Massachusetts is frequently cited as having some of the toughest gun control laws in the country, including a ban on assault weapons, but getting your hands on the weapons may be easier than some people think.Watch the reportIn a gun shop in Holliston, assault style rifles, like the ones used in Newtown and Orlando, are on display on a wall, but because the shop is in Massachusetts and not Texas, the rifles aren't called assault weapons.President and CEO of Mass Firearms School Steven Hathaway said the ban is all about cosmetics and nothing else. Two rifles Hathaway showed WCVB reporter Phil Lipof looked the same, except for a few cosmetic changes. The rifle legal to sell in Massachusetts had an immovable stock, no mount for a knife and a locked muzzle. The legal rifle can be bought all over the Bay State with the proper background checks. In a state considered tougher than most on gun control, Hathaway said it's really a false sense of security, but gun control advocates would argue Massachusetts is doing something right, because it has one of the lowest rates of gun deaths in the nation.

Massachusetts is frequently cited as having some of the toughest gun control laws in the country, including a ban on assault weapons, but getting your hands on the weapons may be easier than some people think.

Watch the report


In a gun shop in Holliston, assault style rifles, like the ones used in Newtown and Orlando, are on display on a wall, but because the shop is in Massachusetts and not Texas, the rifles aren't called assault weapons.

President and CEO of Mass Firearms School Steven Hathaway said the ban is all about cosmetics and nothing else.

Two rifles Hathaway showed WCVB reporter Phil Lipof looked the same, except for a few cosmetic changes. The rifle legal to sell in Massachusetts had an immovable stock, no mount for a knife and a locked muzzle.

The legal rifle can be bought all over the Bay State with the proper background checks.

In a state considered tougher than most on gun control, Hathaway said it's really a false sense of security, but gun control advocates would argue Massachusetts is doing something right, because it has one of the lowest rates of gun deaths in the nation.