Appeals Court Upholds Massachusetts Ban on ‘Assault-Style Firearms’

A Massachusetts ban on “assault-style firearms” is legal and constitutional, a federal appeals court ruled on July 21.

The statute does not violate the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment because it is consistent with the historical tradition of firearm regulation in the country, a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit said.

The 2024 Massachusetts law extended a ban on some semiautomatic “assault weapons” to include “assault-style firearms,” prompting a lawsuit from Gino Mario Recchia and the gun store he owns.

The judges highlighted a 2025 decision called Capen by the same appeals court that upheld a predecessor law, which weighed whether the ban imposed a burden similar to that imposed by historical laws, as the Supreme Court has instructed states to do when considering restrictions on guns.

“Recchia has presented no persuasive argument for why this analysis should not control our assessment of the constitutionality of the Act’s challenged provisions under the Second Amendment,” Circuit Judge Seth Aframe wrote. “Critically, he does not provide any additional historical arguments, makes no attempt to distinguish the Act from the predecessor law analyzed in Capen, and, in fact, concedes that Capen ‘probably forecloses relief.’”

While Recchia argued that the Second Amendment guarantees people the right to possess weapons equivalent to those used by modern-day soldiers, the panel said that position has been rejected by the Supreme Court.

His challenge, based on alleged violations of the Equal Protection Clause because he cannot sell certain guns under the law, while some out-of-state sellers can, lacks merit, according to the judges.

“States may reach different conclusions about what types of firearms may be sold within their legislative jurisdiction without violating the equal protection guarantee,” Aframe said. “The district court therefore properly dismissed Recchia’s equal protection claim.”

U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Massachusetts in 2025 had dismissed the case, leading to the appeal.

Circuit Judges Joshua Dunlap and Sandra Lynch were also on the panel that upheld Stearns’s decision.

“Gun safety laws work, and they can be enforced consistent with public safety and the Second Amendment,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, a Democrat, told The Epoch Times via email.

“This decision to uphold the state’s assault weapons ban is a significant win that will protect the public and continue Massachusetts’ leadership on gun violence prevention. I am proud of my team for defending our commonsense gun laws and my office will continue to use every tool available to strengthen these efforts.”

A lawyer representing Recchia did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

The ruling came several days after a different appeals court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, struck down New Jersey’s ban on “assault weapons,” and about two weeks after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld Illinois’ ban on “assault weapons.”

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear in its next term a case involving the legality of restrictions on semi-automatic rifles.