<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Gene DeMambro:
"On the book" refers to those guns in compliance with the Consumer Protection Regulations, as published by the AG's Office (i.e. AG Reilly).
If you can show existing ownership of a gun you legally acquired before 1998 (i.e. non-compliant), such as you've owned it for 30 years), then that gun is "grandfathered" in. These guns are in demand and command high prices.
Presumably one can show legal ownership by way of tracking down the history of a gun by its Serial Number.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
When I say "on the books" regarding a firearm (only in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts does the term "firearm" mean "handgun") or longarm
in Massachusetts, I'm referring to that firearm being
registered with the Criminal History Systems Board! That
registration was
automatically done if the firearm or longarm in question was purchased in Massachusetts or obtained through a Massachusetts dealer/FFL. Otherwise, if purchased within Massachusetts from a private individual or transferred into Massachusetts from purchase in another State, the transfer of that handgun is
required to be done by a Massachusetts FFL/dealer and the
registration using an FA-10 dealer form is, again, automatically done. If you purchase a
longarm from an out-of-state dealer or private individual, and you are already a Massachusetts resident, you are supposed to file the
required FA-10
registration form with the Criminal Systems History Board (the same folks that track paroled murders, rapists and sex-offenders... and while gun-owners are required by law to report change of address within 30 days of moving, those paroled sex-offenders have been held to have a "Constitutional Right to Privacy" and it has been adjudicated that they do
not have to report changes of address!).
So... How can a handgun or longarm be "off the books" in Massachusetts? As previously stated, if you move into the Commonwealth from another State and already own those firearms, then
before you bring the guns into Massachusetts get properly licensed and
then you may legally bring those guns into the Commonwealth without registering them. Those guns are "off the books" so to speak and in those cases, they can
not be transferred if they are not AG-reg compliant. The AG regs state that the firearm (remember, that's a handgun in MA) must have been registered in the State
before Chapter 180 of 1998 in order to be exempt. OR if the new resident
does register the handgun using the FA-10 form, then some people feel that it can then be legally transferred to another Massachusetts resident. That is one of those things that the AG's office refuses to acknowledge one way or the other, so different folks interpret the regs differently. YMMV and IANALNDIPOOTV...
Gene,
e-mail me at:
kincaid@datalynxconsulting.com
Take care and be good to each other...
)
