TargetTalk

Today the State Senate voted 38-0 on a final vote for a bill which would exempt target guns from the " drop test" and other tests. It had one amendment which we will not challenge. In a few weeks the bill will got the governors office. The Executive Office of Public Safety - firearms board will designate which guns are "target guns" This may sound bad on the surface, but it is not. I have been to the board and believe they know what a target gun is. GOAL also has a seat on the board. Jim Wallace and I were at the state house today pressing the flesh. Jim has done a great job getting this done. I want to thank any shooter that called the state house. THe calls were a major factor in getting this passed. Greg

Gregg,
I am very pleased for you and all the competitive shooters in Mass. Getting favorable gun legislation passed is an achievement to be proud of. Congratulations.
Sandy Santibanez

thanks for the post Greg.And thanks to you and Jim for helping this happen.
happier shooting,Dave

Thanks for all your hard work on this , Greg. My wife and I have been lobbying our Reps & Senators for several years to get this fixed.

Any idea what the time table is for this to get to the point where we can buy pistols? I assume that there has to be a conference committee meeting to reconcile the House & Senate versions, followed by some delay in getting an initial target gun list approved. I would think they could start with the California list without much fuss, and (hopefully) add to that.

Thanks again.

We will submit the California list firts just to see how that flies. We are avoiding a conference committee since that could muddy the waters with amendments. Maybe guns on a list by fall if we get the bill to the Gov's desk soon. Greg

Out of curiosity, I tracked down a version (don't know how up-to-date) of the California list, and the one I found only lists semi-autos. I don't know if they have other exemptions in their law for single shot .22's, but I didn't see ANY free pistols listed. The California list also is only supposed to exempt only "Olympic" pistols, which must be so designated by USA Shooting.

From my reading of the Mass law passed by the Senate, we have a lot more leeway, because the law exempts "formal target shooting firearms".

For example, it looks like one could make a good case for a S&W Model 52 under Mass law now, where you would probably be screwed in California.

Still no word on when it might get signed by the Governor...

Gwhite,
You must have seen a really, really old list. The original legislation was passed to exempt match pistols that fell under the restrictions of the "California Assault Gun Legislation" (magazine in front of the trigger guard).
Subsequent legislation was passed to exempt match pistols from the "Safety Test" where a pistol must not fire when dropped from a height of one meter on to a cement floor.

The current Olympic Exempt list does include Free Pistols. It has an Up-Date Provision so that new pistols may be added to the Exempt List by USA Shooting without going through the entire legislative process again and again.
Go to, California DOJ Firearms Division, for the current Olympic Exempt list. It exempts Olympic Pistols used in International Competitions, and was not intended to be "all-inclusive" or for "all formal target shooting firearms", just Olympic Match Pistols that are used in International Competition.
Sandy Santibanez

By the way, the S&W model 52 is included on the list since some competitors do use it for Center Fire matches.

I had looked at the California DOJ web site, and even did a couple searches. I couldn't find a list there, and had to hit the web at large to come up with anything. I'm glad they have a much broader list than the one I found. I went back and tried again, and this time I found it right off:

http://caag.state.ca.us/firearms/forms/pdf/op.pdf

The bill is held up, back in commitee. If it is not released for the governor to sign within about a month it will be dead. Dead. Politics.