Three-Judge First Circuit Panel Upholds Massachusetts ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld Massachusetts’ “assault weapons” ban on Tuesday.

The case is Recchia v. Campbell.

Gino Mario Recchia, III, is the owner Mass Armament, LLC, a gun store in Bellingham, Massachusetts.

From the complaint:

In June 2025, Mass Armament and Recchia, both individually and on behalf of Mass Armament (together, “Recchia”), filed an amended complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 challenging select provisions of the [“assault weapons” ban] as facially unconstitutional insofar as it prohibits certain actions involving assault style firearms and magazines.

Defendants filed a motion to dismiss and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts sided with the defendants. The case was then appealed to the First Circuit and, on July 21, 2026, the three-judge First Circuit panel concurred with the District Court, dismissing Recchia v. Campbell.

The First Circuit panel’s decision allows the Massachusetts “assault weapons” ban to stand.

This decision comes just days after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that the New Jersey “assault weapons” ban was unconstitutional. The First Circuit decision also comes at a time when the United States is approximately one calendar year away from a Supreme Court ruling on “assault weapon” bans.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.