Sentencing: Firearms Mandatory Minimums and Guidelines | Law Office of Christopher B. O'Brien

MassFLC › Jury Instruction

This is not law. It records what the body named below published, on the date shown. Commentary, guidance and model instructions may be persuasive, but none of them carries the force of law, and none is a statement of what the law requires.

Source: Massachusetts Sentencing Commission, Sentencing Guidelines: Mandatory Offenses
Note: For firearms offenses with mandatory minimums, the Commission adopted the statutory penalty provisions and allows no departures from the minimum term of incarceration. Although firearms offenses do not appear on the sentencing guidelines grid, they are assigned offense seriousness levels on the Master Crime List for criminal history purposes.

Mandatory Minimum Sentences by Offense

Level 8 (Most Serious)

G.L. c. 265, § 18B — Firearm possession in felony contexts
- 20-year minimum (first offense)
- 25-year minimum (subsequent offense)

G.L. c. 269, § 10(a), (c), (h)(1) — Firearms violation with 3 prior violent/drug crimes
- 15-year minimum, 20-year maximum
- This is the state equivalent of the federal Armed Career Criminal Act

Level 6-7

G.L. c. 269, § 10(d) — Carrying firearm without license / dangerous weapons (subsequent offenses)
- Second offense: 5-year minimum
- Third offense: 7-year minimum (some provisions)
- Fourth offense: 10-year minimum

G.L. c. 269, § 10E — Firearms trafficking
- 3-9 units: 5-year minimum
- 10+ units: 10-year minimum

G.L. c. 269, § 10F — Large capacity firearm illegal sales
- 2.5 to 5-year minimum

Level 4-5

G.L. c. 269, § 10(a) — Firearm carry without license (first offense)
- 18-month mandatory minimum
- No suspension, probation, or parole during minimum term

G.L. c. 269, § 10(m) — Large capacity weapon/feeding device without LTC
- Penalties as specified in statute

Loaded Firearm Enhancement: § 10(n)

Sentencing enhancement (not standalone offense). Requires predicate conviction under § 10(a) or (c). Commonwealth v. Brown, 479 Mass. 600, 604 (2018).

Key Sentencing Principles

No departures from mandatory minimums for firearms offenses
Firearms offenses are not on the sentencing guidelines grid but are assigned seriousness levels for criminal history scoring
The Master Crime List (June 2018) is the reference for offense seriousness levels and penalty types
Subsequent offender status under § 10(d) requires proof of prior convictions per G.L. c. 278, § 11A

Federal ACCA (18 U.S.C. § 924(e))

The Armed Career Criminal Act imposes a 15-year mandatory minimum for anyone convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)) who has three prior convictions for "violent felonies" or "serious drug offenses." ACCA is a federal sentencing provision; there are no Massachusetts model jury instructions for it. The state analog is § 10(a)/(c)/(h)(1) with 3 prior violent/drug crimes (Level 8 above).

For analysis of which Massachusetts offenses qualify as ACCA predicates, see our internal analysis.

Resources

Massachusetts Sentencing Commission Master Crime List (June 2018): mass.gov
Sentencing Guidelines: Mandatory Offenses page: mass.gov/info-details/sentencing-guidelines-mandatory-offenses
Interactive Master Crime List: mass.gov (searchable by statute)