OK, I'm confused... I thought the magazine had to be owned by a resident of Mass before the ban took effect. Or is that only for the actual gun? I guess there's no paper trail on the mags but could someone clear this up for me, please?
The MA mag ban is a virtual replicant of the 1994 FEDERAL AWB provisions,
with a few limited caveats-
-MA law/AGs office is silent on the issue of rebuilding magazines. People
have gotten a myriad of answers from the CHSB about it, but being that the
answers were verbal in nature they're just about worthless... further, I'm
not even certain if CHSB has any authority to levy a binding opinion... and
I doubt anyone would get a letter from Coakley's office saying what the
"real deal" is. In MA there is no equivalent of BATFE tech branch to issue
legal opinions. (IMO this is a blessing and a curse, depending on how you
look at it).
-The MA law does not have descriptive wording/interpretation in it like the
fed AWB does; basically the feds emphatically state that the only way a
mag could be illegal WRT the old federal law was if it had LE or date
markings as described in the law. MA on the other hand is silent on this
sub-issue. Basically what this means is that MA folks with hi-caps do not
have a clearly vetted escape route if they end up in court on the wrong side
of the law. This isn't a huge problem but it does make a "mag charge"
more "prosecutorially viable" if that is such a term... whereas the feds would
never bring charges under the old ban if the mags were clean, because it was
nearly impossible to prosecute. Not so in MA- all they have to do is
(somehow) prove you have post 94 mags. To me this isn't a big
deal but it is important to know the difference.
I don't know where you got your information, but there is NO ban on importing
or moving any preban mags in mass. You can even import preban glocks
via an FFL transfer, or other items for that matter via various other legal
means. MA law is very confusing but it is often LESS restrictive than
some people go around blathering about. (I'm not saying the laws here
are good by any stretch... but I think there is a LOT of misinformation going
around about what is legal and what is not. Don't get me started on
the whole EOPS/MA compliance BS, with people strutting around going "oh
you cant own (insert name of new pistol not on the list) in MA, it's illegal"
and other falsehoods like that. )
Edit: One other important note- Unlike the federal ban, the MA AWB has
not expired. The politicos copied it and rubber stamped it in MA so the definitions,
etc, are preserved. The argument that "the fed ban is gone so the MA ban should
be too" doesn't hold water because the pols reinforced it. (and at the time, romney
was waxing with glee about it too, f'ing a-hole.... )
-Mike