How to transport a gun through Massachusetts?

[ShooterMcGavin]

I visit my parents (in New Hampshire) a few times per year, and I always fly into Boston, MA. Flying into another airport will probably cost me several hundred dollars more. Mass is the communist capitol of the US, as far as I'm concerned. I will be getting my concealed carry license in NH, but I will have to transport the gun from the airport up to the NH boarder. Can I do this legally?

The Peaceable Journey law for Mass:

Section 131G. Any person who is not a resident of the commonwealth may carry a pistol or revolver in or through the commonwealth for the purpose of taking part in a pistol or revolver competition or attending any meeting or exhibition of any organized group of firearm collectors or for the purpose of hunting; provided, that such person is a resident of the United States and has a permit or license to carry firearms issued under the laws of any state, district or territory thereof which has licensing requirements which prohibit the issuance of permits or licenses to persons who have been convicted of a felony or who have been convicted of the unlawful use, possession or sale of narcotic or harmful drugs; provided, further, that in the case of a person traveling in or through the commonwealth for the purpose of hunting, he has on his person a hunting or sporting license issued by the commonwealth or by the state of his destination. Police officers and other peace officers of any state, territory or jurisdiction within the United States duly authorized to possess firearms by the laws thereof shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to have a permit or license to carry firearms as described in this section

Notice how the first sentence leaves out "for personal defense". Well, I'm not going to use my .40 handgun for hunting. And, if I want to claim that I am using it in a competition, it states that I must have a "sporting license issued by the commonwealth or by the state of his destination". What is this crap?!?! (Upon re-read, maybe that is only for the case of hunting??)

Does anyone know if there is another law that permits what I want? Or anyone know where I can find this? I got the above quote from Packing.org.

"...shall not be infringed", Massh*le politicians! :banghead:

 

[Geronimo45]

Pretty sure you just stick it in the trunk, unloaded, separate from ammunition, and drive on. That's as best as I remember the law... it's a Federal one. Allows for hauling a weapon through any state. Must be unloaded and not readily accessible.

 

[ilcylic]

Geronimo: you're referring to Volkmer-McClure, and it o nly applies in states that follow the law. NY state, in particular, likes to harass people in spite of the existance of that law.

ShooterMcGavin: as far as I'm concerned, you don't. I always just drive around MA if I have to go to that part of the world.

 

[Connecticut Yankee]

Get a Non-Resident Permit

The safest bet is to use the infomation and links to the SP on packing.org and get a non-resident permit for a hundred bucks a year. My sense of the situation from that board is that it is easier for a non-resident to get a permit than for a resident. Even if you only get a Class B LTC you have a piece of paper that makes you legal.

Without the permit you are in danger of being arrested on a felony charge. You will be walking around carrying a handgun concealed in Massachusetts from the moment you retrieve your baggage until the moment you enter your car. The 'peacable journey' seems to apply only to travelling by car, not by foot.

In a similar vien I have read stories of people being arrested and jailed in JFK or LGA for an unanticipated layover when they retreived their firearm. There was a businessman from Utah last year who ended up in jail for weeks IIRC.

 

[Dorryn]

Just do what I do everytime I leave comparatively gun-friendly NY and visit friends in Boston... Leave the gun at home and pray the zombies dont rise.

I considered moving to Massachussets once, then I realized id rather not be a sheep.

 

[Smellvin]

Section 926A. Interstate transportation of firearms

Notwithstanding any other provision of any law or any rule or
regulation of a State or any political subdivision thereof, any
person who is not otherwise prohibited by this chapter from
transporting, shipping, or receiving a firearm shall be entitled to
transport a firearm for any lawful purpose from any place where he
may lawfully possess and carry such firearm to any other place
where he may lawfully possess and carry such firearm if, during
such transportation the firearm is unloaded, and neither the
firearm nor any ammunition being transported is readily accessible
or is directly accessible from the passenger compartment of such
transporting vehicle: Provided, That in the case of a vehicle
without a compartment separate from the driver's compartment the
firearm or ammunition shall be contained in a locked container
other than the glove compartment or console.

Note IANAL:

The Safe Passage provision from the Firearm Owners Protection Act (it really was to protect us... until it got amended to ban automatic weapons ) allows you to transport any firearms that you own legally. Since this is Federal law, it preempts state laws. Just make sure you have proof that you're only passing through Massachusetts -- a receipt the morning of your travel from a non-Mass restaurant should work.

In short, if you print out a copy of that law and keep it with your field-stripped firearms and ammo which are both locked in separate containers, you should be fine. If you don't want to waste time with a cop harassing you in Mass, don't let him search your things. The bright side is, if you do get arrested, you can most likely sue the pants off that department for false arrest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearm_Owners_Protection_Act also has a little blurb on the Safe Passage provision.

With that said, it might just be easier to alter your flight plan and get a flight to Manchester airport.

 

[30 cal slob]

comparatively gun-friendly NY

i hate to say it but mass is gun-friendlier than the empire state.

i least i can get a non-resident carry permit in Mass.

i cannot in NY.

i cannot even bring my handgun into NY unless i am passing through or going to a sanctioned shoot or traveling with a college shooting team.

 

[outofbattery]

Exactly.It really is easier to get a MA non-resident permit than for many residents as it's not necessary to deal with the local CLEO and the State Police handle it essentially as shall issue or at least I have never heard of anyone being declined one that met the criteria.If you travel through MA several times a year,it'd be worth your while to get one-I assume you already have spent the $20 and waited the week to get your NH permit?If only all states had the same common sense and efficiency...

There's a huge misconception that MA is as bad as NYC ( or Chicago,DC,MD,NJ) when it comes to carrying a CCW and even here there are all sorts of crazy rumors that some unwise gun people spread,like that CCW is illegal in Boston or that one can't have have large cap mags if you do carry there.

 

[scurtis_34471]

Here are a couple points.

1. It is not substantially more expensive to fly to Manchest, NH than it is to fly to Boston. My family lives in New Hampshire and I always fly to Manchester. It is typically only $10-30 more per ticket and I easily recover that with the money I save on gas.

2. Massachusettes will give a temporary 12-month out of state CCW to anyone who holds a CCW in another state. Its a pain, but its darn near must issue if you have a CCW somewhere else.

3. I doubt they would actually give you trouble for transporting a handgun in a locked case. Mass is not nearly as gun-hostile as New York. Also keep in mind that they cannot search your car without probable cause anyway. The liklihood of getting stopped is very small.

4. Federal peaceable journey protects you, despite what State law says.

 

[CountGlockula]

Contact TSA and they'll help you out.

 

[cbsbyte]

Contact

Contact GOAL for more info. www.goal.org

 

[22-rimfire]

If memory serves me right, as long as you are legal at the destination, you may transport the firearm. It must be unloaded and placed somewhere like the trunk. Gun and ammunition are supposed to be in seperate containers.

If the vehicle is a pickup, I'd just keep it in a locked case (such as your suitcase), unloaded of course, and stash the ammo in the back, and not worry about it.

 

[CWL]

Keep your firearm securely locked in a container approved for transport- this shouldn't be a problem since you just got off an airplane. Leave it in the trunk of your car, inside something else locked, like a luggage bag.

If you do get stopped for any reason, the local police will need a search warrant to open that locked container.

 

[45Badger]

Fly from Portland or Seattle to Manchester on Southwest!

 

[RTFM]

45Badger beat me to it.
1) Get your N.H. Non Res permit.

(easy as pie for right now. - But note an Ex-Mass hole St. Trooper is now in the N.H. legislature, and is succeeding in his fight to make N.H. more like Mass. In that he is working on a May Issue bill and a Police Discretion May-Issue permit. Also rumblings on abolishing the Non Res permit.)
2) Fly in to Manchester.

I fly from Idaho to Manchester about once every year or so, and with a N.H. Non Res permit. I have nothing to worry about.
Cost difference from Logan to Manchester is +$60 - $80
(My folks still live in Keene. N.H. BTW)

 

[Essex County]

I haven't used used Logan for years.Manchester serves our family well. I still have trouble with the concept that gun friendly N.H. is seperated from Mass by only a line drawn on a political map. Essex

 

[geekWithA.45]

How to transport a gun through MA, NJ, etc:


Stop off at one of the handy forges on the free side of the border. They'll melt your guns into handy, individual ingots for safe passage.

Travel through the state in question.

Stop off at one of the handy forges on the free side of the border, they'll reforge your guns.

In all seriousness, there is a Federal peacable travel law.

In summary:

The gun must be lawful for you to own at the origin and destination of your journey.

It must be unloaded, separated from ammunition, and in your trunk or equivalent.

Your journey must be continuous and uninterupted, though it's reasonable to stop for gas & food.

 

[c1ogden]

You might have another problem...getting home.

You should be okay in getting there as the Firearms Owner's Protection Act of 1986 says that you can transport unloaded and inaccessible firearms as long as they are legal where you begin your trip and where you end it. However, you may have a problem getting back home if you fly out of Boston. You will have to show the gun at check-in and demonstrate that it is unloaded. Here in NJ there were a number of people arrested as they did that because they didn't have carry permits which were required to transport the gun from home to the airport. I don't know MA's law but I understand that its as bad as NJ's. One suggestion - you might be able to ship it to yourself by overnight courier (UPS, Fedex, etc.). Good luck!

 

[Hoppy590]

MA isnt that bad. if your REALLY concerned just get a non res permit.

alot of miss conceptions about MA going on.

 

[geekWithA.45]

as they did that because they didn't have carry permits which were required to transport the gun from home to the airport.

Er, no.

You don't need a carry permit, though if you were one of the 500 or so who have one, that'd probably get you off the hook.

What happened there was massive ignorance of the state and federal laws in all directions.

The way the law in NJ is structured, all firearms are de jure prohibited, unless you can demonstrate that one of the various exemptions exists in your particular case.

This puts the onus on the guy with the gun to prove his "innocence", btw.

In 98% of the cases, having a FID is one of the elements of establishing an exemption in your case. A fid simply entitles you to buy long guns in the state of NJ. It's more like a Illinois FOID than a carry permit.


For an out of stater, a FID isn't strictly necessary, so long as you're traveling through the state pursuant to federal peacable travel, or traveling with NJ OK arms directly to or from a shooting event.

The problem is that a lot of cops aren't entirely sure of what the exemptions are or aren't, and airport staff even less so.

If you think about it for a moment, what would you look like to trying to explain that "no, officer, I really don't need a gun permit" to a policeman who truly believes you need one?

 

[zoom6zoom]

2. Massachusettes will give a temporary 12-month out of state CCW to anyone who holds a CCW in another state. Its a pain, but its darn near must issue if you have a CCW somewhere else.

I don't think I'd use the word "give". Last time I checked it was $100.

 

[sctman800]

I promised my wife we could travel the east coast from Maine on down after I retire, about five years away. With Florida, Utah, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire I wanted to fill in as many gaps as I could. Maine and Connecuit were no problem since I allready had CCW from four other states. I also checked Massachutes and found it was certainly possible, I wopn't pursue Massachutes untill about a year before I retire because of the $100 per year. Jim.

 

[willbrink]

"gun-friendly NY" What are you smoking? MA looks like TX compared to NY. I have had no problems getting my CCW in MA. I know several people with CCW who live in the Boston city limits. How many people in the NY city limits do you know with a CCW who are not the mayors cousins or Howard Stern?

 

[cbsbyte]

MA looks like TX compared to NY.

That is a bit of a strech. MA is not overly gun firendly, in most cities and large towns it is near impossible to receive a Class A LTC with ALP. Try getting a LTC in Worcester, Springfield, Boston or any other city, its not going to happen. In the smaller and medium size towns it useally is pretty easy to recieve a CCW but that seems to be changing. It all depends on the CLEO attuide to the 2nd AD. Remember RKBA in Mass has been nullfied in the courts by the State Supreme court which agreed with the state's claim that the 2nd Ad only applied to State funded militas.

 

[c1ogden]

Sorry Geekwitha45,

Yes, they do. I questioned it when I read it in the paper but my county prosecutor's office confirmed the requirement. We had been taught in the police academy that any handgun was presumptively illegal unless accompanied by a carry permit or LEO identification. There were transport exemptions that I thought should cover the airport but after discussion with the prosecutor and re-reading the statutes (2C:39-5b, the ban and 2C:29-6f, the exemptions) I see that he was right. The only exemptions cover DIRECT transport from home to legal place of use (range, hunting, gunsmith, etc.). By direct they mean no stops and you must take the most direct route.

This is not something that the honest thinking citizens of NJ are proud of but that is the way it is here. Fortunately, I don't work at the airport so I don't have to harass the citizens like that.

The statutes are too long for me to retype. If I can borrow a scanner I'll post them for you.