Boston, Springfield begin to lift gun license restrictions after Supreme Court decision
“If somebody got a license that has target and hunting restrictions, but they’re somewhere other than that [carrying a concealed gun] — if they’re out to dinner — that’s no longer a violation of the terms of their license.”
The Boston Police Department says it has moved to lift restrictions on hundreds of existing gun licenses, with potentially thousands more to come in the city and elsewhere, as police departments pivot in the face of a Supreme Court ruling that is quickly reshaping Massachusetts gun law.
The effort to remove limits on existing licenses to carry in Boston, Springfield, and other communities comes after state officials told police they should no longer place restrictions on people who fail to cite a “good reason” for carrying a concealed firearm. Some police say that even if the limits on someone’s license have yet to be formally lifted, they may be unable to enforce the restrictions anyway. The shift could impact nearly 20,000 people who are licensed to carry in Massachusetts, and in cities and towns where officials have routinely restricted approved gun permits — saying, for example, firearms can only be taken to and from a range — the recent actions mark a dramatic change in how guns are regulated.
Boston police have long said that applicants “must show good reason” for wanting a firearm when applying for a license, using a part of state law that suburban chiefs say they largely didn’t consider when issuing permits. In 2021 alone, roughly two-thirds of the nearly 2,900 licenses Boston issued — or 1,945 in total — came with restrictions, according to data provided by Boston police. It was not immediately clear how widespread such moves are in the rest of Massachusetts, where local officials’ implementation of gun licensing standards can vary widely from community to community. It also ultimately concerns a small share of the state’s 477,500 active licenses to carry, 96 percent of which were issued without restrictions, state data show.
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