Sending in FA-10 forms

MattP99

MattP99

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Do most of you (sellers) send in the top copy of the FA-10 to the CHSB using regular mail, or do you send them registered mail, return receipt etc?
 
And that's the only requirement? No copy needs to be made and sent to any other government agency/entity? I looked at the CHSB website and couldn't find any other requirement.
 
I just use regular mail. I think even the CHSB realizes that their database is nothing but a flawed exercise in feel good legislation. But what the heck, it does provide a few needed government jobs...[wink]

I do keep my copies of the form(s) but only for my own records. If "Big Brother" doesn't get their copy or they fail to store/process the data correctly (Remember what happened to the old 'blue cards'?) that is not my concern. I have done my part in complying with the law so my conscience is clear.

After all, it is for the children.
 
If you do not send it registered, how do you know it arrives? Unless...you save the receipts and say that "Hey, look. I have the receipts. If you never received them, that is not my problem."

Sadly, if Scrivener was here...I fear I know what he would say...

Also, is there a way to get a list of your registered firearms so that you can verify you are all set? Seems like they should provide every gun owner with an annual report, so to speak, so you can confirm what is under your control.
 
In_God_We_Trust said:
If you do not send it registered, how do you know it arrives? Unless...you save the receipts and say that "Hey, look. I have the receipts. If you never received them, that is not my problem."

Sadly, if Scrivener was here...I fear I know what he would say...

Also, is there a way to get a list of your registered firearms so that you can verify you are all set? Seems like they should provide every gun owner with an annual report, so to speak, so you can confirm what is under your control.
Click to expand...

Yeah, he would say we don't have a registration system in the commiewealth.
 
I make it a point as soon as I get home from the transaction to make out the envelope, stamp it, and put the CHSBICREGRTES...whatever the hell they call themselves..their copy in it. I place it with my work bag with my wallet, keys, hat, etc. so that the very next time I leave the house I drop it in the mail when I go by the post office. I've sent every one of them I've ever mailed over the last 15 years (probably about 20) through the regular mail and have never had an issue.
 
In_God_We_Trust said:
If you do not send it registered, how do you know it arrives? Unless...you save the receipts and say that "Hey, look. I have the receipts. If you never received them, that is not my problem."

Sadly, if Scrivener was here...I fear I know what he would say...

Also, is there a way to get a list of your registered firearms so that you can verify you are all set? Seems like they should provide every gun owner with an annual report, so to speak, so you can confirm what is under your control.
Click to expand...

And why do you care if it arrives? Or if it gets shredded going thru their Automatic Document Feeder? Or someone spills coffee on a stack of them and they can't scan them? Or the bulb burns out in the scanner, computer crashes, database gets corrupted, etc.?

I keep ALL my receipts and copies of the forms in a folder, even have all the blue cards and tissue-paper copies from 30+ years ago.

I am NOT going to worry about what can go wrong at the USPO or at CHSB. Not my problem and I sleep well at night, thank you.

I follow the instructions to the letter, 1st Class Mail it is and that is all. BTW, all that a Signed Return Receipt proves is that you sent AN EMPTY ENVELOPE TO THAT ADDRESS!! How can you prove that an FA-10 was in the envelope? [Sorry if that upsets anyone's tin foil hat! [rofl] ]

Check the GOAL or EOPS website, there is a form you can send with $20 IIRC for a list of what they think that you own. Personally I consider it an exercise for the paranoid and a waste of my money. YMMV [Ask yourself "What am I going to do if their list comes back incomplete?"]
 
The possible scenario that might occur is if you fill out the form and send it in, and somehow it gets lost or not entered correctly you will never know. Now if you get pulled over with it and some Barney Fife type decides to check the records, he will find that you have an illegal gun in MA. That is where your copy comes in. All FA-10's are serialized and if you had to prove that you did your part, you could produce the copy and that would get you off the hook. No this has never happened to me but I keep all the copies of the FA-10's I file right in my gun safe. It wont help while Barney Fife is cuffing you but it will help when you go to court. [crying]

ETA: It truly is a screwed up system brought to you by Nannychusetts (for your protection)
 
Last edited:
Lucas McCain said:
The possible scenario that might occur is if you fill out the form and send it in, and somehow it gets lost or not entered correctly you will never know. Now if you get pulled over with it and some Barney Fife type decides to check the records, he will find that you have an illegal gun in MA. That is where your copy comes in. All FA-10's are serialized and if you had to prove that you did your part, you could produce the copy and that would get you off the hook. No this has never happened to me but I keep all the copies of the FA-10's I file right in my gun safe. It wont help while Barney Fife is cuffing you but it will help when you go to court. [crying]

ETA: It truly is a screwed up system brought to you by Nannychusetts (for your protection)
Click to expand...

Please cite MGL on an "illegal gun" being defined as one that "Barney Fife" can't pull up in the records at the side of the road?

If you can't cite MGL specifically, I kindly request that you not post "personal opinion" as LAW and terrorize others on the forum.

Here's a few clues:

- People moving into MA with firearms do NOT have to register them when they move in with them.

- ALL Dealer transactions prior to 1986 were DESTROYED by the state!

- ALL Private transactions (old blue cards) before October 21, 1998 were DESTROYED by the state!

Do you think that they have jails big enough to hold all of us gun owners who moved in with guns or owned guns prior to 1998 for "possession of illegal guns"? [angry] [rolleyes]

[NOTE: The above info has been posted probably close to 100 times since NES was created, and yet we still have "legal experts" [rolleyes] who can't grasp the concept that there is no such thing as an "illegal gun" in MA (wrt registration) and pontificate from up high just to confuse the real newbies who are asking because they don't know the rules or history of gun control in MA.]
 
LenS No, I do not have a cite. Where this information came from was when I bought a long gun out of state and learned about FA-10's and the requirements of filing them.

When I noticed the obvious problem of not getting verification of receipt of said form, I personally called the CHSB and discussed the problem with them. Their response was the one I posted here. The form has a serial number on it and that is my proof that I filed it. I guess you could say I filled it out and never sent it in and I asked them that as well. They told me that the copy of the form would serve as sufficient proof to the LEO that the FA-10 was properly filled out. Yes, I know they are not lawyers either but that came from the horses mouth so to speak. I had no intention of "terrorizing" anyone, I was just offering information that I personally researched. If it helps IANAL
 

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