AG copycat ban spurs rifle sales
Business booms week after crackdown
Rifle sales have soared since Bay State Attorney General Maura Healey announced a controversial ban on copycat assault weapons last week, according to state data.
There was a spike of 2,549 rifles purchased on July 20 — the day she rolled out the new regulations, a state report shows. But sales continued to surpass figures from the previous year in six out of the next eight days, same-day tallies ending Thursday show.
That included 265 rifles sold on July 21 — far exceeding the 66 purchased on the same day last year, records show. Out of those sold this year, 143 were banned assault weapons, according to Healey’s office.
That number could include assault weapons that were legally bought by law enforcement, according to a Healey spokeswoman. They also could have been purchased before the mandate, but the sale was held up due to a number of reasons including unresolved background checks, her office said.
There are also some assault rifles, manufactured before 1994, that were grandfathered in and could be part of that figure, according to the AG’s office.
“We continue to collect information on gun sales made after the enforcement notice was issued, going through this data, and are closely monitoring those we suspect are flouting our notice,” Healey’s office said in an email. “Our office is prepared to take action as necessary.”
Those who purchased assault rifles last Wednesday — the day Healey’s mandate took effect — won’t be prosecuted because “many people apparently acted in the belief that they had until the end of the day on Wednesday to buy these weapons,” the AG’s office has said.
From July 20 — the day of Healey’s mandate — to this past Thursday, 3,461 rifles had been sold. During the same time period in 2015, 512 rifles were sold.
As rifle sales continue to climb, some Bay State lawmakers are seeking to curtail Healey’s power.
State Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (RGloucester) filed a bill yesterday that would remove Healey’s authority to issue rules and regulations on firearm sales under the state’s consumer protection statute.
The proposed legislation would also prohibit any changes to the definition of assault weapons by administrative action. Healey’s office declined to comment on Tarr’s bill.
Tarr told the Herald last night: “We’re talking about constitutional rights here. All of us want to prevent gun manufacturers from circumventing the law, but all of us want to be sure that when we’re dealing with a constitutional right — like that afforded by the Second Amendment — that we do things properly.”
Healey’s notice to all gun sellers and manufacturers in Massachusetts bans guns which appear like the Colt AR-15 and the Kalishnikov AK-47, but have been altered by manufacturers to conform to the state’s ban on adjustable stocks, highcapacity magazines and other features.