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.

PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — A Massachusetts-based company that specializes in buying a specific type of oil seed from farmers now faces a $15,000 civil penalty in South Dakota.

The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission imposed the punishment against Yield10 Bioscience Inc. of Woburn, MA, after an evidentiary hearing on Friday. Yield10 was notified of the complaint and the proceeding but wasn’t represented.

The commission found that Yield10 had failed to provide notification that the company was no longer in compliance with financial conditions required for South Dakota-licensed grain buyers and didn’t provide information within five days that was requested by the commission’s staff.

Each set of violations carried a maximum civil penalty of $20,000, for a possible total amount of $40,000. Commission chair Kristie Fiegen proposed $15,000.

“Our goal at the PUC is to make sure our producers are protected, and we want answers right away,” Fiegen said. “Producers were not impacted, but they could have been.”

Commissioner Chris Nelson asked why she chose $15,000. “I don’t think we should do the maximum, because no one was hurt,” Fiegen explained.

Nelson said he could have gone higher. Fiegen encouraged him to suggest more.

The third commissioner, Gary Hanson, however said he would have suggested $5,000 on each violation for a total of $10,000.

“So it sounds like a sweet spot,” Hanson said about the $15,000.

The commission voted 3-0 for that amount.

Fiegen and Nelson recognized the staff for its work.

“These are not easy,” Nelson said. “You shouldn’t had to have to go through all the work on this.”

During the hearing, grain-warehouse division manager Cody Chambliss presented information about the staff’s interactions with Yield10, including their exchanges of emails and correspondence.

Chambliss said the company buys camelina, an oil seed that is rarely grown in South Dakota. He said the company claimed it never purchased camelina from South Dakota producers.

A news release issued by Yield10 on Wednesday night said the company’s assets were being purchased by the seed technologies platform of Nufarm Limited, an Australia-based company.

Nelson said the commission asked the Legislature for the two statutes in 2013 after “the Anderson Seed fiasco” in 2012 that saw a sunflower buyer go bankrupt.

Chambliss said the statutes had been used to levy a civil penalty once since then. That matter involved H&I Grain in 2017. When asked for his recommendation, Chambliss said a minimum of $5,000 for each of the two violations and upward to $10,000 for each.

“We’re fortunate here there weren’t any producer losses,” Chambliss said. He said it’s “very rare” that a company can suffer a financial loss and not have losses incurred by producers.

Seven Democratic members of the Massachusetts State Senate have released an
open letter urging President Joe Biden to end his re-election bid so another candidate can be nominated at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month.

In addition to Senator Jason Lewis, who
called on Biden to end his campaign after the president struggled in his first debate with former President Donald Trump last month, the letter was signed by Senators Jo Comerford, Jamie Eldridge, Paul Feeney, Pat Jehlen, John Keenan, and Michael Moore.

Eldridge is a member of the Massachusetts delegation headed to the DNC.

The letter praised Biden for a “lifetime of distinguished public service,” but warned that his status as the Democrats’ presumptive nominee has become a dangerous liability.

“President Biden has consistently lagged behind Donald Trump in national and battleground states for months, and now reliable polls are even showing competitive races in blue states like Virginia and Minnesota,” the group wrote. “A growing number of Democratic congressional leaders are deeply concerned that if President Biden remains at the top of the ticket, MAGA Republicans will control the presidency and both houses of Congress. This would be catastrophic for Massachusetts and our entire nation.”

The group’s call comes at a moment when pressure is intensifying on Biden to leave the race. Also Thursday, John Tester of Montana became the second Democratic U.S. Senator, after Peter Welch of Vermont, to urge Biden to end his candidacy. On Wednesday, California Congressman Adam Schiff became the most prominent member of the U.S House to issue such a call. And according to multiple reports, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi have all expressed deep concern to Biden about his prospects in recent days.

Earlier this month, Governor Maura Healey became the first Democratic governor to suggest that Biden consider exiting the race. U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton has
urged Biden to drop his bid, and Representatives Jake Auchincloss and Lori Trahan have suggested that the president reevaluate his commitment to seeking reelection.

While the new letter from the seven state senators called for a different candidate to be nominated at the DNC next month, it did not explicitly state how that candidate should be selected. It did, however, suggest that switching standard bearers would give Democrats an immediate boost, and that a new Democratic candidate would have ample time to make his or her case to the electorate.

“Selecting a new Democratic presidential nominee will inject badly needed excitement and grassroots energy into the party and its voters, especially young people,” the letter said. “There will be plenty of time after the convention for the new nominee to run a winning campaign and defeat Donald Trump.”

A new
poll from Suffolk University and the Boston Globe found that nearly two-thirds of registered Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents in Massachusetts would prefer someone other than Biden as the party’s nominee.