So its not law for these options, but is law for the other options (like building from scratch or purchasing out of state)? Honest question. Because I thought it was law for everything and nothing was exempt.
Not trying to be an ass, but are you stating the we do not have a firearms registration here in MA? If so, I'd say you're wrong. Especially with the intro of the online FA-10 system that was made to streamline and reduce errors.
OK, let me answer this by going step-by-step thru the law logically . . .
- MGL REQUIRES an FA-10 within 7 DAYS of acquiring (and they define building as "acquiring") a gun in MA. (Fact)
- To file an FA-10 form you MUST have a LTC/FID number. (Fact)
- If you are a new resident, how can you get an LTC/FID number within 7 days to satisfy the law? (You can't - Fact)
- Therefore the MGL allows an EXEMPTION to registration for people moving into MA with guns. They didn't do it to be nice, but because requiring it would require someone to violate the law by filing late, thus the exemption.
Now to do the same wrt filling voids in the state database . . .
- The law requires us to file FA-10s. We are allowed to do this via 1st Class Mail, no receipt received. There is no mechanism by which FRB notifies us that they received it, that they scanned it or that it was scanned accurately (anyone that has ever dealt with OCR will understand this).
- If an employee had an accident and coffee was spilled on your form, if the scanner feed mechanism shredded your form, if it had to be hand-typed into the system and was mis-keyed, etc. There is no way that you'd ever know this.
- Old FA-10 forms (blue cards for FTF or old tissue paper forms were only scanned from a certain date forward (I was told 1986). Some blue cards were destroyed in a flood, thus never scanned. I'm sure that the handwriting (many were written cursively not printed) resulted in some interesting OCR results!
- The only mechanism for finding out what the state THINKS you own is to fill out a form, get it Notarized, pay $20 and wait a few months for the results. This is STRICTLY VOLUNTARY and I see no reason to EVER DO THIS! If you do this and find voids, you are free to register your missing guns . . . but doing so implies that you are in violation of the law requiring registration of acquisitions within 7 days and you are supplying self-incriminating evidence if someone ever wanted to prosecute you. You gain nothing and stand some legal risk of prosecution, regardless of how small.
I hope the above clarifies some of this for some folks.