A clash over gun rights is headed for Beacon Hill
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Gun owners are ready to fight back against Beacon Hill as Democrats plan a push for stronger firearm control laws during next year's legislative session.
Why it matters: Massachusetts already has some of the country's toughest gun laws and its lowest firearm death rate, but lawmakers want to drive that rate down further and establish the strongest laws in the nation.
Driving the news: House Democratic leaders have drafted a bill that would heavily reform how firearms are bought, registered and used in the state.
- The House proposal would require universal background checks for all gun sales, create a central database for gun registrations, require new safety courses and raise the purchasing age limit from 18 to 21.
- It would also ban high-capacity magazines and semi-automatic weapons that can accept detachable magazines and accessories like pistol grips.
Yes, but: Second Amendment activists say the proposed changes run afoul of the U.S. Constitution.
What's happening: While there's no firm plan for when the House might take up the bill, gun owners plan to rally on Boston Common next Wednesday at 11am at the Parkman Bandstand.
- The group will walk to the State House at 1pm to meet with lawmakers.
Details: The leading Second Amendment rights group in Massachusetts, the Gun Owners Action League, has sounded the alarm against the bill, calling it "the greatest attack on civil rights" in modern state history.
- They argue the proposal would make it harder to legally own a gun for sport in the Bay State.
- Executive Director Jim Wallace told Axios the House bill would conflict with the Supreme Court's Bruen decision that held Americans have a constitutional right to carry a weapon in public for self-defense purposes.
- Among his dozens of objections to the bill, Wallace said the proposed safety courses simply don't currently exist and would take weeks and thousands of dollars to complete.
Of note: GOAL does like one provision of the bill that aligns standards for intoxication while carrying a firearm to the same 0.08% BAC standard for operating a vehicle.
Meanwhile, Democratic state Senators are holding separate talks to develop their own plan.
- Senate leaders haven't committed to a wholesale reform effort, but say they want to improve data collection and crack down on untraceable "ghost guns."