Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN Legal & Legislation

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging Massachusetts’s “Assault-Style” Firearms Ban

Thursday, August 21, 2025

NRA Files Lawsuit Challenging Massachusetts’s “Assault-Style” Firearms Ban

Today, the National Rifle Association, Gun Owners’ Action League, Pioneer Valley Arms, three NRA members, and another individual filed a lawsuit challenging Massachusetts’s ban on “assault-style” firearms.

Massachusetts generally prohibits the possession, ownership, offer for sale, sale, or other transfer of any firearm defined as “assault-style.” An “assault-style” firearm is broadly defined and includes a myriad of the nation’s most common semiautomatic handguns, rifles, and shotguns. The definition also includes any “copy or duplicate of any firearm” otherwise qualifying under the Act’s definition of “assault-style.”

In addition to banning the defined “assault-style” firearms and their “copies,” Massachusetts also bans “any firearm listed on the assault-style firearm roster.” This roster is supposed to be compiled, published, distributed to all FDL holders, and posted online three times per year by the Secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, who also has the authority to amend the roster upon his or her own initiative. But the Secretary has not published the “assault-style” firearms roster, nor announced when such roster may be published or which firearms it will include. The lack of any such roster and the Secretary’s ability to change the roster at any time precludes anyone from knowing whether a firearm is or will become prohibited.

Our complaint alleges that Massachusetts’s law violates the Second Amendment, because it bans firearms that are commonly used for lawful purposes, and the Fifth Amendment, because an ordinary person cannot understand what firearms qualify as “assault-style.”

“Radical gun grabbers in Massachusetts have run roughshod on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens,” said John Commerford, Executive Director of NRA-ILA. “These extreme and ill-conceived laws have created chaos in the Commonwealth, turning lawful gun owners into felons overnight. Today's lawsuit filed by the NRA seeks to end arbitrary bans on commonly owned firearms and begin the process of restoring the constitutional rights of Bay Staters.”

The case is named Hanlon v. Campbell, and the complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Please stay tuned to www.nraila.org for future updates on NRA-ILA’s ongoing efforts to defend your constitutional rights, and please visit www.nraila.org/litigation to keep up to date on NRA-ILA’s ongoing litigation efforts.

TRENDING NOW
Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

There have been multiple developments on the Canadian gun grab and ban in the last few days, but the most astounding has got to be a leaked bombshell recording of the Liberal Public Safety Minister, ...

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

Canada’s Gun Grab: Amnesty Expiration Approaches as Top Officials Sow Confusion

News  

Monday, September 22, 2025

Canada’s Gun Grab: Amnesty Expiration Approaches as Top Officials Sow Confusion

Canada’s Liberal government has consistently and misleadingly used “buyback” to describe the 2020 mandatory “assault weapon” confiscation law, in an attempt to make the scheme appear less hostile to property rights and Canada’s responsible gun ...

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Yesterday, in Butler v. Bondi, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its statutory authority by issuing its 2024 Final Rule expanding ...

Gun Controllers Rage at Everytown Over “Firearms Training,” Demand “Abstinence”

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

Gun Controllers Rage at Everytown Over “Firearms Training,” Demand “Abstinence”

A revealing article in USA Today last week reported that Everytown for Gun Safety’s new “firearms training” program, Train SMART, “met stiff opposition from [Everytown’s] own members and longtime supporters.” 

Pennsylvania: Another Gun Bill Fails on House Floor

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Pennsylvania: Another Gun Bill Fails on House Floor

On Tuesday, another anti-gun bill was defeated on the House floor, failing to receive approval by a 101-102 vote.    

The Polling Mirage on Gun Policy

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

The Polling Mirage on Gun Policy

The recent release of yet another “gun policy survey” underscores the necessity of not taking gun-related “polls,” “research,” and “studies” at face value.

California Loves Gun Control, Loathes Crime Control

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

California Loves Gun Control, Loathes Crime Control

California is always adding to its mountain of gun control laws aimed at disarming law-abiding citizens.

Open Carry Comes to Florida

News  

Monday, September 22, 2025

Open Carry Comes to Florida

On September 10, the First District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida struck down the Sunshine State’s prohibition on open carry as a violation of the Second Amendment in the case McDaniel v. Florida. ...

Pennsylvania: Gun Owner Opposition Kills Two of Three Anti-Gun Bills Tuesday!

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Pennsylvania: Gun Owner Opposition Kills Two of Three Anti-Gun Bills Tuesday!

The House voted on a package of gun control bills Tuesday with gun owners defeating House Majority Democrats on two of the three bills up for a final vote. On an earlier vote Tuesday, the ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.