This is where it gets complicated. Technically the answer is yes and no, depending on when the weapon was manufactured, what it is and when you bought it.

GBH News interviewed Michaela Dunne, the deputy commissioner at the Massachusetts’ Department of Criminal Justice Information Services. The Firearms Records Bureau falls under her agency, and that is the go-to place for firearm rules and knowledge in state government.

AR-15s, Dunne said, are generally lumped into the “assault weapon” category by the public, but there’s factors that delineate them.

“I think the biggest thing for people to understand is there’s a federal assault weapons ban, and that sunsetted years ago, but Massachusetts kept that on the books,” said Dunne. She said one of the state statutes allows for anyone who had possession of an assault weapon manufactured before the federal ban to have that legally. That day is Sept. 13, 1994. Law enforcement officers are also allowed to possess certain assault weapons.

In 2016, the Attorney General’s office issued a guidance on assault weapons bans, telling the public how the office identifies weapons prohibited as “copies or duplicates” of the “enumerated banned Assault Weapons that are listed in Massachusetts law.”

Despite all of this, the state says there’s no official list of weapons that are banned under state law. An FAQ for the state says that the attorney general’s office works with gun dealers to identify eligible guns.

“The Attorney General expects voluntary compliance from gun dealers and manufacturers with respect to prohibited weapons,” the website reads. “You may also examine the owner’s manual and marketing material for a gun. If a gun is labeled or marketed as ‘the same as’ or ‘similar to’ an ‘AR-15’, ‘AK-47’ or any other Enumerated Weapon, this would strongly suggest that the weapon is prohibited as a ‘copy or duplicate’ [which are prohibited under state law].”