Chapter 284 of the Acts of 2014:
Massachusetts Gun Reform

Chapter 284 of the Acts of 2014^[1], titled "An Act Relative to the Reduction of Gun Violence," was approved on August 11, 2014. It was a comprehensive reform touching criminal law, licensing, reporting, school safety, mental health, and consumer protection.

The Suitability Standard

The signature innovation of Chapter 284 was the suitability standard. For an LTC, licensing authorities could act on reliable and credible information that the applicant or licensee had exhibited behavior suggesting a public-safety risk, or on existing factors suggesting the same risk. The second prong did not require the authority to identify a particular act of behavior. For an FID, the act used a different judicial-petition process in which the licensing authority filed in district court and the court made the suitability decision.

LTC Changes

• Eliminated the Class A / Class B distinction, consolidating into a single LTC
• Added the suitability standard
• Expanded judicial review (petition within 90 days after notice of a denial, revocation or suspension, or at any time after a restriction is placed on the license)
• Receipt and renewal provisions
• License format with Suicide Prevention Lifeline phone numbers

FID Modifications

• Rewrote the prohibited persons list (felony convictions as lifetime bar, misdemeanor domestic violence per 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(33), dishonorable discharge, fugitive status, renounced citizenship)
• 5-year rehabilitation provision for lesser offenses
• Mental health disqualifiers with petition-for-relief process after 5 years
• Reduced expired-card penalty from $500 to $100

NICS Compliance

Required DCJIS to transmit disqualifying information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Courts committing individuals under Chapter 123 (mental health/substance abuse) must transmit nonclinical identifying information to DCJIS.

Private Sale Portal

Amended Section 128A to require private sales to be conducted over a "real time web portal" developed by DCJIS.

Enhanced Storage Penalties

Significantly increased the penalties under Section 131L for improper firearms storage, with graduated penalties based on weapon type and whether a minor could access the weapon.

Further Amended by Chapter 135

Many provisions Chapter 284 rewrote or added were substantially further amended by Chapter 135 of 2024, including: the Section 121 definitions, Section 128A (private sales, now restructured with transaction reporting moved to the Section 121B registration system), Sections 129B and 131 (licensing), Section 131L (storage), Section 131M (assault weapons, now "assault-style firearms"), Section 131P (safety training), and the Gun Control Advisory Board (renamed "Firearm Control Advisory Board").