So says U.S. District judge William Young in a decision handed down April 6 and released through the Associated Press concerning a lawsuit challenging the ban filed by the gun lobby and the gun owners action league of Massachusetts. The law banned assault type weapons and large capacity magazines and mirrors the federal ban that expired in 2004. It bans the sale of specific and name-brand weapons and explicitly bans copies or duplicates of those weapons.
Other important statements concerning the decision by judge Young in the release are as follows:
(1) The weapons fall beyond the reach of the second amendment and are military firearms and aren't protected by the constitutional right to bear arms. Regulation of the weapons is a matter of policy not for the courts.
(2) Other states are equally free to leave them unregulated and available to their law abiding citizens. These policy matters are simply not of constitutional moment. Americans are not afraid of bumptious, raucous and robust debate about these matters. We call it democracy.
(3) Judge Young also upheld Attorney General Healey's 2016 enforcement notice to gun sellers and manufacturers clarifying what constitutes a copy or duplicate weapon under the 1998 assault weapons ban including copies of the Colt AR-15 and the Kalashnikov AK-47.
(4) The gun owners action league and other groups that filed the lawsuit argued that the AR-15 can't be considered a military weapon because it cannot fire in fully automatic mode. But Judge Young dismissed that idea, noting that the semi-automatic AR-15's design is based on guns that were first manufactured for military purposes and that the AR-15 is common and well known in the military. The AR-15 and its analogs, along with large capacity magazines are simply not weapons within the original meaning of the individual constitutional right to bear arms, Young also wrote.
Massachusetts' Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey said the ruling vindicates the right of the people of her state to protect themselves from these weapons of war. Strong gun laws save lives, and we will not be intimidated by the gun lobby in our efforts to end the sale of assault weapons and protect our communities and schools. Families across the country should take heart in this victory.
Judge Young's ruling confirms what PolitiDose has been saying all along. That semi and automatic weapons are weapons of war and do not belong on the streets of America and that the states can take the proper steps to regulate them. The decision should prompt all governors and state legislatures to take what ever action is necessary to follow Massachusetts' lead. After all, the state has one of the lowest gun violence rates related to deaths.
And to think, my state, Louisiana has just introduced a bill in the legislature to simply raise the age to 21 before an assault type weapon can be purchased. That does not solve the problem of having those killing machines on the street. How sad. The ignorant mentality of kicking the assault weapons ban down the road and ignoring what is likely to be more mass killings is truly tragic.
It should be noted that last year the U.S. Supreme Court turned down an appeal from Maryland gun owners who challenged the state's ban on assault weapons. The stage is set for the states to act on the subject matter and take control away from the NRA and the gun lobby with their pressure and campaign contributions.
With courage, it can be done.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
