Bay State residents may find relief for their Second Amendment rights via a lawsuit filed on Thursday, August 21, that challenges the state’s ban on “assault style” firearms.
The National Rifle Association, Gun Owners’ Action League, and Pioneer Valley Arms joined three NRA members in filing Hanlon v. Campbell, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
Massachusetts law generally prohibits the possession, ownership, offer for sale, sale, or other transfer of any firearm defined as “assault style” (a broad and innocuous classification that could include most of the popular firearms in America), along with “copies,” and “any firearm listed on the assault-style firearm roster.”
Interestingly, and key to the complaint, the roster is supposed to be updated and posted online multiple times per year by the Secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, but the Secretary has not published the “assault style” firearms roster or given any indication when it might be updated, leaving Bay State residents in legal limbo.
“Radical gun grabbers in Massachusetts have run roughshod on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens,” said John Commerford, Executive Director of NRA-ILA. “These extreme and ill-conceived laws have created chaos in the Commonwealth, turning lawful gun owners into felons overnight. Today’s lawsuit filed by the NRA seeks to end arbitrary bans on commonly owned firearms and begin the process of restoring the Constitutional rights of Bay Staters.”
