Gun Inheritance....FA10 FORM...newbee question.

[Decisiveangel]

Hello. I just paid to be a member and I'm learning my away around in here. I have little dilemma and perhaps someone could help. My father a retired Federal Agent passed away last year. He owned 2 handguns both of which were manufactured way before 1998 and are on the approved roster. He did not have a will and expressed to my mother that he wanted me to have them since I was a former law enforcement Ranger with the National Park Service and carried on the job almost 19 years ago...40 now. I did not know about the FA10 form at the time. It has been about 1 year 2 months since his passing. I handed the firearms over to a fellow retired special agent friend of my fathers who had a LTC A for safe keeping when he passed since I didn't want to be in violation of the law. I went through my local police chief and obtained a LTC A albeit late with restrictions target/hunting and received it August 27th. That would be 7 months 3 days after his passing. Once I had the LTC A I recovered the hand guns from my fathers friend and have had them secured lawfully. Sorry for being long winded but I'm trying not to leave anything out. Since I never filed an FA10 form what am I looking at here? Is it as simple as just picking some forms up at GOAL and filing with State? Or am I technically in violation of some statute since it wasn't done with the FA10 within 7 days and getting my LTC was 7 months instead of 6. If so, is there a way to rectify it. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated

 

[jobowker]

There were threads here in the past concerning this issue, and while I was tempted to just point you there, I read the whole thing and still didn't see a clear cut answer to the original question.

If you look in teh gun law forum, specifically under mass law, there are some threads that reference it. Not sure if this helps or not.

 

[vellnueve]

You've got to take it to an FFL. I think the limit is 180 days to get your license for firearms willed to you.

 

[jdubois]

You've got to take it to an FFL.

He doesn't need them transferred, they're already his.

You're technically in violation of C.140 § 128B, but I wouldn't worry about it. Just fill out the FA-10's now and forget about it.

 

[vellnueve]

He doesn't need them transferred, they're already his.

You're technically in violation of C.140 § 128B, but I wouldn't worry about it. Just fill out the FA-10's now and forget about it.

Wasn't there a 180 day limit on inheritance?

 

[jdubois]

Wasn't there a 180 day limit on inheritance?

There's a 180 day limit on possessing them without a license, after inheritance. The 180 days don't start until you take ownership of them. After the 180 days you still own them, you're just not licensed to have them anymore (unless your local licensing authority gives you an extension).

But that's a completely separate issue from the above, which is that he didn't file an FA-10 on guns he obtained from a 128B source.

 

[vellnueve]

Hmm, so since he had someone else hold the guns first and didn't immediately take possession, the 180 day window shouldn't matter?

So yeah, then it's just another in the long line of late FA-10 cases.

 

[jdubois]

Hmm, so since he had someone else hold the guns first and didn't immediately take possession, the 180 day window shouldn't matter?

Technically it did matter, after the 180 days he was in violation of § 129C. Handing your guns to an LTC holder to hold when you're not licensed doesn't technically absolve your violation of § 129C, but it does reduce the chances of it ever becoming an issue to pretty much zero.

But once he received his LTC, he was no longer in violation, so it's not much of a concern anymore.

 

[vellnueve]

Yep.

BTW, I love the location line in your profile.

 

[jdubois]

BTW, I love the location line in your profile.

 

[Carguy]

Does he now need to complete the transfer with an FFL? Or as a licensed person are the FA10s simply a "registration" with no seller listed?

 

[Len-2A Training]

Does he now need to complete the transfer with an FFL? Or as a licensed person are the FA10s simply a "registration" with no seller listed?

The latter!

 

[matt1956]

Technically it did matter, after the 180 days he was in violation of § 129C. Handing your guns to an LTC holder to hold when you're not licensed doesn't technically absolve your violation of § 129C, but it does reduce the chances of it ever becoming an issue to pretty much zero.

But once he received his LTC, he was no longer in violation, so it's not much of a concern anymore.

maybe it's because i think the MGLs are a complete line of bullshit anyway,

but how exactly is he in violation of § 129C if he was not in possession of the firearms?

maybe you could quote and explain it. but if he is not in possession of the firearms and eventually did get his license and didnot take possession of the firearms until AFTER he got his license, the only thing i seem him being 'in violation' of is filing the FA-10 late (again, another peice of BS in the MGLs IMO)

 

[jdubois]

maybe it's because i think the MGLs are a complete line of bullshit anyway,

but how exactly is he in violation of § 129C if he was not in possession of the firearms?

Because 129C uses the phrase "shall own or possess". So even if he doesn't possess it, if he owns it (within MA, because ownership outside of MA is not within the jurisdiction of MA laws) he's in violation.

It is basically bullshit, and as I said before there's practically less than zero chance of getting called out on 129C if your guns are in the possession of an LTC holder. But, technically, the violation is still there.