Federal Judge Denies AG Healey’s Attempt To Toss ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban Lawsuit

WORCESTER — At the same that a push is brewing from Massachusetts gun control advocates to make the Bay State's strict firearms laws go national, a federal judge has determined that there is enough standing to allow a lawsuit challenging Attorney General Maura Healey's 2016 so-called "copycat" assault weapons ban to move forward.

Massachusetts U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Hillman on Wednesday squashed Healey's bid to dismiss the lawsuit, filed by several Massachusetts gun retailers in conjunction with the National Shooting Sports Foundation in September 2016. Healey's motion to dismiss, filed in November 2016, claimed that her enforcement order did not violate Second Amendment and complied with the original assault weapons ban enacted in 1998.