Legislative updates, court decisions, and regulatory changes affecting Massachusetts firearms law.
The Massachusetts SJC is considering, in SJC-13856, whether the age-21 LTC requirement is unconstitutional.
Hanlon v. Campbell challenges Massachusetts' Chapter 135 assault-style-firearms ban. The case was consolidated into Capen in October 2025, and the lead district-court proceeding was stayed on July 9, 2026 on a joint motion. The related consolidated Supreme Court cases are scheduled for oral argument on December 2, 2026.
The First Circuit affirmed denial of a preliminary injunction in Capen v. Campbell in April 2025. Capen and the consolidated Hanlon challenge are now stayed in federal district court.
On June 23, 2022, the Supreme Court held 6-3 in NYSRPA v. Bruen that New York's "proper cause" requirement for concealed carry permits violates the Second Amendment. The decision established a new historical tradition test that replaced the means-end scrutiny framework used by lower courts.
On April 26, 2019, the First Circuit unanimously affirmed the district court's summary judgment for the defendants in Worman v. Healey, holding that the Massachusetts assault weapons ban survives intermediate scrutiny. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on June 15, 2020.
On June 28, 2010, the Supreme Court held 5-4 in McDonald v. City of Chicago that the Second Amendment individual right recognized in Heller is incorporated against state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment.
In a landmark 5-4 decision on June 26, 2008, the Supreme Court held in District of Columbia v. Heller that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, unconnected with militia service, for traditionally lawful purposes such as self-defense in the home.