by Mark Chesnut - Tuesday, August 6, 2024
Above: Among the law’s restrictions are requirements that hunters obtain a Massachusetts Firearm Identification Card and be age 21 to own a semi-automatic shotgun or rifle—and that’s just for starters.
A sweeping anti-gun measure signed into law by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on July 25 will not only have devastating effects on gun owners in the commonwealth, but it will also infringe on the rights of hunters.
According to the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, the 116-page anti-gun measure—Bill H. 4885—is one of the most extreme gun control bills in the country.
“With Gov. Healey’s signature, Massachusetts has enacted one of the most egregious and freedom-restricting laws in the history of the commonwealth,” said Randy Kozuch, NRA-ILA executive director. “We are thankful for the bipartisan group of legislators who stood against gun registries and the banning of commonly owned firearms and standard magazines.”
Among the other sportsmen-backed groups opposing the new law, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) noted how Massachusetts lawmakers pushed the measure through both chambers of government very quickly and on the same day—intentionally making it difficult for interested parties to study the language or lobby against the measure. Hunting and wildlife conservation groups are now working to make Massachusetts hunters aware that there are several points in the new law that hunters must be familiar with in advance of the fall hunting seasons.
As hunter-backed groups note, the new law infringes on the rights of law-abiding Massachusetts residents and imposes barriers to the state’s hunter recruitment and reactivation efforts as part of the national R3 (recruit, retain and reactivate) movement. For starters, before a resident can hunt, he or she is now required to obtain a Firearm Identification Card. This entails obtaining an instructor who is approved by the Colonel of State Police, completing a live-fire exercise in an environment where shooting ranges are increasingly more difficult to access, and purchasing and registering a firearm that is not listed as prohibited.
Additionally, under the new law, nonresident hunters cannot possess a firearm within Massachusetts unless their state has similar laws—and, of course, most do not, which will shut down nonresident hunting. As the law explains, “A nonresident who is at least 18 years of age may possess rifles and shotguns that are not large capacity or semi-automatic and ammunition if the nonresident has a permit, card or license issued from their state of residence which has substantially similar requirements to those of the Commonwealth … .”
This means nonresidents will not only have a tough time hunting in Massachusetts, but the dollars they spend on hunting licenses, which helps to pay for the state wildlife agency’s conservation efforts, will be lost. From an economic standpoint, the state’s economy also will be deprived of the money nonresident hunters spend on travel, meals and lodging.
Another part of the law, which will affect some hunters and many nonhunting gun owners, is a ban on standard-capacity firearm magazines that hold more than 10 rounds unless they were manufactured before Sept. 13, 1994—which would be all but impossible to prove. Among other changes, the new law also raises the age to own a semi-automatic rifle or shotgun to 21; expands definitions for modifications and parts that convert a semi-auto into a full-auto firearm and bans them; prohibits so-called “ghost guns” and also expands the list of places where carrying a firearm is banned to include government buildings, polling places and schools.
NRA-ILA’s Kozuch said that with all the unconstitutional restrictions included in the new law, the NRA is not content to let such a travesty stand without a court battle.
“NRA will be challenging this law to restore the rights guaranteed to Bay Staters by the U.S. Constitution,” he said.
About the Author
Freelance writer and editor Mark Chesnut is the owner/editorial director at Red Setter Communications LLC in Jenks, Okla. An avid hunter, shooter and field-trialer, he has been covering Second Amendment issues and politics on a near-daily basis for nearly 25 years.