Massachusetts House and Senate reach deal on firearm law, local officials concerned about illegal purchases and additional restrictions on gun owners

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – The Massachusetts house and senate reached a deal on the latest firearm law reforms this week.

A bill now in the hands of Governor Healey is set to tackle untraceable ghost guns, firearms in public places like schools and governmenet buildings and remove guns from anyone considered a threat.

State officials are reacting from both sides of the aisle, State Representative Kelly Pease telling 22News in a statement, “Although the gun bill addresses kit/ghost guns, which is a good thing. The bill goes too far, by restricting legal gun owners. Every gun crime that happens has a law to prosecute the offender. There is no need to have new laws, except for ghost guns.”

Other officials shared that those accessing firearms without proper identification are that ones at the root of the issue.

“We hear over and over again that more and more of gun violence typically in some of the urban areas are seeing an uptick in glock switches which turns a semi-automatic into a fully-automatic and ghost guns to make so you can’t trace a crime and they have really serious problems, said State Senator John Velis.

An extensive process is required to access a firearm legally in Massachusetts. You must be 18 years of age or 14-17 years old with parental consent. Every person is required to take a firearm permit course followed by a federal and state background check.

Kendall Knapik, Owner of Pioneer Valley Arms discussed the extensive process, “Once you submit the federal background the government will notify us to proceed, deny or delay with your firearm purchase. If you get a proceed, we then move on to the state section which is then basically registering your firearm with the state of Massachusetts and connecting it to your LTC number so the state now knows that you own that gun and you’re responsible for that serial number.”

The entire process can take anywhere from two to three months for first time gun buyers.

With the bill now at Governor Healy’s desk, officials hope it will tackle the one’s taking the loopholes within the law and instill accountability.