I'm a gun owner moving to Massachusetts. What should I know about the laws?
I’m a hunter and responsible firearms owner. I know Massachusetts is known for having restrictive laws on owning firearms. Looking them up, I see that I’m required to apply for a permit, which shall be granted (assuming they accept my Hunter’s Safety Course certificate from RI), but I might not get the one that allows me to have a weapon with higher capacity magazines (that only effects one of mine, no biggie). Is there anything else I need to know?
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If your carrying your gun in your car it has to be in the trunk.
Keep it safety locked.
And obviously don’t point it at some person on the street.
Oh yeah and if you don’t mind me asking what made you want to live in massachusetts?
Closer to my fiancee’s job, not too far from one of mine, and the apartment we like is there. It’s just the next town over, so it’s not a huge move, but it’s over state borders so everything changes. Seems silly, but that’s the world we’re in.
Looks like that link is defunct.
Very useful. Thanks! The other sources I found didn’t mention the grace period for new residents.
It varies community to community as well. Boston (my town) is pretty tough on concealed carry permits. You have to have a good reason to have one and an clean record. But in the hunting parts of the state, local ordinances are much less restrictive. Check with the locality where you intend to live.
Of course, parts of Boston have a huge problem with gang violence, and weapons laws provide police with an easy way to take some of the scum-bags off the street before they get a chance to kill somebody. So it’s not all a bunch of stupid peaceniks singing Kumbaya. Some of it makes very good sense. But I can legally have a Browning Automatic Shotgun here in the city. And as you know, anybody trying to break into our place will run into a significant amount of firepower from that.
What do you need a gun for?
The simple truth is that in MA, everything is illegal and it only depends on whether they want to press the issue and arrest/fine you for breaking at least three laws.
@92elements You’ve obviously never been to Boston :P
While it’s a nice city overall, there is a bit of a crime issue all over the place (mostly property crime), and there are certain parts where even the police won’t go during broad daylight.
@jerv & @92elements Actually, as big cities go, Boston has a low crime rate. The part of town I live in, the North End, is one of the safest in the city. The crime here is mostly drug and gang related and pretty largely confined to a dew neighborhoods. But any neighborhood these days can end up with some poor sucker whose gotten themselves addicted to Oxycontin or worse, and supports the habit through theft and burglary.
@ETpro North End is decent; it’s further South that it gets sketchy and makes me glad I spent most of my time in Cambridge (especially Harvard and Porter Square where I had family within a few blocks). Still, my family has lost more than a few things over the years, and often a bit of glass in the process. Just because they don’t mug you, that doesn’t mean they won’t jack your shit.
@jerv I know. My son lives out in Evert on a nice quiet street. Some junkie busted the window out of his car and made off with his Garmin and a few personal effects. .
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