People who wish to purchase and possess firearms in Massachusetts must generally obtain a Firearm Identification Card (“FID”) or License to Carry Firearms (“LTC”) pursuant to a background check.¹ For further information about these licenses, please see the Licensing in Massachusetts section.

Massachusetts law also generally requires individuals to have a state firearm dealer license in order to transfer ownership of a firearm,² and requires dealers to verify the validity of a potential transferee’s FID card or LTC prior to transferring a firearm.³

However, under state law, people who are not licensed gun dealers may transfer up to four firearms per calendar year without processing the sale or transfer of the firearm through a licensed gun dealer. The person selling the firearm must have the appropriate card or license necessary for legal possession of the firearm. ⁴ All purchases, sales or transfers of firearms allowed by this provision must be conducted through the electronic firearms registration system, once that system is operational.⁵ The person selling the firearm is required to provide such information as is necessary to verify the identity of the seller and purchaser. The electronic firearms registration system will then automatically review the information and display a message indicating whether the seller may proceed with the sale.⁶

With certain exceptions (including for people who transfer less than five handguns a year), Massachusetts law deems it an illegal unfair or deceptive practice to transfer a handgun while failing to comply with any local, state or federal law or regulation intended to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive practices, such as laws or regulations that:

• Forbid sale to juveniles, addicts or the mentally incompetent;

• Require sellers to keep handgun sales records;

• Forbid sellers from delivering or transporting loaded handguns; or

• Forbid the delivery of handguns to minors.⁷
  

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1. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140, §§ 129B; 131F.[↩]
2. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140, §§ 122, 128.[↩]
3. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140, § 123 (Thirteenth).[↩]
4. Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140, § 128A. A dealer license is also not generally required to transfer a firearm to a state or federally licensed dealer or to a historical society, museum or institutional collection that is open to the public.[↩]
5. The department of criminal justice information services is required to establish the system by October 26, 2025.[↩]
6. Id.[↩]
7. 940 Mass. Code Regs. 16.02(1). In addition, it is generally an unfair or deceptive practice for a handgun seller to make a material misrepresentation or false certification regarding a handgun offered for transfer. 940 Mass. Code Regs. 16.02(2).[↩]