Brookline gun owners who have not registered their firearms through the state's online portal face a Wednesday, Oct. 28, deadline to comply or risk penalties that start at a $1,000 fine.
The Brookline Police Department warned gun owners on X on Sept. 24, citing Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024, the Act Modernizing Firearm Laws. The department said the state law significantly expanded registration requirements. As we reported Sept. 28, the law broadened the legal definition of "firearm" to include frames, receivers and unfinished frames or receivers.
Gov. Maura Healey signed the law in July 2024. She added an emergency preamble on Oct. 2, 2024, putting it into immediate effect, according to the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation.
Gun owners must use the MIRCS Unified Gun Portal, the state's electronic registration system, to register by the deadline. The portal requires a MyMassGov account, according to the state's firearms FAQ page.
Not everyone needs to act. Firearms purchased from a licensed Massachusetts dealer do not need to be re-registered because the dealer reports those transactions. Firearms previously recorded through the old FA-10 transaction system also do not need a new entry.
Owners of firearms without serial numbers face an additional step. They must request a unique serial number from the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS) through the portal, then have it permanently engraved to a depth of at least .003 inches, according to a legal analysis by attorney Joe Serpa.
State guidance documents are inconsistent on the serialization deadline. The implementing regulation, 501 CMR 20.00, set Oct. 2 as the cutoff for unserialized firearms. The state's firearms FAQ page lists Oct. 28 for both serialization and registration. Serpa's analysis notes that the Oct. 2 date has already passed, so owners who have not serialized should complete both steps before Wednesday.
Penalties escalate with each offense. A first registration violation carries a fine of up to $1,000, according to Serpa's analysis. A second offense can mean up to $7,500 in fines or up to six months in jail. A third or subsequent offense is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and one to five years in prison. The state can also suspend or permanently revoke a violator's firearms license.
Voters will decide whether to repeal Chapter 135 on Nov. 3 as Question 9 on the ballot. Both compliance deadlines fall before Election Day. Serpa wrote in a May 2026 analysis that a repeal would not retroactively legalize violations committed while the law was in force.
Brookline residents who need a new license to carry or firearms identification card (FID) apply through the Brookline Police Department. The DCJIS firearms license application hotline, (617) 660-4722, is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
