GOAL’s Version of “Ghost Gun” Legislation First Out of the Gate!!

With all the hype around so-called “Ghost Guns” in the last few years, Gun Owners’ Action League (GOAL) took a proactive step and filed our own version of what such a bill SHOULD look like. Our bill, H2527 An Act Relative to Criminal Manufacture and Possession of Certain Weapons, filed by Representative Michael Soter.

For several years we have been barraged with stories of the scary “Ghost Guns”. Namely, these are supposedly guns that don’t have serial numbers, are made from “unregulated kits”, or produced on home 3-D printers. For the record, it has always been legal for lawful citizens to produce their own firearms for their own use.

There are already a host of laws and regulations, federal and state, that deal with manufacturing guns, serial numbers, “undetectable” guns, etc. When it comes to the perceived need for serial numbers, GOAL has questioned for years how many crimes are solved that led to a conviction by tracing a serial number on a gun. Just that one question has gone unanswered.

“The whole hype around this new boogeyman of the anti-civil rights agenda is just another means of scaring the public into supporting more restrictions on lawful citizens” said Jim Wallace Executive Director of GOAL. “Our bill is the only one that actually seeks to harshly punish true criminal actions. For the most part, all the other versions invent new ways for lawful citizens to get tripped up and become unwilling criminals.”

It is a good sign that GOAL’s version of a “Ghost Gun” bill that was released favorably by the Committee on Public Safety. The bill now resides in the House Committee on Steering, Policy and Scheduling. The House will be busy with budget debates over the next week and will unlikely move on any other meaningful legislation during that time. When the time for action comes, GOAL will alert our members.

Link to Legislative Tracking: https://malegislature.gov/Bills/192/H2527

H2527   An Act Relative to Criminal Manufacture and Possession of Certain Weapons

SECTION 1.

Chapter 269 of the General Laws shall be amended by inserting a new section:

10L: Criminal Manufacture and Transfer of Weapons

Any prohibited person who illegally manufactures a firearm, rifle, shotgun, machine gun or sawed-off shotgun shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not or more than 5 years.

Any person who illegally manufactures a firearm, rifle, shotgun, machine gun or sawed-off shotgun and transfers or supplies said weapon to a prohibited person within or without of the Commonwealth shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not or more than 10 years.

Whoever transports an illegally manufactured firearm, rifle, shotgun, machine gun or sawed-off shotgun into the commonwealth to use the weapon for the commission of criminal activity shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not or more than 10 years.

Whoever, while in the commission of a felony, has in his possession or under his control an illegally manufactured firearm, rifle, shotgun, machine gun or sawed-off shotgun shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than not more than 10 years.

Whoever transports an illegally manufactured firearm, rifle, shotgun, machine gun or sawed-off shotgun into the commonwealth to unlawfully distribute, sell or transfer possession of the weapon to a prohibited person, as defined in section 131 of chapter 140, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 20 years.

Whoever transports an illegally manufactured firearm, rifle, shotgun, machine gun or sawed-off shotgun into the commonwealth to unlawfully distribute, sell or transfer the weapon to a prohibited person, as defined in section 131 of chapter 140, and if the weapon is subsequently used to commit severe bodily injury or murder, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for up to life imprisonment.

Upon conviction of this section, the courts shall notify the appropriate federal authorities of potential violations of federal manufacturing and transfer laws.