I'm a Connecticut resident who was a member of a club in Mass in 2012. I didn't renew my membership for 2013 because I wanted to see if laws were going to change as they did here at home. I however, want to renew for 2014 but, I want to know what is legal.

Where can I find the list of arms and magazine restriction in place and has anything changed?

I have bolt rifles that  take 10 round mags, Preban Bushmaster lower, a Rock River lower  both with 10 round mags and a Ar10 with also10 round mags. Anyone see any problem with what a non-resident who is licensed in Connecticut would have transporting any of the above to a private club in Ma?


Thanks,

PS.  What are you Glock owners up against also as far as mags, etc?

You would need a non resident ltc to bring them here.

Check out www.northeastshooters.com for info in e mass laws section.

If you have your MA LTC then you should be good to go. No laws have changed recently.

Glocks need to be made in 98 or older to go through a dealer, but private sale is legal. Mags need to be preban, 94 or older to be more than 10 rounds.

To get your non-resident LTC you will need to take a safety course from a MA State Police certified instructor. Then you can apply for the LTC in person. Before you have that, don't bring your guns into this state.

Back in 2012 before I joined a private club I reached out to MA State Police and was told if I'm legal where I start and legal where I end, which can be a club where I am a member or going to a sanctioned match, I am okay. However, the guns have to be in a pad locked case with a trigger lock attached.

Based on that info and the understanding that I was quoted federal law I joined a club. Now I still had concerns, so I only took my bolt guns, but after talking to other members they said AR's we're go to go as long as I only have 10 round mags, but I was still concerned with the dreaded black rifle.

Your take on good where you start and good where you end?

MA SP are clueless on MA gun laws. What you were told was untrue other than for low-capacity long guns ONLY. You will get the worst legal advice from LE in MA, only a handful of officers have any real knowledge of MA gun laws. Sad but true.

The long gun exemption for non-residents is a little deceptive. Though the exemptions in MGL 129C(f) through (i) read as though they allow a non-resident to possess any rifle or shotgun within the commonwealth under specified circumstances, reality is that they don't. There is no non-resident exemptions for the possession of large capacity firearms (such as AR-15s- the status of which is unaffected by the capacity of the feeding devices possessed with the firearm).

It almost sounds like their misinformation was inspired by MGL 131G, which exempts certain non-residents from LTC requirement for pistols and revolvers. That section allows a non-resident of Mass, who is a resident of the US and who possesses a license or permit issued by a jurisdiction within the United States to possess a pistol or revolver without a Mass. LTC if he is traveling through Mass for hunting or shooting competition, is at/traveling to a shooting competition in Mass , or is/ is going hunting in Mass (and has a Mass hunting license) and out-of state license  was issued by a jurisdiction which prohibits issuance of such permit to any person convicted of any felony or any drug charge.

Under Mass law, trigger locks don't count towards securing a firearm while transporting it.

In case you are thinking that 131G is useful, it's not. The state of Mass does not consider any other state's license to meet the statutory standard. I can tell you that Connecticut's definitely DOES NOT qualify.  

So am I at least  gtg with my bolt guns that take 10 round mags?

JAD, I want to publicly thank you here for that explanation.

It took Jason Guida, Esq. as Director of the Firearms Records Bureau to correctly parse the wording in 131G and clarify that no other state has a lifetime DQ for ANY drug offense no matter how minor or what potential penalties might be involved. Those requirements were previously ERRONEOUSLY thought by many scholarly folks (including firearms attorneys) to mean that as long as the individual had never been convicted, they were GTG on the exemption. Reality is that the exemption is tied to "state law" on issuance not on the individual.

[It is "dirty pool" IMNSHO to intentionally write a law that appears to have an exemption but when you really dig down deeply you find that it is a fraud. I am aware of other laws (not gun related) that were similarly written whereby an outright ban (at least in one case) would have been ruled as an "illegal law" by the AG!]