The Gun Owners Action League, a local affiliate of the National Rifle Association, is seeking more information from Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey after her crackdown on copycat weapons.



The group (GOAL) has argued Healey overreached when applying the crackdown, which came through an enforcement notice to gun sellers and manufacturers. Healey's office has said owners of copycat weapons before the notice was issued in July are grandfathered.



Looking for information that could shed more light on her decision, GOAL filed an extensive public records request in August, and months later received a CD that included gun manuals from different manufacturers. Healey's office cited several legal exemptions in limiting the response, including ongoing litigation.



Jim Wallace, the head of GOAL, said his group is continuing to press for more information and plans to file an appeal with Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin this week. Galvin's office includes a public records division.



"The response that we got has caused more questions than we originally had, which I didn't think it was possible," Wallace said, charging Healey with being secretive.



"More than likely, it'll end up in court," he added, since Healey's office is tasked with enforcing the state's public records law.



"Deliberative process" is one of the exemptions cited in the Healey office letter to GOAL.

Mass. Attorney General Maura Healey seeks dismissal of federal lawsuit over 'copycat' assault weapons crackdown



"We note that, by its nature, an 'Enforcement Notice is part of an ongoing plan of investigation and enforcement that does not resolve or terminate on the date that the enforcement-related information is made public," Lorraine Tarrow, an assistant attorney general, wrote in the response.



"Our ongoing deliberative processes regarding the Enforcement Notice are incomplete, inextricably linked to our open investigations, and include legal opinions relevant to actual and threatened litigation," she added.



Healey's office is also in the middle of "ongoing" investigations into gun sales and compliance with the state's assault weapons ban, she wrote.



"If disclosed, these records would prejudice current law enforcement efforts by prematurely releasing information about the nature and course of our investigations," the letter said. "Moreover, current and future law enforcement efforts would be seriously compromised by the disclosure of our confidential methods and sources of information, including those private citizens who require assurances of confidentiality so that they will speak openly about matters under investigation without fear."