By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Judge: Assault weapons ban doesn't violate 2nd Amendment
Ruling upholds Massachusetts decision
W guns
In this 2013 file photo, craftsman Veetek Witkowski holds a newly assembled AR-15 rifle at the Stag Arms company in New Britain, Conn. A ruling released Friday, April 6, 2018, by a federal judge in Boston, dismissed a lawsuit challenging Massachusetts' ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, stating that assault weapons are beyond the scope of the Second Amendment right to "bear arms."
BOSTON — Assault weapons and large-capacity magazines are not protected by the Second Amendment, a federal judge said in a ruling Friday upholding Massachusetts' ban on the weapons.U.S. District Judge William Young dismissed a lawsuit challenging the 20-year-old ban, saying assault weapons are military firearms that fall beyond the reach of the constitutional right to "bear arms."Regulation of the weapons is a matter of policy, not for the courts, he said."Other states are equally free to leave them unregulated and available to their law-abiding citizens," Young said. "These policy matters are simply not of constitutional moment. Americans are not afraid of bumptious, raucous and robust debate about these matters.
Sign up for the Herald's free e-newsletter