Vern Evans
A sweeping gun-control law passed earlier this year in Massachusetts could negatively impact hunters—especially nonresidents—who don’t understand the restrictive regulations.
The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) is warning that HB 4885, signed into law by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and which went took effect August 1, includes many new restrictions that could turn hunters into accidental criminals. Anti-gun lawmakers pushed the measure through both chambers of government very quickly and on the same day—intentionally making it difficult for interested parties to study the language or lobby against the measure.
As hunter-backed groups noted following passage of the new law, it infringes on the rights of law-abiding Massachusetts residents and imposes barriers to the state’s hunter recruitment and reactivation efforts as part of the national R3 (recruit, retain and reactivate) movement.
For starters, before a resident can hunt, he or she is now required to obtain a Firearm Identification Card (FID). This entails obtaining an instructor who is approved by the Colonel of State Police, completing a live-fire exercise in an environment where shooting ranges are increasingly more difficult to access and purchasing and registering a firearm that is not listed as prohibited.
Additionally, under the new law, nonresident hunters cannot possess a firearm within Massachusetts unless their state has similar laws—and, of course, most do not, which will shut down nonresident hunting. The law states, “A nonresident who is at least 18 years of age may possess rifles and shotguns that are not large capacity or semi-automatic and ammunition if the nonresident has a permit, card or license issued from their state of residence which has substantially similar requirements to those of the Commonwealth… .”
Of course, this means nonresidents will not only have a tough time hunting in Massachusetts, but the dollars they spend on hunting licenses, which helps to pay for the state wildlife agency’s conservation efforts, will be lost. From an economic standpoint, the state’s economy also will be deprived of the money nonresident hunters spend on travel, meals and lodging.
And as NRA-ILA noted, HB 4885 goes beyond traditional centerfire hunting rifles and creates new rules and requirements for antique firearms and muzzleloaders. The Gun Owners’ Action League (GOAL) recently pointed out that “possession of black powder (or substitutes), priming caps, musket balls, mini-balls, etc. would require an LTC or FID to purchase and possess. It appears that a non-licensed individual can own the gun, but not anything that would make it fire.”
Massachusetts hunters and nonresident hunters making plans to visit the Bay State this fall should make sure they completely understand the law before going afield or traveling into the state with firearms. For more information, see GOAL’s complete analysis of the new law here.
Incidentally, since Gov. Healey signed the measure into law, the NRA announced it would challenge the law in court, and GOAL has taken the first step to get enough signatures on a petition to put a measure to repeal the new law on the ballot.
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