AG Enforcement Notice on Copies and Duplicates (July 20, 2016)

On July 20, 2016, Attorney General Maura Healey issued an enforcement notice^[1] to give gun sellers and others a framework for understanding the definition of assault weapon in the Massachusetts assault weapons ban, including the "copies or duplicates" language. The notice stated that its guidance would not be applied to an individual's possession, ownership, or transfer of an assault weapon obtained before July 20, 2016, and the current statute uses the same date in its definition of "copy or duplicate."

What the Notice Changed

The notice explained that a weapon is a "copy" or "duplicate" of an enumerated weapon if its internal functional components are substantially similar in construction and configuration to those of an enumerated weapon, or if it has a receiver that is the same as or interchangeable with the receiver of an enumerated weapon.

The Copy or Duplicate Test

The enforcement notice treats a weapon as a copy or duplicate of an enumerated weapon if:

• Its internal functional components are substantially similar in construction and configuration to those of an enumerated weapon, OR
• It has a receiver that is the same as or interchangeable with the receiver of an enumerated weapon

Impact on Sales

The notice stated that its guidance would not be applied to a dealer's future possession, ownership, or transfer of covered weapons if the dealer had written evidence that the weapons were transferred to the dealer in the Commonwealth before July 20, 2016, and any transfer made after that date went to persons or businesses in states where such weapons are legal. Dealers who continued selling firearms covered by the notice faced potential enforcement action under the assault weapons ban.

Two Grandfathering Dates

The enforcement notice created a layered grandfathering system with two distinct cutoff dates:

• September 13, 1994: The original federal AWB date, which the pre-2024 statute used to grandfather assault weapons. Under Chapter 135 this date now applies only to large capacity feeding devices (Section 131M(c)); assault-style firearms use the August 1, 2024 possession date in Section 131M(b).
• July 20, 2016: The AG enforcement notice date. A firearm sold, owned and registered before this date is excluded from the statutory "copy or duplicate" definition (Section 121(f)).

Interaction with Chapter 135

Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024^[2] added a definition of "copy or duplicate" to MGL c.140 §121(f). It covers a firearm that was manufactured or later configured to accept a detachable magazine and that either has internal functional components substantially similar in construction and configuration to those of an enumerated firearm or has a receiver that is the same as or interchangeable with the receiver of an enumerated firearm. These are the two tests the 2016 notice described. The definition excludes a firearm sold, owned, and registered before July 20, 2016. For conduct today the controlling authority is the statute, and the 2016 notice is its interpretive predecessor. Section 131M now provides that assault-style firearms lawfully possessed on August 1, 2024, by a license holder may be retained if registered and serialized, but the "copies or duplicates" provision and its July 20, 2016 cutoff remain relevant for determining which firearms were lawfully possessed in the first place.

Legal Challenges

The enforcement notice was challenged in federal court. In Worman v. Healey, the First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of the Massachusetts assault weapons ban, including the AG's interpretation, under intermediate scrutiny. Following the Supreme Court's decision in NYSRPA v. Bruen^[3], the related case Capen v. Campbell was decided by the First Circuit in April 2025, affirming the denial of a preliminary injunction under the historical tradition framework. In June 2025, the Supreme Court declined to hear two related assault weapons ban challenges -- Snope v. Brown (Maryland) and Ocean State Tactical v. Rhode Island -- but Justice Kavanaugh wrote separately that the Court "should and presumably will address the AR-15 issue soon, in the next Term or two."^[4] A separate NRA-backed challenge, Hanlon v. Campbell (D. Mass., filed August 2025), also targets the assault-style firearms ban under both the Second Amendment and the Fifth Amendment (vagueness).