Remember this video?
Well for those who don’t listen to Handgun Radio, or know me in person, I put in a deposit for one of the K&M M17S308, specifically one in Green with a 16″ unthreaded barrel (Ken was nice enough to modify an existing 20″ BBL rather than welding on a muzzle break to a 16″ because I dislike muzzle breaks on moderate calibers) and a very low serial number as this would be from the first production run.
Now this….
For nearly 18 years since the passage of the 1998 Gun Control Act firearm retailers, gun owners and state agencies have been operating under the same interpretation. Now, suddenly, without warning or any due process a single person with a clear political agenda decides to change the rules. All Massachusetts residents should be alarmed!
GOAL is currently trying to decipher the enforcement letter, but with as much information that it contains, it is not very clear what it means. Statements such as the following make it very convoluted: “… a weapon is a Copy or Duplicate, for example, if the operating system and firing mechanism of the weapon are based on or otherwise substantially similar to one of the Enumerated Weapons.”
Virtually every semi-automatic that utilizes a detachable magazine has the same operating system or firing mechanism, so what does this mean? The short answer is we simply don’t know. Our best advice to firearm retailers for now is to err on the side of caution. These new rules may cover a lot more than just what we might think.
Since the Massachusetts ban is essentially a re-write of the 1994 Federal Ban, really this has been 21+ years of one succinct interpretation of the law….and now the letter given is so vague that I called my gun shop.
He’s not transferring ANY semi-auto magazine-fed long-guns. PERIOD. He mused that my gun MIGHT be legal….but he’d be speculating with his livelihood, so he told me that he wouldn’t be able to make the transfer.
So I have emailed Ken, and let him know I probably won’t be able to receive the rifle for the time being.
AND as I typed that, he emailed me back saying he personally thinks the rifle will pass muster, and will continue the build for me….we’ll see.
Either way, GOAL has a rally at the State House on Saturday I’ll be there to make my voice heard.
Wish me luck, and if you live in the Area, maybe I’ll see you on Beacon Hill.
I wish you luck.
I don’t even live in MA and I’m super pissed. Governing by edict is banana republic bullshit.
I’ll hold on to it for you, Weer’d. Just until you convince your wife to move back to NC, of course.
Unfortunately, the plan for us is to Retire in NC.
Especially with a young daughter, uprooting from our entire extended family is just not prudent.
Guns are durable goods. It’ll be here when you retire.
So sorry for you, Weerd. I will be fighting for you. -Indiana Nate.
You know, once upon a time Americans traveled across the entire Atlantic ocean to escape the tyranny of their birth lands, leaving behind family and friends.
A trip so vast that it was unlikely to ever see them again because of the costs and time involved.
Yet modern Americans won’t move a few hundred miles away from relatives whom they can converse with instantly via several methods?
Wow.
Not to get verbose because what may be important to me might not register as highly as other people.
I was born 100 miles from where I live now. In Maine, which when you look at gun laws, really at any time in history since both states were added to the union, makes Florida look like Rhode Island.
My wife was born 200 miles from where I live now, in Vermont, which depending on what year we’re looking at was WAYYY more Permissive than Florida, or about even with Florida today depending on what gun control quirks piss you off the most.
My wife doesn’t have my stigma, but growing up in Maine there is nothing more despicable than a Masshole, I would get pissed off at people from further North when they referred to Southern Maine as “North Massachusetts” (They might not be too far off….wayyy off on guns, but otherwise close to the mark) and to this date I will correct people when they say I’m from Massachusetts, to say I LIVE in Massachusetts, but I’m FROM Maine.
All those pixels to simply say, I was in a situation where I NEEDED to move to a new location, and it wasn’t fun, it wasn’t easy. Lost a lot of friends who I CAN talk to instantly at any time via electronic mediums….but I don’t, and I don’t see my immediate family as much as I’d like, and I’m embarrassed at how infrequently I see my extended family.
So I didn’t take moving to Massachusetts lightly, and at no point in considering this move was gun rights a high priority, sadly nor will it be moving forward, wish I had the luxury to be able to choose Gun Rights as the top priority for where I lay my head every night, but as fun as it would be every time I head to the range or pop into the local gun shop, or log into whatever online vendor I’m looking at….it wouldn’t translate to happiness or prosperity anywhere else in my life.
Have you talked to an attorney? Since you have put money down, you may have grounds for a lawsuit (“arbitrary and capricious” for suddenly changing a 20 year interpretation, or “unconstitutionally vague”, since it could be read to extend to pretty much any firearm whatsoever) – or you may be able to get in on a class action suit, if there is one.
I would certainly stand more for the class action suit.
But really right now I’m waiting. I think for sure there will be a Clarification in the next 48 hours, because there is no way even the anti-gun AG likely foresaw that it was a blanket ban on just about anything auto-loading….It’s impossible to tell what she ACTUALLY meant, because he actions are not rational ones, but nothing she has directly said implies the scope that is being interpreted by Mass FFLs.
Plus there will likely be polical hay to be made, I’m hoping (but not optimistically) that this might be the straw that broke the camel’s back and ends the Mass AWB.
Certainly things have been VERY quiet here. GOAL has said nothing after the Rally, the AG is still silent, as is the Governor….the ONLY thing I’ve heard is this.
It’s too quiet, which means SOMETHING is happening, and at this point ANYTHING happening is good, so I’ll wait, and take action when I see the opportunity.