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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden called for national action on gun purchasing standards on Sunday after six people were arraigned on gun possession charges last week.
Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden said having "more stringent" national purchasing standards would help to limit illegal guns from states with "lax purchase rules" from coming into Massachusetts, a state with tighter buying regulations.
“The standard arguments against stricter national purchasing regulations reflect the extreme ideology of unrestrained buying ability and disregard the reality of that ability in one state having dramatic consequences in another state. Our patchwork approach to gun purchasing regulations—which differs so broadly from the unified approach in other industrialized nations—needs serious revision, because it is damaging neighborhoods and destroying lives,” Hayden said in a statement.
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Someone suspected of murder and an 18-year-old were among the six charged with gun possession in Suffolk County last week. Some of the firearms had magazines capable of holding 15 or more bullets, DA Hayden said.
“I pray that members of both parties recognize the urgency and the benefits of a coherent, rational approach that preserves purchasing rights but addresses the patchwork policies that affect firearm inflow states like Massachusetts. I realize the 2nd Amendment has divergent interpretations, but there’s no arguing about the fact that it includes the words ‘well-regulated,’” said Hayden.
Most of the illegal guns seized in Suffolk County in 2021 were from Maine, New Hampshire, Alabama, Georgia and Florida, according to data released by Hayden's office last year.
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