In the wake of recent shootings across the nation, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey on Wednesday announced a crackdown on illegal sales of assault weapons. The Democrat says her office has sent notices and offered direction to the 350 gun dealers in the state about weapons she says gun manufacturers alter and market as Massachusetts compliant.
“If a gun’s operating system is essentially the same as a banned weapon or if the gun has component parts that are interchangeable with those of a banned weapon, it’s a copy,” Healey said. “It’s a duplicate and it’s illegal.”
Massachusetts banned assault weapons in 1998. But, Healey says more than 10,000 were sold in the state last year and sales of some increased 450 percent in the week after the Orlando nightclub shooting in June. The Democrat says her office will not go after residents who bought the weapons believing they were legal.
