Gun Advocates Challenge Massachusetts Assault Weapons Ban (1)

A Massachusetts law restricting the sale and possession of “assault-style” firearms is unconstitutional and inconsistent with the history of weapons regulations in the US, a group of gun owners and sellers assert.

The statute imposes “sweeping arms bans, magazine restrictions, registration requirements, and licensing preconditions” that are “unprecedented in our Nation’s historical tradition,” the National Rifle Association of America and others alleged in a complaint filed Thursday in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The plaintiffs—who also include four individuals, a gun shop, and the Gun Owners Action League—assert violations of the Second, Fifth, and Fourteenth amendments. ...