Firearm License Address Warning

There are several sections of Chapter 135 that requires the state to notify licensed gun owners about new requirements. For the most part, this revolves around the new registration and serialization mandates.

We have not seen anything that states how the notification will happen, i.e. – email, snail mail, etc. Regardless of how it happens, this will result in a massive records check that will likely focus on correct mailing addresses. Since the 1998 Gun Control Act was passed, it has been a requirement to report any change of address, even a different apartment in the same building. Failure to comply would result in a license being revoked.

GOAL’s concern, and we are not tipping off the state to an anti-2A idea they already know, is that an unknown number of license holders have been unaware of this requirement. If there are, as we suspect, a great number of folks this could be very bad when the mass mailing is conducted. If a mandated notification is returned to the state as undeliverable, that license will certainly be revoked within the system. Because the address is not correct, the license holder will not receive the required notification.

To make matters worse, after a license is expired, suspended, or revoked there are no protections from criminal prosecution after 90 days. This would go very badly if such a person were checked by law enforcement for a variety of reasons. The officer would know that your license had been revoked and that you are illegally in possession of firearms and/or ammunition. This will be a felony charge in Massachusetts and with aggressively anti-2A district attorneys and Attorney General, well …

The only advice GOAL can give is to make sure your address is correct and is on file with the Firearms Record Bureau online portal.