http://www.ago.state.ma.us/gunsnomo.asp
ATTORNEY GENERAL REILLY ISSUES 6-MONTH STATUS REPORT ON GUN ENFORCEMENT INITIATIVES
BOSTON -- A wide-ranging enforcement investigation by Attorney General Tom Reilly's Office has shown that the majority of gun dealers in Massachusetts are complying with landmark handgun safety regulations that took effect April 3, AG Reilly announced today.
During AG Reilly's gun safety enforcement investigation, the Attorney General's Office inspected records, issued subpoenas and conducted undercover buys of handguns in an effort to review gun dealership practices and enforce compliance with state gun laws. The Attorney General's Office reviewed sales by nearly 100 dealers and investigators, making undercover purchases of handguns, visited more than 12 major dealerships - responsible for more than 50 percent of the state gun sales to consumers.
"Most gun dealers doing business today in Massachusetts are complying with these safety regulations," AG Reilly said. "Families are safer because of these regulations. My office will continue to aggressively enforce all handgun laws to promote gun safety and to reduce gun violence."
Despite the high incidence of compliance with the Attorney General's gun regulations, the undercover investigation found that some dealers had violated certain provisions. The AG's Office notified the dealers of the alleged violations and offered to meet with them to discuss the dealers' sales practices. These meetings led to agreements by three handgun dealers to settle with the Attorney General's Office.
Without admitting any wrongdoing, Dave's Sporting Goods in Pittsfield; Jurek Brothers, Inc., in Greenfield; and Four Seasons Firearms in Woburn entered into agreements with the AG's Office. The consent judgments, which were filed this week in Suffolk Superior Court, require the three gun dealers not to sell some semi-automatic pistols, manufactured on or after Oct. 21, 1998, without first obtaining a written certification from the manufacturer or wholesaler that the gun complies with the regulations.
The enforcement effort by the AG's Office also focused on whether gun dealers were giving consumers all the safety warnings and disclosures required by the regulations. Handgun dealers are required to provide all buyers of handguns a written "WARNING FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL," instructing them to keep their weapons locked in a secure place and take other steps necessary to limit the possibility of theft or accident. Dealers also are required to show buyers how to load, unload and safely store the handgun, as well as the procedure to engage and disengage all safety devices.
The settlement requires these three dealers - regardless of the gun's date of manufacture - to provide written and oral safety warnings to consumers who buy their guns. It also requires dealers to offer refunds to consumers who bought noncompliant guns. Customers who believe they may be entitled to restitution should contact the dealer who sold them the weapon.
The AG's Office is currently reviewing the sales practices of additional handgun dealers, and may bring enforcement actions against them. To prevent future violations of the regulations, the AG's Office will conduct ongoing investigations and enforcement actions.
"My office will continue to enforce these important public safety regulations as we fulfill our promise to protect families and children from preventable tragedies," AG Reilly said.
In addition, AG Reilly has successfully defended a gun-lobby challenge to the state's Gun Control Act of 1998, which among other things, banned sales of handguns from home-based gun shops. In October 1999, AG Reilly sent a letter to police chiefs throughout the state requesting that they review all gun dealer licenses issued by their departments to make sure the dealers were complying with the law. Since then, gun dealer licenses in the state have been cut in half. When AG Reilly sent the letter in October 1999, there were 950 licensed dealers; there are about 450 today.
The gun industry failed in its attempts to challenge AG Reilly's first-in-the-nation handgun regulations, which fall under the state's Consumer Protection Law. After the gun industry lost its bid to kill the regulations, AG Reilly announced April 3 that the AG's Office would begin enforcing them.
The AG's Office then notified more than 658 dealers, gun manufacturers and wholesalers about the enforcement of the regulations and also issued advisories to promote compliance.
Former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger issued the regulations in 1997.
The regulations, which led to AG Reilly's enforcement actions this week, are designed to protect consumers and their families from unsafe handguns as well as unfair or deceptive practices by handgun dealers and manufacturers. The regulations require all handguns sold in Massachusetts to include child-proofing measures, tamper-resistant serial numbers and safety warnings. The regulations, which ban cheap "Saturday Night Specials," have greatly reduced the sale of junk guns by licensed dealers in Massachusetts.
Under the regulations, most semi-automatic pistols must have either a load indicator, or a magazine safety disconnect. A load indicator allows a gun owner to tell whether a bullet is in the pistol's chamber. A magazine safety disconnect prevents the gun from being fired when the magazine is removed, even when a bullet remains in the chamber. Both of these child proofing features are important safety measures designed to prevent the discharge of a bullet when the owner mistakenly believes the gun is unloaded. With certain exceptions, all semi-automatic pistols sold in Massachusetts must have one or both of these features.
In May, the AG's Office announced that new or used handguns manufactured on or before Oct. 21, 1998 would be subject only to the regulations that require the dealer to:
Sell the weapon with an approved gun lock;
Provide written and verbal warnings and disclosures.
Guns manufactured after Oct. 21, 1998 (the date the Gun Law of 1998 took effect) must comply with all the regulations, unless specifically exempted.
"Most dealers are working hard to comply with the law," AG Reilly said. "Our office will continue to work with dealers to help them follow these important safety regulations. We will continue to monitor sales to make sure dealers are selling consumers safe and legal guns."
AG Reilly's Public Protection Bureau is enforcing the regulations.
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~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
ATTORNEY GENERAL REILLY ISSUES 6-MONTH STATUS REPORT ON GUN ENFORCEMENT INITIATIVES
BOSTON -- A wide-ranging enforcement investigation by Attorney General Tom Reilly's Office has shown that the majority of gun dealers in Massachusetts are complying with landmark handgun safety regulations that took effect April 3, AG Reilly announced today.
During AG Reilly's gun safety enforcement investigation, the Attorney General's Office inspected records, issued subpoenas and conducted undercover buys of handguns in an effort to review gun dealership practices and enforce compliance with state gun laws. The Attorney General's Office reviewed sales by nearly 100 dealers and investigators, making undercover purchases of handguns, visited more than 12 major dealerships - responsible for more than 50 percent of the state gun sales to consumers.
"Most gun dealers doing business today in Massachusetts are complying with these safety regulations," AG Reilly said. "Families are safer because of these regulations. My office will continue to aggressively enforce all handgun laws to promote gun safety and to reduce gun violence."
Despite the high incidence of compliance with the Attorney General's gun regulations, the undercover investigation found that some dealers had violated certain provisions. The AG's Office notified the dealers of the alleged violations and offered to meet with them to discuss the dealers' sales practices. These meetings led to agreements by three handgun dealers to settle with the Attorney General's Office.
Without admitting any wrongdoing, Dave's Sporting Goods in Pittsfield; Jurek Brothers, Inc., in Greenfield; and Four Seasons Firearms in Woburn entered into agreements with the AG's Office. The consent judgments, which were filed this week in Suffolk Superior Court, require the three gun dealers not to sell some semi-automatic pistols, manufactured on or after Oct. 21, 1998, without first obtaining a written certification from the manufacturer or wholesaler that the gun complies with the regulations.
The enforcement effort by the AG's Office also focused on whether gun dealers were giving consumers all the safety warnings and disclosures required by the regulations. Handgun dealers are required to provide all buyers of handguns a written "WARNING FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL," instructing them to keep their weapons locked in a secure place and take other steps necessary to limit the possibility of theft or accident. Dealers also are required to show buyers how to load, unload and safely store the handgun, as well as the procedure to engage and disengage all safety devices.
The settlement requires these three dealers - regardless of the gun's date of manufacture - to provide written and oral safety warnings to consumers who buy their guns. It also requires dealers to offer refunds to consumers who bought noncompliant guns. Customers who believe they may be entitled to restitution should contact the dealer who sold them the weapon.
The AG's Office is currently reviewing the sales practices of additional handgun dealers, and may bring enforcement actions against them. To prevent future violations of the regulations, the AG's Office will conduct ongoing investigations and enforcement actions.
"My office will continue to enforce these important public safety regulations as we fulfill our promise to protect families and children from preventable tragedies," AG Reilly said.
In addition, AG Reilly has successfully defended a gun-lobby challenge to the state's Gun Control Act of 1998, which among other things, banned sales of handguns from home-based gun shops. In October 1999, AG Reilly sent a letter to police chiefs throughout the state requesting that they review all gun dealer licenses issued by their departments to make sure the dealers were complying with the law. Since then, gun dealer licenses in the state have been cut in half. When AG Reilly sent the letter in October 1999, there were 950 licensed dealers; there are about 450 today.
The gun industry failed in its attempts to challenge AG Reilly's first-in-the-nation handgun regulations, which fall under the state's Consumer Protection Law. After the gun industry lost its bid to kill the regulations, AG Reilly announced April 3 that the AG's Office would begin enforcing them.
The AG's Office then notified more than 658 dealers, gun manufacturers and wholesalers about the enforcement of the regulations and also issued advisories to promote compliance.
Former Attorney General Scott Harshbarger issued the regulations in 1997.
The regulations, which led to AG Reilly's enforcement actions this week, are designed to protect consumers and their families from unsafe handguns as well as unfair or deceptive practices by handgun dealers and manufacturers. The regulations require all handguns sold in Massachusetts to include child-proofing measures, tamper-resistant serial numbers and safety warnings. The regulations, which ban cheap "Saturday Night Specials," have greatly reduced the sale of junk guns by licensed dealers in Massachusetts.
Under the regulations, most semi-automatic pistols must have either a load indicator, or a magazine safety disconnect. A load indicator allows a gun owner to tell whether a bullet is in the pistol's chamber. A magazine safety disconnect prevents the gun from being fired when the magazine is removed, even when a bullet remains in the chamber. Both of these child proofing features are important safety measures designed to prevent the discharge of a bullet when the owner mistakenly believes the gun is unloaded. With certain exceptions, all semi-automatic pistols sold in Massachusetts must have one or both of these features.
In May, the AG's Office announced that new or used handguns manufactured on or before Oct. 21, 1998 would be subject only to the regulations that require the dealer to:
Sell the weapon with an approved gun lock;
Provide written and verbal warnings and disclosures.
Guns manufactured after Oct. 21, 1998 (the date the Gun Law of 1998 took effect) must comply with all the regulations, unless specifically exempted.
"Most dealers are working hard to comply with the law," AG Reilly said. "Our office will continue to work with dealers to help them follow these important safety regulations. We will continue to monitor sales to make sure dealers are selling consumers safe and legal guns."
AG Reilly's Public Protection Bureau is enforcing the regulations.
------------------
~USP
"[Even if there would be] few tears shed if and when the Second Amendment is held to guarantee nothing more than the state National Guard, this would simply show that the Founders were right when they feared that some future generation might wish to abandon liberties that they considered essential, and so sought to protect those liberties in a Bill of Rights. We may tolerate the abridgement of property rights and the elimination of a right to bear arms; but we should not pretend that these are not reductions of rights." -- Justice Scalia 1998
