News

Mass. AG: Exponential rise in mass shooting since end of assault rifle ban

BOSTON — Monday afternoon, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey described the Orlando terror attack as "unimaginable horror and devastation."

Healey, the first openly gay Attorney General in Massachusetts, said the shooting is an attack on all the strides the community has made.

“It was an act of hate, it was an act of terror. Anytime you see the targeting of a community whether it's based on race or religion or here, sexual orientation, it's terrible,” she said. "These were individuals who, in the midst of Pride Month, who were celebrating equality.”

During a sit down with FOX25, Healey said a major part of the problem is the laws surrounding high powered assault rifles.

"There was a federal assault rifle ban, it was allowed to expire in 2004. Since then we have seen an exponential rise in the number of mass shootings,” she said.

It’s a trend Healey said has touched far too many lives.

"For all Americans, because we have seen this before, whether we're talking about a classroom in Sandy Hook, whether we're talking about San Bernardino, people going to the movies in Colorado," Healey said.

Healey added that one individual should not be able to cause so much to harm to so many.