Chapter 284 of the Acts of 2014: Massachusetts Gun Reform Act

Chapter 284 of the Acts of 2014^[1] was approved on August 11, 2014. The act represented the most significant reform of Massachusetts firearms law between the 1998 overhaul and Chapter 135 of 2024.

Key Provisions

• Elimination of Class B LTC: The Commonwealth would no longer issue Class B licenses (which restricted holders to non-large-capacity firearms). Going forward, only Class A LTCs would be issued.
• Suitability standard reformed: The act retained licensing authority discretion to deny based on unsuitability, but added procedural protections. Licensing authorities who deny based on unsuitability must now provide written reasons. Applicants and license holders could petition the District Court for review of a restriction placed on a license, and the court could order the restriction removed if it found no reasonable ground for it and the petitioner was not prohibited from possessing a license.
• Renewal grace period: Gun owners who apply for renewal before their license expires receive a receipt upon application, and the existing license remains valid until the renewal is approved or denied. A renewal application does not extend a Class B license past its stated expiration date.
Junior shooter provisions: Trainers could provide firearms to junior shooters/hunters with parental consent. Juniors could apply for an FID at age 14 and receive it at 15.
• Mental health reporting: The act's mental health reporting provisions cover people involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital or for substance abuse treatment, and people found incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of mental illness. Voluntary admission is not among the listed categories.
• Pepper spray: Under the act, people 18 or older who are not prohibited persons may buy and possess pepper spray without a license or card. A person under 18 needs a firearms identification card, and sellers need a license under section 122B.

What Chapter 284 Did Not Do

The act did not ban any category of firearm or magazine. It focused primarily on licensing reform and procedural fairness. It also added new crimes for transporting firearms into the Commonwealth for criminal use or unlawful transfer to a prohibited person and for breaking into a building to steal a firearm.

Legacy

Chapter 284 revised Massachusetts firearms licensing by requiring written reasons for suitability-based license denials and allowing judicial review. Many of its provisions were preserved or modified by Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024, which further reformed the suitability standard.