You may be right LenS - I've never applied for a
RESIDENT MA LTC. It indeed may not be automatic that they would find out. However, here's a little further information that may give you and others pause:
I'm not sure if it's the same on the RESIDENT LTC application, but the first question on the NON-RESIDENT MA LTC is
Do you hold, or have you ever held a license to carry firearms in this or any other state?
If "YES", when, where and license number: _____________
Does/did the license have restrictions, and if so what are/were they? _____________
So, when I prepared my application package, I included a listing of all of my current and previous firearms licenses in a table as an attachment to the application form. I knew that the NYS ones would show up on my NYS criminal history report -- my NYS firearms licenses are the
only entries on my NYS criminal history report. (By the way, my NYS criminal history report had an attempted record of my legal residences, as submitted with my various NYS firearms license applications and renewals over the years.)
Anyway, after submitting the MA NR LTC application, I had occasion to speak with a helpful young fellow at CHSB/EOPS, who told me that they have an agreement in place with NYS that
requires that they share criminal history information
directly with the NYS DCJS (it sounded like the sharing was electronic/online).
He didn't mention any other direct agreements with any other states, but it's possible there might be similar relationships with states other than NY. I don't know if RESIDENT MA LTC applications/renewals trigger such direct records checks with other states, but if they do, and if other states include firearms license information in their criminal records, then there is a risk that the dual-residency strategy might result in revocation of the holders MA RESIDENT LTC.