The only bits of good news about the “SAFER Act” that I can find is that the gun control bill introduced by the Massachusetts Senate on Thursday does not include a live-fire training mandate in order to obtain a gun license, nor does it impose a lengthy list of new “gun-free zones” in the state. But while S2572 may have a slightly narrower focus than its House counterpart (nicknamed the Lawful Citizens Imprisonment Act by the Gun Owners Action League), it’s still aimed mostly at lawful gun owners instead of the real perpetrators of most violent crime in the state.
Under S2572 Massachusetts residents would need a license to manufacture firearms before they could build a gun using a 3D printer, the state’s ban on so-called assault weapons would be codified to fit the Attorney General’s interpretation of the law (which renders most semi-automatic long guns illegal to manufacture, sell, and transfer), and a new civil cause of action would be created allowing individuals to sue gun makers and sellers over “the marketing of unlawful firearm sales to minors”; something that wouldn’t be an issue were it not for the fact that anti-gunners view almost every bit of marketing by gun companies as if it was targeted to those too young to legally purchase a firearm.
The only new “gun-free zones” established by S2572 would be government administration buildings, and local municipalities would be able to opt-out of the ban and allow lawful carry if they choose. That’s a far different approach than what we’ve seen in other anti-gun states like California, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland, where lawmakers enacted so many new “sensitive places” that the right to carry would be largely limited to a few sidewalks and streets, but given the other provisions in the legislation its hardly something to cheer about.
Hellbound and Down 
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