Chapter 135 (H.4885) – Serialization

October 22, 2024

The following should not be taken as legal advice.

Any firearm possessed, manufactured or assembled in Massachusetts must be serialized.

This includes frames, receivers, and unfinished frames or receivers.

The serial numbers:

• Shall be conspicuously engraved, cast or otherwise permanently embedded.
• Have a unique serial number on the frame or receiver.
• Shall be placed in a manner not susceptible of being readily obliterated, altered or removed.
• Shall be engraved, cast or otherwise permanently embedded to a depth of not less than .003 inches.
• The print size not less than 1/16 inch.
• If the firearm (including frames and receivers) are made from non-metallic materials they are required to have a metal plate permanently embedded.

Completely bans "untraceable firearms" in the commonwealth.

• New residents moving into the commonwealth have 7 days to comply.
• Firearms acquired by heirs or "devisees" through distribution of an estate have 60 days to comply.
• Retailers, gunsmiths, distributors or manufacturers must comply within 7 days of import or acquisition.

Exemptions for firearms:

• Being delivered to law enforcement for the sole purpose of their destruction.
• Possessed by common carriers and their employees and agents while performing the regular and ordinary transport of firearms.
• Individuals lawfully traveling through the commonwealth in the care and custody of a nonresident owner.
• Must be stored in accordance with sections 131C and 131L.
• That are the property of the government of the United States.
• Produced by federally licensed manufacturers not for sale in the commonwealth.
• Manufactured prior to October 22, 1968.

Serial Number Requests:

• The state is to establish the serial number request system.
• The system is to be created within 1 year after the effective of Chapter 135.
• All firearms shall be serialized within 1 year after said serial number request system is completed and publicly available.

Commentary:

The physical serialization requirements match that of the federal language. However, the standards are mechanically impossible. If a serial number can be applied, it can be altered. Not much attention has been paid to that standard until it was inserted into Chapter 135. It will be interesting to see if the Attorney General will enforce it as actually written.

“Serialization”, the process of conspicuously engraving, casting or otherwise permanently embedding a unique serial number on a firearm frame or receiver; provided, that the serial number shall be placed in a manner not susceptible to being readily obliterated, altered or removed and shall be engraved, cast or otherwise permanently embedded to a depth of not less than .003 inches and in a print size not less than 1/16 inch; and provided further, that serialization of firearms, frames and receivers made from non-metallic materials shall be accomplished by using a metal plate permanently embedded in the material of the frame or receiver.

“Untraceable firearm”, a firearm that has not been serialized or a firearm whose serial or other identification number has been removed, defaced, altered, obliterated or mutilated in any manner.