St. 2022, c. 175 | Law Office of Christopher B. O'Brien

Source: malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2022/Chapter175
Last confirmed: Sept. 16, 2026

This document cites § 131 as it stood before October 2, 2024. St. 2024, c. 135, § 49 struck out § 131 and inserted a new one. The suitability standard now sits at G.L. c. 140, § 121F(k) and judicial review of denials, suspensions and revocations at § 121F(v). The text below is reproduced as published and has not been altered; the citations in it point at a version of the statute that is no longer in force.

What the act does to firearms law

Sections 4 through 22 amend G.L. c. 140 §§ 131 and 131F. The most consequential firearms-related changes for LTC suitability review:

Section	Effect
§ 7	Rewrites § 131(d). Licensing authority "shall issue" a license if the applicant is neither prohibited nor determined to be unsuitable. Personal interview required for initial applications. Replaces prior "may issue" discretionary formulation.
§ 9	Changes "may" to "shall" regarding licensing authority duties in § 131.
§ 10	Removes the discretionary phrase "in a reasonable exercise of discretion, the licensing authority determines that" from § 131.
§ 11	Narrows the unsuitability criteria in § 131(d). Removes subpart (ii) ("existing factors that suggest that, if issued a license, the applicant or licensee may create a risk to public safety"), leaving only the behavior-based inquiry: "reliable, articulable and credible information that the applicant or licensee has exhibited or engaged in behavior that suggests that, if issued a license, the applicant or licensee may create a risk to public safety or a risk of danger to self or others."
§ 12	Changes "may" to "shall" in § 131, line 225.
§ 17A	Removes the "Class A or Class B" designation from § 131.
§§ 17B–22	Parallel changes to § 131F (nonresident / colonel licensing).

Relationship to Bruen

Enacted in the wake of New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. 2111 (2022), which held New York's "proper cause" public-carry regime unconstitutional. The Appeals Court in Guinane, 106 Mass. App. Ct. 412, expressly framed the § 11 amendment as Bruen-responsive: "In 2022, however, in the wake of New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022), the unsuitability standard was amended . . . ."

What the act does NOT do

Section 11 alone does NOT delete the "good reason to fear injury to his person or property" clause; that deletion is the work of § 7 of the same act, which rewrote § 131(d) in tandem to convert "may issue" to "shall issue" and to recast issuance as turning on whether the applicant is "neither a prohibited person nor determined to be unsuitable." (NOTE — earlier versions of this file incorrectly attributed the "good reason" deletion to St. 2014, c. 284, § 48. The verbatim text of § 48 of that act (see `../../legislation/acts-2014/section-048.md`) retained the "good reason to fear injury" clause and the "may issue" formulation; what § 48 did was strike the older "is a suitable person" discretionary issuance standard and install the modern "reliable and credible information" / "existing factors" unsuitability framework. Guinane, 106 Mass. App. Ct. 412 (2026), confirms the "good reason" deletion was an August 2022 amendment ("the statute had been amended in August 2022 — to remove the requirement that an applicant show 'good reason' for possessing a firearm"). Corrected 2026-06-01.) By the time St. 2022, c. 175 § 11 took effect, § 131(d) already contained the "reliable and credible information" framework, just with the additional subpart (ii) "existing factors" language that § 11 then removed.
Does NOT have a retroactivity clause for the firearms amendments. The emergency preamble makes the effective date August 10, 2022.

Effective date

Approved and effective August 10, 2022, by emergency preamble (see preamble: "the deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose"). Guinane, 106 Mass. App. Ct. 412 (citing St. 2022, c. 175, emergency preamble, confirming § 131(d) amendment effective August 10, 2022).

Source

Malegislature.gov: malegislature.gov/Laws/SessionLaws/Acts/2022/Chapter175