Massachusetts Misdemeanors That Disqualify You from an LTC: A Reference List

Massachusetts firearms-licensing law disqualifies any applicant who has ever been convicted of "a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for more than 2 years." G.L. c. 140, § 121F(j)(i)(B). This sounds like a narrow rule. It is not. The standard maximum sentence for a Massachusetts misdemeanor is 2.5 years in a house of correction, which means a substantial portion of routine misdemeanor convictions trip the disqualifier.

This post is a reference list of the specific Massachusetts misdemeanors that carry an HOC maximum above two years. The purpose is to give you a starting point for understanding whether a particular conviction in your record may have triggered an LTC denial, or may be at risk of triggering one. Read the disclaimers carefully before drawing any conclusion about your own case.

Can You Get a Massachusetts LTC with a Misdemeanor?

These are the questions I hear most often from applicants with a misdemeanor on their record. Short answers first; the disclaimers and the full reference list below carry the detail.

Can you get a Massachusetts LTC with a misdemeanor on your record?

Often, yes. A misdemeanor conviction is a categorical bar only if it falls within G.L. c. 140, § 121F(j): most commonly a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for more than 2 years, plus violent crimes, firearms and ammunition offenses, controlled-substance offenses, and misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence. Many Massachusetts misdemeanors carry a 2.5-year house of correction maximum and therefore disqualify, so the answer turns on the exact statute of conviction, not the label "misdemeanor." Check your conviction against the reference list below before applying.

Which misdemeanors are automatic disqualifiers under Massachusetts firearms law?

Under § 121F(j)(i), a conviction categorically disqualifies if it falls into any of these categories:

• Clause (B): a misdemeanor punishable by more than 2 years of imprisonment
• Clause (C): a violent crime
• Clause (D): a firearms or ammunition offense carrying possible imprisonment
• Clause (E): a controlled-substance offense
• Clause (F): a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence

The (B) catchall alone reaches 86 Massachusetts misdemeanors, including abuse prevention order violations, OUI, resisting arrest, and receiving stolen property under $1,200. The full list, grouped by category, is below.

What is the difference between a categorical disqualifier and a suitability denial?

A categorical disqualifier under § 121F(j) is mandatory: if the conviction fits a listed clause, the licensing authority must deny, and the only real argument is whether the record actually fits the clause. A suitability denial under § 121F(k) is discretionary: the chief may deny based on reliable, articulable and credible information suggesting the applicant would pose a risk to public safety or a danger to self or others, even with no disqualifying conviction. The two tracks produce very different appeals, which I cover in Massachusetts LTC Disqualifiers: Categorical vs. Suitability Under § 121F.

Does an OUI conviction disqualify me from a Massachusetts LTC?

Yes. A first-offense OUI conviction under G.L. c. 90, § 24(1)(a)(1) carries a maximum of 2.5 years in a house of correction, which puts it over the more-than-2-years line in § 121F(j)(i)(B) and makes it a categorical LTC disqualifier. An OUI resolved by a CWOF that never became a conviction is a different analysis, though the chief can still weigh the underlying incident under the suitability standard. For the full treatment, see LTC Denied for an OUI Conviction in Massachusetts.

Can a misdemeanor from another state disqualify me from a Massachusetts LTC?

Yes. Section 121F(j)(i) covers convictions in Massachusetts and in any other state or federal jurisdiction. The operative question is the statutory maximum under the convicting state's law: if the out-of-state misdemeanor is punishable there by more than 2 years of imprisonment, the (B) bar applies, even if the closest Massachusetts equivalent would not qualify. Out-of-state records deserve a careful penalty-structure check before drawing any conclusion.

If a misdemeanor is not a categorical bar, can the chief still deny my LTC because of it?

Yes. Even where a conviction does not trigger § 121F(j), the licensing authority can find an applicant unsuitable under § 121F(k) based on the conduct behind the charge, and that includes dismissed charges and CWOFs. The SJC upheld this kind of discretionary suitability judgment in Chief of Police of Worcester v. Holden, 470 Mass. 845 (2015), and on appeal a court will disturb a denial only if there was no reasonable ground for it. Chief of Police of Taunton v. Caras, 95 Mass. App. Ct. 182 (2019). A suitability denial can be challenged, but the challenge has to attack the chief's stated reasons on the record, not just point out that the conviction is missing from the disqualifier list.

Important Disclaimers

This is general legal information, not legal advice for your case. Every firearms-licensing case is fact-specific. The legal effect of any given conviction depends on the actual disposition (conviction vs. CWOF vs. dismissed), the date of conviction, the date and conditions of any release from supervision, the specific subsection of the statute charged, and a number of other variables. Do not rely on this list to plan a plea, an application, or an appeal. Talk to counsel.

This list is misdemeanors only. Section 121F(j)(i) lists six categorical disqualifiers. This post addresses (B) — the "more than 2 years" misdemeanor catchall — only. It does not list felonies (which all disqualify under (A)), violent crimes (under (C)), firearms-law violations (under (D)), controlled-substance offenses (under (E)), or misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(33) (under (F)). Many convictions disqualify under more than one category at once.

Source is dated. The compilation below is drawn from the Massachusetts Sentencing Commission's Felony and Misdemeanor Master Crime List published in June 2018. Statutes amended after that date, including changes from St. 2024, c. 135 (the Firearms Act), are not reflected. Firearms-related entries in particular should be cross-checked against the current chapter text.

LTC and FID are different. Section 121F(j)(i) provides that the (B), (D), and (E) disqualifiers "shall only disqualify an applicant for a firearm identification card under section 129B for 5 years after the applicant was convicted or adjudicated or released from confinement, probation or parole supervision for such conviction or adjudication, whichever occurs later." For an FID, a (B) misdemeanor is a five-year disqualifier. For an LTC under § 131, no comparable sunset is written into the statute, and the bar appears permanent. Anyone consulting this list should keep that asymmetry in mind: the LTC and FID outcomes for the same underlying conviction are not the same.

A CWOF is not a "conviction" for many purposes. Massachusetts continuance without a finding (CWOF) dispositions are not convictions for many statutory purposes. If your record shows a CWOF rather than a conviction, the (B) analysis may not apply at all. Pull the docket entry and the disposition language before assuming a CWOF triggers the bar.

Out-of-state convictions need separate analysis. Section 121F(j)(i) speaks of convictions "in a court of the commonwealth or in any other state or federal jurisdiction." A foreign conviction triggers (B) only if the foreign offense carries a statutory maximum of more than two years under the law of the convicting jurisdiction. The penalty structure of the foreign jurisdiction, not Massachusetts, is the operative measure.

Many entries below are subsequent-offense only. Several categories (notably the agriculture/livestock/wildlife group) reach the 2.5-year HOC ceiling only on a second or subsequent conviction. A first offense in those categories is typically a civil violation or carries a lower penalty and does not trigger (B). Read the level/penalty structure for each individual statute.

The federal counterpart is parallel but not identical. Federal law, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), bars firearm possession by anyone convicted of "a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year." Section 921(a)(20)(B) carves out state misdemeanors "punishable by a term of imprisonment of two years or less." So a Massachusetts misdemeanor at the 2.5-year ceiling triggers both the state LTC bar and the federal possession bar.

Post-Bruen vulnerability is an open question. The lifetime LTC bar under (B) for a non-violent misdemeanor is increasingly under federal constitutional pressure after New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022). The Third Circuit en banc in Range v. Attorney General, 124 F.4th 218 (3d Cir. 2024) — reaffirming its earlier holding at 69 F.4th 96 (3d Cir. 2023) after vacatur and remand in light of Rahimi, 144 S. Ct. 1889 (2024); see Garland v. Range, 144 S. Ct. 2706 (2024) — struck down federal § 922(g)(1) as applied to a 25-year-old non-violent food-stamp fraud conviction. Massachusetts has not yet directly adjudicated whether (B)'s lifetime LTC bar survives a similar as-applied challenge. Counsel evaluating an old, isolated, non-violent misdemeanor disqualifier should consider this posture alongside the conventional appeal grounds.

For broader context on how the categorical-disqualifier framework operates and how it interacts with the discretionary suitability standard, see Massachusetts LTC Disqualifiers: Categorical vs. Suitability Under § 121F.

The Categories

The 86 misdemeanors below all carry an HOC maximum of 2.5 years (30 months), which places each one above the (B) two-year threshold. They are grouped by subject matter for navigability. Within each category the format is statute, penalty level, offense description.

Domestic violence and protective orders

In practice these are the most common LTC-disqualifying misdemeanors. The federal Lautenberg Amendment (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9)) separately bars firearm possession after any "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" regardless of penalty length, so a c. 209A or related conviction often triggers both the (B) state bar and the federal MCDV bar.

Firearms and dangerous-weapon misdemeanors

A misdemeanor firearms conviction can itself disqualify, even where the underlying offense is not a felony in Massachusetts terminology. Carrying without an LTC under specific subsections, surrender violations, defaced serial numbers, and operating a firearm under the influence are all 2.5-year HOC misdemeanors. These also independently fall within § 121F(j)(i)(D) (any firearm or ammunition offense for which a term of imprisonment may be imposed).

One entry from the 2018 list has been removed. G.L. c. 140, § 131J once prohibited the sale and possession of electric stun guns. After Ramirez v. Commonwealth, 479 Mass. 331 (2018), held that prohibition unconstitutional, the Legislature rewrote the section. Today § 131J creates no offense at all: it exempts stun guns from other sections and directs the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security to regulate them. A stun-gun conviction under the former section is not a live disqualifier.

One more entry has been restated. The 2018 list described G.L. c. 269, § 11C as defacing a firearm serial number or receiving a firearm with a defaced number. St. 2024, c. 135 restructured §§ 11B through 11E around untraceable firearms, and § 11C now reaches the manufacture, assembly, import, sale or transfer of an untraceable firearm, punishable by not less than 12 months and not more than 2½ years. It still clears the “more than 2 years” bar, so the disqualification result is unchanged, but the offence it describes is not the one the older list named.

Two entries have been removed as over-inclusive. Clause (B) reaches a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for more than 2 years, and two rows on the 2018 list do not clear that bar. The penalty for G.L. c. 111, § 72J is supplied by § 73, which caps imprisonment at 2 years exactly — not more than 2. And G.L. c. 118 carries no criminal penalty provision at all, so § 2 of that chapter creates no offence to be convicted of. Neither belongs on a list of disqualifiers.

Every remaining row has been checked against the current text of its statute. Where a section states a duty rather than a penalty — the chapter 129 agricultural entries and the chapter 15D child-care entries — the term comes from the chapter's own penalty section (c. 129, § 43 and c. 15D, § 15 respectively), and in both cases it is 2½ years. The chapter 129 rows are subsequent-offence entries for that reason: a first offence under those sections is fine-only and does not disqualify.

OUI and motor-vehicle operating offenses

OUI under c. 90, § 24(1)(a)(1) is the single most common 2.5-year HOC misdemeanor that ends an LTC application. Subsequent-offense and license-suspended-while-OUI variants also appear here. For practical guidance on this category, see LTC Denied for an OUI Conviction in Massachusetts.

Boating OUI and recreational-vehicle offenses

Sex offenses, registry violations, prostitution

Drug

A controlled-substance conviction also independently triggers § 121F(j)(i)(E), which has its own analysis.

Identity fraud and financial crimes

Property destruction, receiving stolen, jail/HC damage

Civil rights orders, healthcare-facility access, reproductive health

The reproductive-health-care-facility (clinic-access) statute, c. 266 § 120E½, was added in 2017 to expand the buffer-zone framework after McCullen v. Coakley. Subsequent-offense variants are the 2.5-year category here.

Child welfare, mandated-reporter, abuse registry

Healthcare and elder-protection registry

Public trust: elections, gaming, witness protection, resisting

Agriculture, livestock, wildlife, animal welfare

Almost all subsequent-offense provisions. A first offense in this category is typically a civil violation; the 2.5-year HOC ceiling applies only to the second or subsequent conviction.

Special acts (local / session laws)

Inchoate offenses (solicitation, conspiracy)

Levels are contingent on the underlying substantive offense. Only inchoate forms tied to felonies less than five years and certain other-crime conspiracies fall in the 2.5-year HOC misdemeanor band.

How to Use This List in Practice

If you have a Massachusetts misdemeanor conviction and you are considering an LTC application, the practical steps are:

1. Pull your CORI. Get the actual disposition language. Confirm conviction vs. CWOF vs. dismissed. The wording matters. 2. Identify the statute charged. The complaint or docket should cite a specific subsection. 3. Cross-reference. If your conviction matches an entry above, the (B) bar likely applies for LTC purposes and may apply for FID purposes (subject to the 5-year sunset). 4. Check the actual statutory maximum. Statutes are amended. The 2.5-year ceiling reflected here is from 2018 data. Look at the current text of the statute charged before drawing conclusions. 5. Consider relief routes. Sealing under G.L. c. 276 § 100A or § 100C, expungement (limited circumstances), pardon, or, for FID, simply waiting out the 5-year clock are all real options depending on the conviction and its age. 6. Talk to counsel. This is not a category of case where a generic appeal letter is likely to succeed. The framework is technical and the right theory of relief depends on facts not visible from a list.

If you have been denied an LTC and the denial cites a misdemeanor conviction, or you have an old conviction and you are weighing whether to apply, contact my office.