I would like to commend Rep. Kulik and the other members of the Massachusetts Legislature who recently took a stand against Attorney General Healey’s fly-by-night gun control measures concerning so-called “copycat” assault weapons.
We should all appreciate that our representatives and senators acted to protect freedom and uphold the checks and balances of democracy, against what was clearly an abusive overreach of power by one misguided activist member of the executive branch, determined to put personal agendas ahead of the public interest.
Hopefully, we will shortly see these regulations repealed or overturned.
As was made clear by the fact that both Democrats and Republicans raised concerns, this is not a partisan issue. Nor is it a public safety issue.
What we have here is a case of an attorney general who, in the midst of an ignorant, one-sided, anti-gun media blitz, suddenly decided to redefine a law that has been on the books for almost two decades and which, even according to gun control advocates, worked just fine.
This massive revision took place with little notice to the public or chance for public comment. Those who understand the technical language of the AG’s recent “guidance,” (which I have read in full), will find it is poorly written and ambiguous in defining what precisely a “copycat” weapon is.
Of course, that is what happens when bureaucrats refuse to consult the gun owning public with what they already know will be unpopular regulations.
Whatever your position on gun control (I happen to think it is ineffective and therefore pointless), it is important that lawmaking be done according to the democratic, legislative process.
It should never be up to a single official to skip over this process by simply rewriting what she thinks the law means or should mean.
Hussain A. Hamdan
Hawley