Efforts to spread the word about a gun safety bill signed into law in Massachusetts last year continue, including a special information session involving one of its biggest supporters.
Signed into law in July, An Act Modernizing Firearms Laws was the culmination of some two years of listening sessions, legislative field trips to gun shops and meetings with stakeholders of all kinds.
That's according to 10th Hampden State Representative Carlos Gonzalez, who reviewed just what the bill does Friday.
The Springfield Democrat was a bill sponsor and on the conference committee that merged House and Senate versions of the legislation — addressing ghost guns and 3-D printed firearms while adding to the Commonwealth's "Red Flag Law" and more.
“… and I think it's important to note that that's what this legislation has been trying to address - how do we not impede on anybody's 2nd Amendment rights, but make sure that we can provide process and policy that can protect lives, not only from individuals, from themselves, but also protecting the lives of many residents that have been impacted negatively by gun violence,” he said during a webinar hosted by the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts, highlighting some of the many overhauls to state law the bill packed.
In addition to spelling out penalties for acts such as a gun dealer selling to unlicensed buyers, possession of an untraceable firearm or transporting a gun in state for a criminal act, Gonzalez touched on what the law does for the state's Red Flag system.
Among the enhancements, it expands just who can call in an "extreme risk protection order" or ERPO, issued against someone who may have a license to carry a gun, but also poses a risk of harming themselves or others.
Now expanding who can call in ERPOs to various health and school officials, the addition was highlighted by Behavioral Health Network Senior Vice President Dr. Katherine Mague.
“… family and household members, which has a very clear definition of lots of people, can fall in that definition. Healthcare providers that provided healthcare services to the respondent within the preceding six months, principals or assistant principals of elementary schools or secondary schools, or administrators of a college or university where the respondent is enrolled,” Mague said, listing off potential petitioners. “Also, the firearm owner’s identification card licensing authority in that town may all file a petition… and it allows healthcare providers. The law clarifies that providers may disclose protected health information of the respondent, only to the extent necessary for the investigation.”
Mague, along with Springfield Police Department Deputy Chief Steven Kent, spoke to how the bill has been playing out in the Springfield area, and that so far, there haven't been much in the way of new Red Flag cases emerging.
The Red Flag enhancements include new language clarifying how someone who has their gun license revoked can't "obtain any new firearm licenses or identification cards while the ERPO is still in place," according to the Healey administration.
However, Kent indicated several parts of the bill have already yielded results in Springfield – including language dealing with what are known to some as "Glock switches" - a small piece that, once attached to the back of a semi-automatic weapon, allows for what's effectively automatic fire.
It's a potent combo when paired with extended magazines, he says - making the gun harder to control and endangering all involved even further, especially bystanders.
“This new law gives us the ability to target the people that are selling the Glock switches, because now the switch, in and of itself, is a felony,” he explained. “So, we could target those people, whether or not they've attached it to a firearm, and we have done that. We did one here just the other day, where we did search warrants on a fellow who was selling Glock switches, 3D-printed firearms. He was, and this is rare in the city, but he did have an LTC (license to carry), but… he was obtaining Glock switches, selling them on the street.”
Kent added you could roughly tell when the switches first started appearing on the street. He says it was around 2022 when the city's ShotSpotter system started regularly picking up shootings featuring what sounded like automatic gun fire.
The number of shell casings collected by police told a similar story. 2023 featured at least 4,100 casings being collected by police. While some shootings may have actually involved unmodified, automatic guns, he says it was a still a massive uptick from the 2,000 casings that were picked up a year prior.
