachusetts has the lowest rate of gun fatalities in the contiguous United States, reformers still believe that problem is still large enough to warrant the new legislation.
According to the report, the new bill prohibits firearms in public spaces, expands the state’s “red flag” laws, enacts new “ghost gun” registration requirements, updates the assault weapons ban, and streamlines the licensing process.
The report said that a dozen Democrats joined the entire GOP caucus in opposing the bill, which now goes to the State Senate.
The more than 120-page bill contains a handful of amendments added by the House, including a clarification that allows “active” off-duty police officers to continue to carry their assigned weapons in certain public spaces like “a place owned, leased or under the control of state, county or municipal government and used for the purpose of government administration, a location in use at the time of possession as a polling place and for the storage or tabulation of ballots, and third in elementary schools, secondary schools, college or university, including transport used for the students."
Republican State Rep. David Muradian, who opposed the bill, said that the legislation is an “egregious infringement” on the rights of the state’s legal gun owners.
“Heck, if we wanted to have an honest and well-intentioned conversation around having to qualify to receive your [license to carry] or your [federal identification], I would have been open to that dialogue,” he told the station. “Unfortunately, this legislation is an egregious infringement on all lawful gun owners, and frankly, all residents of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. I have had interactions with hundreds if not thousands of constituents within my district on this matter. The resounding question remains: what is the new proposal trying to solve?"
Charles Kim ✉
Charles Kim, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in reporting on news and politics.
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