Guide to gun rights in your Massachusetts town

Status
Not open for further replies.
Florida MA has a gun officer. He works as a dispatcher in North Adams. Wife and I used him for change of address and renewal. Very helpful. Not sure about initial permits but its very green around here.
 
I don't think it is possible to give a member access to change another's, whether it is a 'sticky' or not.
How about a sub forum where the topic name for each thread is the name of a town. It would organize comments about each individual jurisdiction.
 
How about a sub forum where the topic name for each thread is the name of a town. It would organize comments about each individual jurisdiction.

That seems like a crap load amount of work. Possibly up to 351 threads plus the Col of the SP. Or are you leading me with that quote and question? "Cause I just walked in to it. ;)

I think there is benefit to an all-in approach that this thread is. It helps some that may jump off the deep end and antagonize the COP/LO by seeing what happens in other towns/cities.
 
I will just say this: I lurked on this forum for years, interested in guns but reluctant to apply for my LTC, because i lived in a "red" town and didnt want to be issued restricted. Then I finally moved to a green town and applied.

Turns out my old "red" town actually issues 100% unrestricted. If i hadn't been thrown off by incorrect info, then NES, the NRA, and GOAL would have been getting my money two years earlier. And I'd have been trumpeting gun rights and taking friends to the range to get them shooting, two years earlier.
 
I'm about to have my interview next week in Fitchburg, MA. As a transplant from the midwest who already possesses a carry permit from another state(which of course does not have reciprocity here), is there anything special I should expect during it? Or is it more of a formality? Feels like I'm walking into the unknown, hell, it took two weeks of calling the PD before I got any call backs. Leaves me a bit apprehensive as to what's in store. Let's hope I don't have any issues.
 
How about a sub forum where the topic name for each thread is the name of a town. It would organize comments about each individual jurisdiction.

The new search function gets you most of the way there if you search by town and within thread only:

upload_2018-9-6_16-1-16.png




upload_2018-9-6_16-0-11.png
 

Attachments

  • upload_2018-9-6_15-58-59.png
    upload_2018-9-6_15-58-59.png
    14.8 KB · Views: 4
  • upload_2018-9-6_15-59-8.png
    upload_2018-9-6_15-59-8.png
    11.5 KB · Views: 2
I'm about to have my interview next week in Fitchburg, MA. As a transplant from the midwest who already possesses a carry permit from another state(which of course does not have reciprocity here), is there anything special I should expect during it? Or is it more of a formality? Feels like I'm walking into the unknown, hell, it took two weeks of calling the PD before I got any call backs. Leaves me a bit apprehensive as to what's in store. Let's hope I don't have any issues.

Per Comm2a, in 2017 100% of renewals and 97% of new LTCs in Fitchburg were issued unrestricted: Dropbox - 2017 LTC Scorecard.pdf

The interview for an LTC is never purely a formality in MA even in the greenest of towns, because in theory they have the power to use suitability as an excuse to deny you if they don't like the cut of your jib for whatever reason.

That said, in a truly green town they aren't going to exercise that authority arbitrarily, so with a clean history and the fact that you already have experience with firearms, you should be ok. Just keep in mind that "clean history" doesn't just mean no convictions. If you've ever been arrested or summonsed for a crime and you don't disclose that on the app, they will find out and you will be f***ed. Nothing is off limits or out of bounds if it ever made its way into a database.
 
Last edited:
I'm about to have my interview next week in Fitchburg, MA. As a transplant from the midwest who already possesses a carry permit from another state(which of course does not have reciprocity here), is there anything special I should expect during it? Or is it more of a formality? Feels like I'm walking into the unknown, hell, it took two weeks of calling the PD before I got any call backs. Leaves me a bit apprehensive as to what's in store. Let's hope I don't have any issues.

My interview was about 5 minutes. Detective asked a few questions. Fingerprinted and took my pic. Most uncomfortable thing for me was when they fingerprinted. I'm just not used to another man holding my hand, LOL!
I did have a few things in my past that i was worried about. I actually paid and got a Corey check myself so i would get the court dates correct. Some BS minor stuff i did when i was a teen (i'm 46 now). I was worried about it cause in Ma i figured they would use anything against you. I was honest though with the detective and told him the truth. I was pleasantly surprised to get unrestricted licence.
 
My interview was about 5 minutes. Detective asked a few questions. Fingerprinted and took my pic. Most uncomfortable thing for me was when they fingerprinted. I'm just not used to another man holding my hand, LOL!
I did have a few things in my past that i was worried about. I actually paid and got a Corey check myself so i would get the court dates correct. Some BS minor stuff i did when i was a teen (i'm 46 now). I was worried about it cause in Ma i figured they would use anything against you. I was honest though with the detective and told him the truth. I was pleasantly surprised to get unrestricted licence.

Had mine today, was pretty uneventful. He didn't ask me much aside from what was already on the application, and lasted about a half hour at most. Honestly, aside from needing the picture and fingerprints it felt like I didn't really need to be there at all lol I'm pretty confident I'll receive an unrestricted but you never know with MA. I'm hoping the fact I already have a permit from another state and am a pretty square guy will work in my favor. But if you got an unrestricted on the first go with what happened in your past I think I should be good. Thanks for giving me some peace of mind, Larry.

P.S. How long did it take you receive yours? The detective said it should be about 40-45 days but I've heard tell that for some it takes literally months.
 
Spoke with LO in Braintree, MA recently and he stated Braintree is no longer putting restrictions on LTCs. Also stated nothing can be done for the restrictions on my current LTC though so guess I'm SOL. :(
 
Spoke with LO in Braintree, MA recently and he stated Braintree is no longer putting restrictions on LTCs. Also stated nothing can be done for the restrictions on my current LTC though so guess I'm SOL. :(
Is your LTC from another town? If no, then Len is 100% correct, they could lift those restrictions right away.
 
Had mine today, was pretty uneventful. He didn't ask me much aside from what was already on the application, and lasted about a half hour at most. Honestly, aside from needing the picture and fingerprints it felt like I didn't really need to be there at all lol I'm pretty confident I'll receive an unrestricted but you never know with MA. I'm hoping the fact I already have a permit from another state and am a pretty square guy will work in my favor. But if you got an unrestricted on the first go with what happened in your past I think I should be good. Thanks for giving me some peace of mind, Larry.

P.S. How long did it take you receive yours? The detective said it should be about 40-45 days but I've heard tell that for some it takes literally months.

Mine took about 60 days. I actually called the Mass hotline that you can check on the status. They told me that my license was active and the town would mail it to me. A few days after I called i literally got it in the mail.
 
Is your LTC from another town? If no, then Len is 100% correct, they could lift those restrictions right away.

LTC is indeed from Braintree so I presume there's not much to be done if they're telling me there's no way for them to lift the restrictions.

So I guess we should also take the "we no longer issue restrictions on licenses" with a grain of salt as it may just be their way of shooing me away.
 
LTC is indeed from Braintree so I presume there's not much to be done if they're telling me there's no way for them to lift the restrictions.

So I guess we should also take the "we no longer issue restrictions on licenses" with a grain of salt as it may just be their way of shooing me away.
No, they can change the restrictions and request a replacement LTC
 
Any recent info on Woburn? I currently have an unrestricted LTC from another town and I'd like to keep it that way. Thanks for any info.
 
Any recent info on Woburn? I currently have an unrestricted LTC from another town and I'd like to keep it that way. Thanks for any info.

For 5-6 years your current PD will still "own" your new LTC so Woburn won't have a say but according to the scorecard, Woburn seems pretty restrictive these days, even for renewals.
 
For 5-6 years your current PD will still "own" your new LTC so Woburn won't have a say but according to the scorecard, Woburn seems pretty restrictive these days, even for renewals.

Part in bold isn't accurate. The issuing PD owns the license until renewal. If he got his LTC 5 1/2 years ago, issuing PD only owns it for another 6 months.
 
Still waiting on the arrival of my LTC from Fitchburg PD. It's been 2 months since my interview and 3 weeks since it's been approved which happened on the 23rd of October. Hoping it'll be here any day now, the FRB said as such. Doubt there's much I can do to expedite the activation/mailing process is there? This must be the part where people potentially get left waiting for weeks at a time e.g. me. No bueno. That being said, I leave for Thanksgiving in a few days and I will hopefully come back to it waiting for me in the mail. So I'm not going to worry about it for the next two weeks.
 
Woburn seems pretty restrictive these days, even for renewals.
I don't know where people get their information. I've lived in Woburn forever and i'm on my third chief. I've never been, or known anyone, who has been jammed over their ltc. i'm sure there's the exception though.
Any recent info on Woburn? I currently have an unrestricted LTC from another town and I'd like to keep it that way.
you just do a change of address, right? as far as I know nothing will change. if you roll into town with restrictions and want them changed, I would say no, ain't gonna happen until renewal. I don't know everyone in the city with a ltc. but I have never heard anyone getting restrictions removed mid stream. my experience is you need to wait until the next renewal and apply to have an unrestricted ltc then. but one could try! so, falcon, i'd say you have unrestricted now, you should get one again when the time comes. unless you come up on the radar, like 10 arrests between now and renewal time, then.....anyones guess.

a little greencobra story...I walked into the station in woburn one day to find out how to apply for a fully automatic license (green card). Maureen told me she didn't know, no one applied since she started there, she needed to talk to the chief and she'd call me back at home. I'm saying to myself "yeah, right...never hear from you again." I walked into the house and 10 minutes later Maureen calls with what I needed. new license so new application and a letter to the chief. and oh yeah she says, you're expected to have a c&r ffl. I brought the app and the letter down the next day. Maureen called the house before the end of the day to tell me I was all set, the chief approved the application. I was told to wait until I came in for my renewal, a couple of weeks away, she'd collect the 100 bucks for the green card then and both would be issued at the same time. which they were, so both have the same valid and expiration dates. at no time did I feel jammed up or swimming against the tide. everyone seemed to bend over backwards to help me and get it done.

anyone who has a question regarding the Woburn process, call Maureen Garrity at the station. you can find her number on the Woburn pd web site. usually she's busy and you'll get voice mail. she will call you back, most times within the hour. and Maureen is a civilian worker, not a cop. my experience is she knows and does her job.
 
I don't know where people get their information. I've lived in Woburn forever and i'm on my third chief. I've never been, or known anyone, who has been jammed over their ltc. i'm sure there's the exception though.

I get my information from the LTC data released every year by Comm2A, which for 2017 shows 69% of new LTCs issued by Woburn were restricted.
 
I get my information from the LTC data released every year by Comm2A, which for 2017 shows 69% of new LTCs issued by Woburn were restricted.
well...on paper it certainly doesn't look good. i'm gonna have to wonder down and just ask.
there are stats on that chart that i'm not understanding. like in Weston. 84% of the 45 new applicants were restricted while it looks like all 83 renewals were issued unrestricted. i wonder what percentage of those renewals were unrestricted to begin with and what percentage were restricted and changed. and if the change is automatic upon renewal or the applicant needs to request a change.
 
well...on paper it certainly doesn't look good. i'm gonna have to wonder down and just ask.
there are stats on that chart that i'm not understanding. like in Weston. 84% of the 45 new applicants were restricted while it looks like all 83 renewals were issued unrestricted. i wonder what percentage of those renewals were unrestricted to begin with and what percentage were restricted and changed. and if the change is automatic upon renewal or the applicant needs to request a change.

Different towns have different rules. My shitbox town, the one just south of yours, will almost always issue restricted the first time and lift restrictions (if requested) on renewal. To our immediate east, Malden never issues with restrictions. Boston seems to usually issue restricted and even seems to maintain the restriction upon renewal in many cases. Somerville will usually issue restricted if it's your first LTC and you've been a resident for less than a year, but will usually lift the restriction after a year. Several other towns follow a similar practice.

Gould v. Morgan, if SCOTUS takes it, will put this nonsense to bed. The chief isn't my daddy, he isn't Ben Franklin. It's my gun, I should be able to carry it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom