Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed a sweeping gun bill Thursday that includes a crackdown on hard-to-trace “ghost guns” and on modifications including “bump stocks,” AP News reports. The law is part of an effort by the state to respond to a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that citizens have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense. On ghost guns, the law toughens oversight for those who own privately made, unserialized firearms that are largely untraceable. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice reported recovering 25,785 ghost guns in domestic seizures.
Also, in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling last month that struck down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, the law also imposes strict penalties for the possession of modification devices, such as Glock switches, which supporters of the law say convert an otherwise legal firearm into a fully automatic firearm. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have their own bans on bump stocks that aren’t expected to be affected by the ruling. The law also expands Massachusetts’ extreme risk protective order law — also known as the red flag law — by authorizing health care professionals and others who interact regularly with people in crisis to petition a court to suspend a person’s right to possess or carry a gun to protect themselves and others.
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