Tarr highlighted an amendment (#63 filed by Sen. Jamie Eldridge, right, during debate on a firearm reforms package Thursday, Feb. Advocates and lobbyists milled outside the Senate Chamber and chatted with senators, including Sen. The bill would also codify the state’s ban on assault weapons, prohibit devices that convert semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic weapons, ensure gun dealers are inspected annually, and allow health care professionals to ask a court to temporarily remove someone’s firearms if they are deemed dangerous. The Senate bill targets ghost guns - untraceable firearms that can be bought online in parts and assembled at home - by requiring the serialization of gun frames and receivers and classifying those individual parts as firearms, and explicitly prohibiting the use of 3D printers to manufacture or assemble firearms without a license. The Massachusetts’ arm of the National Rifle Association called the bill “punitive” and didn’t support it or any of the 79 amendments senators filed, claiming the bill was “so convoluted that there is no way it can be fixed with amendments.”Ĭreem said she consulted with experts “who specialize in Second Amendment-related issues, including the attorney general’s office,” and was confident that the bill meets constitutional muster. Creem said the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security held a hearing on other gun bills last year, giving people interested in the topic an opportunity to be heard. Tarr argued that lawmakers were headed down “a very dangerous path” by not holding a public hearing on the Creem proposal, which was assembled following many private meetings. Thursday and Minority Leader Bruce Tarr wasted no time pointing out some of the issues that Republicans see with the bill, including that it did not get its own public hearing.Ĭreem’s proposal represents the Senate’s long-anticipated response to the bill that cleared the House last fall. The package filed by Majority Leader Creem hit the Senate floor at 12:30 p.m. Cindy Creem of Newton, the main author of the bill. “Although proud that Massachusetts has one of the lowest rates of gun violence in the nation, the members of this body are concerned by every incident of gun violence, every firearm suicide, and every accidental gun injury that occurs in the commonwealth,” said Sen. It passed the Senate on a 37-3 vote shortly after 8 p.m. The Senate bill seeks to rein in untraceable ghost guns, bans carrying firearms in government administrative buildings, gives firearm licensing authorities access to some of an applicant’s mental health hospitalization history, and expands the list of people who can petition the court to take away someone’s guns if they are deemed dangerous. BOSTON - The Senate on Thursday night approved a sweeping overhaul of state firearms laws, setting up talks with the House that could lead to a major new law later this spring or summer.
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