There has been some discussion of this in some other threads around here. I originally thought, as you do, that CWOF was effectively "don't make me see you here again and we will forget about the whole thing". It turns out that a CWOF usually comes with an admission to sufficient facts which then carries the same weight as a guilty plea.
I believe it is possible to get a CWOF without admitting sufficient facts, but it is less common.
If I am wrong about that, someone please correct me as I misunderstood something.
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Ok,I think I misunderstood...
This thread:
http://www.northeastshooters.com/vb...s-with-a-CWOF?highlight=cwof+sufficient+facts
...goes into it a bit more starting around post 11 or so.
You might be right in that CWOF might not make you a federally prohibited person, but it certainly will in MA.
It looks like Al's two year legal nightmare gets to extend to the rest of his life...