A 19-member legislative committee on Friday recommended passage of a bill that would authorize courts to prevent people from owning guns if they are deemed dangerous.
Anti-gun violence activists, including students and many citizen activists, have recently stepped up their push for the bill, arguing it would provide a safety check to prevent dangerous people from accessing certain deadly weapons.
There was no dissent on the The Joint Committee on Public Safety on Friday, according to a committee staffer.
The Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence said public opinion polling indicates support for the measure.
“It is abundantly clear that the people want their legislators to create a meaningful mechanism for intervention when a gun owner is determined to pose an extreme risk to themselves or others. We look forward to continuing to work with state legislators to move this bill forward to a House vote in the coming weeks,” coalition co-chair Janet Goldenberg said in a statement.
Speaker Robert DeLeo had a role in the committee leadership’s decision to push for passage of the bill, according to the committee’s House chairman.
“After careful examination on the Committee level, productive meetings with Speaker DeLeo, survivors of gun violence, and hearing from countless individuals across the Commonwealth, we feel it is important to report this bill out favorably,” Rep. Hank Naughton, a co-chair of the committee, said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to work on this with Speaker DeLeo, House members, and various stakeholders in an effort to keep public safety in the Commonwealth a priority.”