I keep digging through Mass. law trying to find where they require an FID or class A or B .license to possess a firearm.
Mass. G.L. 140 sec. 131C limits how class A and B licensees may carry a firearm in a vehicle.
sec 131 defines conditions for class A and B.
131A is permits to purchase or rent.
131B is pawnbrokers.
131d is repealed.
131E is resident purchase requirements.
131F is nonresident temporary Class A or B licenses.
131G specifies conditions under whch nonresidents may possess without a license, but no penalty for violations.
131H is alien possession
131I is falsifying a license
131j IS STUN GUNS
131K is high capacity magazines
131L Weapons stored or kept by owner; inoperable by any person other than owner or lawfully authorized user; punishment
131M is assault weapons ban
131N is covert weapons sale
Is it possible that they forgot to criminalize unlicensed possession? Not likely. How can anyone know what the law is in Mass. when they make it so hard to find? Or is it simply assumed that everything not specifically is a capital offense (this being the second-most anti-gun state in America)?
Thanks all:
Chapter 269, sec. 10(h)(1):
Yes, a felony.
Thanks all:
Section 129C. No person, other than a licensed dealer or one who has been issued a license to carry a pistol or revolver or an exempt person as hereinafter described, shall own or possess any firearm, rifle, shotgun or ammunition unless he has been issued a firearm identification card by the licensing authority pursuant to the provisions of section one hundred and twenty-nine B.But where's the punishment for this?
Chapter 269, sec. 10(h)(1):
(h)(1) Whoever owns, possesses or transfers a firearm, rifle, shotgun or ammunition without complying with the provisions of section 129C of chapter 140 shall be punished by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than 2 years or by a fine of not more than $500. Whoever commits a second or subsequent violation of this paragraph shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 2 years or by a fine of not more than $1,000, or both. Any officer authorized to make arrests may arrest without a warrant any person whom the officer has probable cause to believe has violated this paragraph.
Yes, a felony.
Disclaimer: I don't live in MA and IANAL - but I dated one while she was in law school
ReplyDeleteI think the relative statutes are 140 129b, 140 129c, and 269 10
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXX/Chapter140/Section129B
Section 129B. A firearm identification card shall be issued and possessed subject to the following conditions and restrictions:
(1) Any person residing or having a place of business within the jurisdiction of the licensing authority or any person residing in an area of exclusive federal jurisdiction located within a city or town may submit to the licensing authority an application for a firearm identification card, or renewal of the same, which the licensing authority shall issue if it appears that the applicant is not a prohibited person. A prohibited person shall be a person who [...]
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleXX/Chapter140/Section129c
129C Application of Sec. 129B; ownership or possession of firearms or ammunition; transfers; report to commissioner; exemptions; exhibiting license to carry, etc. on demand
Section 129C. No person, other than a licensed dealer or one who has been issued a license to carry a pistol or revolver or an exempt person as hereinafter described, shall own or possess any firearm, rifle, shotgun or ammunition unless he has been issued a firearm identification card by the licensing authority pursuant to the provisions of section one hundred and twenty-nine B. [...]
Penalties:
https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter269/Section10
(h)(1) Whoever owns, possesses or transfers a firearm, rifle, shotgun or ammunition without complying with the provisions of section 129C of chapter 140 shall be punished by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than 2 years or by a fine of not more than $500. Whoever commits a second or subsequent violation of this paragraph shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than 2 years or by a fine of not more than $1,000, or both. Any officer authorized to make arrests may arrest without a warrant any person whom the officer has probable cause to believe has violated this paragraph.
When I lived there back in the '80s, initially to go to college, it was my understanding that they just didn't prohibit unlicensed possession, and I heard stories of people having to call the police to move their handguns when they changed residences since when they lived in a city where they couldn't get a handgun license.
ReplyDeleteSo perhaps this hasn't changed even when so much else has, latest is making even the long gun license may issue, which the mayor of Boston said he wouldn't be inclined to do on the basis that you don't need them in a city.
Although rating it on the scale of hostility towards gun owners is difficult, since many less urban cities (there is no unincorporated land) have a de facto shall issue concealed carry policy, whereas Hawaii by statute and New Jersey by policy are flatly no issue, and Maryland is only for the duration of a real threat. Still more than hostile enough that that was a major reason for me leaving the state and never moving to another of these modern slave states.
I think this is (at least part of) what you're looking for:
ReplyDeletehttps://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter269/Section10
ChuckC: sec. 129C is it but where's the penalty?
ReplyDelete