The first of what is expected to be an onslaught of lawsuits levied against the state of Massachusetts over its sweeping new gun control law has been filed in federal court in Boston by the Second Amendment organization Commonwealth 2A.
In its complaint, the group specifically targets the new licensing and training mandates that are a part of H. 4885. As we’ve been covering here at Bearing Arms, part of H. 4885 requires the colonel of the Massachusetts State Police to develop an entirely new training curriculum for obtaining a License to Carry, which is required to both keep and bear a handgun in the state. The problem is that the new curriculum isn’t anywhere close to being developed, and until it is, there’s now no way for residents to acquire an LTC.
On July 31, 2024, Defendant Colonel Mawr, acting by means of his agent, representative and/or delegate Kristin M. Ryan, who is the program director of “firearm licensing” at Massachusetts State Police, sent an email notification to (on information and belief) all of the certified firearms instructors in Massachusetts. The title of the message was “Basic Firearms Instructor – New Legislation Notification”and a copy is attached as Exhibit 1.
As indicated in Exhibit 1, the July 31 notification outlined some of the essential changes in the new legislation, including some discussed above, and stated the desire to adopt implementing regulations by October 23, 2024.
Most significantly, the July 31 notification directed that “any classes taught after August 1, 2024, that do not adhere to the updated curriculum will not be sufficient for the issuance of an LTC. This will need to be disclosed to potential students.”
As such, it has effective immediately become impossible for any person to apply for or obtain a LTC, unless they already hold a Massachusetts firearms license. As things stand, and as they will continue indefinitely into the future, any training course that a new applicant could possibly complete would, ipso facto, not be completed until “after August 1, 2024”—and accordingly, it would not, per the notice, “be sufficient for the issuance of an LTC.”
Keep in mind that once the state police have adopted the new curriculum, instructors will still have to be certified to teach the material, which probably won’t be a quick and easy process either.
At the bare minimum, the state has indicated it will be nearly three months before the new curriculum is in place. As Commonwealth 2A points out, that delay makes it impossible for most Masachusetts residents to obtain an LTC and be able to lawfully purchase, possess, or carry a handgun unless they already possess a firearms license.
A right delayed is a right denied, and Commonwealth 2A is asking the federal courts to issue an injunction blocking enforcement of H. 4885’s new training and licensing mandates, at least until the new curriculum has been developed and is ready to be taught by instructors across the state. The lawsuit also seeks a declaratory judgment “that Defendants’ refusal to accept applications for LTCs in the absence of a basic firearms safety certificate that it is impossible to obtain at the present time prevents the lawful possession of firearms and thus violate the Second and Fourteenth Amendments.”
I expect to see at least one more lawsuit filed today challenging the enforcement of new training standards that don’t yet exist, and Gun Owners Action League executive director Jim Wallace has told Bearing Arms that the group is working with a broad coalition of national 2A organizations to challenge other sections of the law that will have a dramatic and immediate effect on gun owners, gun sellers, and visitors to the state.
State Rep. Michael Day, the architect of H. 4885, recently challenged “those who have already rushed forward to say that they will challenge this law in the courts” to “bring it on.” Consider it brought, and there’s plenty more to come.
