{"id":144880,"date":"2021-04-27T11:50:59","date_gmt":"2021-04-27T15:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=144880"},"modified":"2021-04-27T11:50:59","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T11:23:59","slug":"lawmakers-seek-to-outlaw-production-of-modern-sporting-rifles-in-massachusetts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/lawmakers-seek-to-outlaw-production-of-modern-sporting-rifles-in-massachusetts\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers Seek to Outlaw Production of Modern Sporting Rifles in Massachusetts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

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Last week, several Democratic lawmakers introduced a bill that would prohibit gun manufacturers from making \u201cany assault weapon or large capacity feeding device\u201d in Massachusetts.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Politicians have already banned black rifles for civilians use, however, licensed gun companies can still produce them under the law and export them to free states.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAssault, military-style weapons manufactured right here in Massachusetts have been used to kill and slaughter children and people across the nation from Parkland to Aurora to San Bernadino to Las Vegas and too many other communities,\u201d said State Rep. Marjorie Decker, the sponsor of the legislation, to The Boston Herald<\/em><\/a>.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis bill is an acknowledgment that some of safe protections in Massachusetts due to our own common sense gun-ownership laws, that we want to extend some of those protections to people who live in other states across the country,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GunsAmerica reached out to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry trade association, to get an idea of how this bill could impact Bay State gun makers.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis political stunt Massachusetts lawmakers are undertaking risks 7,800 jobs, $4.5 million paid in state and federal taxes and a $2.49 billion total economic impact in the state,\u201d said Mark Oliva in an email.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese lawmakers aren\u2019t satisfied enough with denying their own citizens\u2019 rights to purchase and possess the most popular selling centerfire rifle in America,\u201d he continued.  \u201cThey would haphazardly destroy a historic and productive industry in their state to deny law-abiding citizens in other states those rights as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEE ALSO: Appeals Court Upholds Massachusetts \u2018Assault Weapons\u2019 Ban<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Oliva went on to say that Massachusetts is home to three major firearms manufacturers: Smith & Wesson, Savage Arms and Kahr Arms.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTwo of those manufacturers produce Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs),\u201d he said. \u201cKahr Arms already ceased production in New York and left that state for Pennsylvania over onerous gun control laws.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that Smith & Wesson has already relocated distribution and warehousing operations to Missouri, and \u201cthere\u2019s a long history of firearm, ammunition and accessories manufacturers, who have done the same because of restrictive gun control laws or punishing business climates, including Remington, Beretta, Mossberg, Ruger, Kimber, Magpul, Weatherby, Olin Corporation\u2019s Winchester Ammunition, LMT and Stag Arms, to name just a few.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, activists supporting the bill claim it’s about consistency, not about trying to hurt gun companies financially. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is not a partisan issue, not an effort to put anyone out of business,\u201d John Rosenthal, the founder of the Boston-based group, Stop Handgun Violence, told LocalNews8<\/a><\/em>.<\/a> \u201cThis is simply an effort to be consistent. If it\u2019s illegal to own and sell assault weapons in Massachusetts, why is it OK for Massachusetts companies to make them, ship them elsewhere to cause mayhem across the country?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating “mayhem across the country” is hyperbole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As GunsAmerica previously reported<\/a>, rifles rarely used in crimes (an inconvenient truth the founder of “Stop Handgun<\/em> Violence” is probably keenly aware of). In fact, rifles of any make and model, including the subcategory of black rifles, are used in less than four percent of homicides, annually. Categorically speaking, knives, hands & feet, and blunt instruments kill more people each year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Lawmakers
(Graph: Fee.org<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of course, that’s only one side of the equation. The other side is how many lives are saved by good guys with black rifles?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, there isn’t reliable data highlighting how frequently modern sporting rifles are used by law-abiding citizens to defend themselves, their families, and their businesses. Whether it’s thousands of times each year or tens of thousands of times each year (especially during a pandemic with widespread rioting and looting), is anyone’s guess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we know that it happens<\/a>, and to not at least acknowledge this when discussing the impact of this bill is unacceptable. It goes to show that anti-gun politicians and activists have no interest in seeing the whole picture. For them, black guns are evil and they serve no legitimate purpose. Doesn’t matter how often they are used by patriots to protect the innocent nor does it matter that they are the best safeguard we have against the rise of tyranny, be it in the form of government jackboots or a raging mob of political radicals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

NSSF put out a more complete list<\/a> of some of the recent moves made by firearms manufacturers to find friendlier business environments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n