New LTC application - Boston (circa 2020)

[OMM 0000]

I am starting the process for LTC in Boston. I haven't seen any recent threads on Boston in particular so I figured I would start one and follow myself through the process to inform any others.

1) Got my Mass Firearms class done at Mass Firearms School. Good program, a half day. Enjoyed shooting single and double action revolver. This program is a little on the short side if you are totally new to firearms. I think it is great if you just need to get the class done.

2) I found this link on the process for Boston: https://www.boston.gov/sites/defaul...2017/license-to-carry-firearms-guidelines.pdf
Called 617-343-4425 for an appointment and an officer carefully took down my info. I was informed they have not been processing applications since March 2020 (Covid) and don't have a date for things to start up. They are working on an online system for the application and then will have people come in for fingerprinting, etc. I imagine it will be a while with a backlog since March.

Happy to post updates as I get them.

 

[Drix]

Did you let GOAL know?

 

[92G]

Called 617-343-4425 for an appointment and an officer carefully took down my info.

 

[appraiser]

Boston is going to jerk you around until the end of time, then issue you a useless license with in city restrictions on ownership of certain firearms.

While you are waiting for them to bend you over, I would suggest moving to a city or town that is known to be more reasonable when it comes to issuing licenses.

Move before you go thru the process otherwise if you go thru the Boston BS, you will be stuck with a super restricted license for 5 years until you can get it unrestricted upon renewal.

 

[BostonVI]

Move before you go thru the process otherwise if you go thru the Boston BS, you will be stuck with a super restricted license for 5 years until you can get it unrestricted upon renewal.

6 years actually, and Lt. McDonough's opinion on early LTC expiration is, "We don't do that here."

 

[OMM 0000]

Did you let GOAL know?

I emailed Jim@goal a summary.

 

[OMM 0000]

6 years actually, and Lt. McDonough's opinion on early LTC expiration is, "We don't do that here."

Doesn’t get any better than this!

 

[Waher]

Doesn’t get any better than this!

You could live in Brookline or Watertown. Which are far worse.

 

[drgrant]

Avoid ltc aids at all costs... 6 years is a long ass time.

 

[Bearcatbirddog]

If you have to stay in Boston for the foreseeable future I would drop attorney Jason Guida an email and see if it’s worth going in for a consultation. He may be able to help you get an appointment and maybe even with restrictions. If you are going to reach out to him make sure it’s before you apply not after. Attorney Jason A. Guida

 

[nstassel]

Goal is aware and had been working on getting Boston reopened.

 

[SDG]

I hear Cambridge is the same way, without lawsuites I dont see it comming back anytime soon. Some towns will let you apply for an LTC if you own and operate a business in them. May not be helpful advice for most of us but i know a guy who did it successfully.

 

[LLF]

6 years actually, and Lt. McDonough's opinion on early LTC expiration is, "We don't do that here."

Actually not quite accurate. I got a restricted LTC in 2017, got trained & certified as a firearms instructor in 2019 and Lt. Det. McDonough very nicely re-issued my LTC with no restrictions.
OP: If you have a cash business or are responsible for handling lots of cash (restaurant, real estate, convenience store, etc.) you may be able to get an unrestricted license from the start. Another way is to get trained & certified as a firearms instructor.
Also, remember that Boston requires you to pass a shooting test at their range at Moon Island. The test uses a BPD-supplied 6-shot .357 revolver with a 4" barrel. If you are not familiar with that type of gun you might want to consider training for the test as you wait for your appointment,
Good luck!

 

[Len-2A Training]

Also, remember that Boston requires you to pass a shooting test at their range at Moon Island. The test uses a BPD-supplied 6-shot .357 revolver with a 4" barrel. If you are not familiar with that type of gun you might want to consider training for the test as you wait for your appointment,
Good luck!

Good point. Over the years I've trained probably more than 50 people to pass the Moon Island test and those that reported back their scores to me were within a few points of what they did with me.

Since most no longer consider revolvers, it is important to know how they operate in order to get a good score at Moon Island.

 

[PATRON]

OP,I will make it very easy for you to post.Step one call for appointment,step two go fill out application pay $100,and bring all paper work,and
request no restriction,get fingerprinted,make range appointment. Step three go to range shoot 30 round of ammo threw a 4 inch
Ruger,or S&W revolver.Step four wait for your LTC to come in the mail.Now on some occasions people that have requested no
restrictions have received a phone call from the KGB giving the bull shit story why they cannot get unrestricted (you will shoot your eye out kid).
There is a certain niche that you have to fall into to be able to get unrestricted LTC. Good Luck comrade,long live the Father Land.

 

[kalash]

Actually not quite accurate. I got a restricted LTC in 2017, got trained & certified as a firearms instructor in 2019 and Lt. Det. McDonough very nicely re-issued my LTC with no restrictions.

I'm happy to hear that when he shifted the boot that's on your neck, he did so in the nicest way possible

 

[BostonVI]

Actually not quite accurate. I got a restricted LTC in 2017, got trained & certified as a firearms instructor in 2019 and Lt. Det. McDonough very nicely re-issued my LTC with no restrictions.

In my case, I had already escaped Boston, and had zero interest in mastering the decoder ring to get the Pope's blessing. Just made more sense to wait it out and renew in the new town.

So to OP, when Boston does get around to issuing licenses again they do issue unrestricted so long as you meet the right criteria. Going back, I probably would have just waited on getting my LTC since there are so many other cities and towns that are better to deal with, and live in.

 

[OMM 0000]

I've been in Boston (or Brookline) for 22 yrs so regardless I will likely have a footprint here. Hopefully one out of state as well soon.

I have been working on my reasons for unrestricted. About the best I can come up with though is that a few months ago I didn't have to drive my son to school past boarded up windows from a riot.

 

[kalash]

Your reasons don't matter so don't waste your time trying to write anything. If you want unrestricted in Boston you need to be a doctor, a lawyer, a politician, or an instructor.

 

[MaroonedinMA]

Your reasons don't matter so don't waste your time trying to write anything. If you want unrestricted in Boston you need to be a doctor, a lawyer, a politician, or an instructor.

Or move to Boston with an unrestricted LTC and renew it when the time comes. They don't seem to be downgrading on renewal much anymore. They didn't cripple mine.

 

[late08]

You mention you might have a footprint out of state soon? When is that? You might want to just wait it out if its not long from now and just get out. A lot less hassles.
OR, get the restricted LTC, take the courses and become an NRA/BFS instructor and have them remove the restrictions. Thats about the "easiest" way to get it done in Boston, but as far as I remember you need to show cash deposits from classes and actually having students, etc.... Its basically what I did in Somerville back in the 2000's, once I became an instructor they unrestricted my license.

 

[Waher]

Your reasons don't matter so don't waste your time trying to write anything. If you want unrestricted in Boston you need to be a doctor, a lawyer, a politician, or an instructor.

Or prove that you make cash deposits or transport gems in excess of 10-15k of value on a regular basis with the receipts to prove it. In which case they still might slap a business license restriction on you to keep you from carrying outside business hours if they suspect you are gaming the deposits to qualify.

 

[JenkkiMike]

I'm looking for some advice on behalf of my cousin who lives in Boston. He wants to start the process for an LTC in Boston. I've been telling him not to waste his time because it is going to take forever to get an interview, do the Moon Island test, etc. IF they are even doing that stuff right now with Covid. He has indicated to me that he may move to NH or another MA town at some point in the future. If he ends up in another MA town he will be stuck with the restricted Boston LTC until it expires.

My suggestion to him was to just go for an FID and get a shotgun for now and wait until he figures out where he is going to land. A Boston LTC is not going to allow him to carry anyway and if he wants to shoot pistols, semi auto rifles, suppressors, etc. he only has to drive an hour and a half up here and go to the range with me. If he gets an FID issues from Boston and then moves to a "Green town" in a couple years, can he apply for an unrestricted LTC from the new town or does Boston still have him by the balls?

 

[drgrant]

Or prove that you make cash deposits or transport gems in excess of 10-15k of value on a regular basis with the receipts to prove it. In which case they still might slap a business license restriction on you to keep you from carrying outside business hours if they suspect you are gaming the deposits to qualify.

Add some aspect to your business that makes you on call 24/7. They can go f*** themselves and their stupid restrictions, there is always a way to work the system.

The worst option here though is for someone to bend over and take LTC Aids straight up the ass on a first app. Get an attorney. Or game the system, town shop, do whatever you have to do to not get AIDS if you have any interest in carrying legally at all. Hell right now its probably faster/cheaper to "live" somewhere normal for a month, get an LTC in (insertnormaltown here) and then "move" into Boston if you had to.

 

[drgrant]

I'm looking for some advice on behalf of my cousin who lives in Boston. He wants to start the process for an LTC in Boston. I've been telling him not to waste his time because it is going to take forever to get an interview, do the Moon Island test, etc. IF they are even doing that stuff right now with Covid. He has indicated to me that he may move to NH or another MA town at some point in the future. If he ends up in another MA town he will be stuck with the restricted Boston LTC until it expires.

My suggestion to him was to just go for an FID and get a shotgun for now and wait until he figures out where he is going to land. A Boston LTC is not going to allow him to carry anyway and if he wants to shoot pistols, semi auto rifles, suppressors, etc. he only has to drive an hour and a half up here and go to the range with me. If he gets an FID issues from Boston and then moves to a "Green town" in a couple years, can he apply for an unrestricted LTC from the new town or does Boston still have him by the balls?

Boston can't touch his down the road LTC application in another town. They won't have any "ownership" over it since he would not have an existing LTC with them that was not expired.

 

[garandman]

Boston is going to jerk you around until the end of time, then issue you a useless license with in city restrictions on ownership of certain firearms.

While you are waiting for them to bend you over, I would suggest moving to a city or town that is known to be more reasonable when it comes to issuing licenses.

Move before you go thru the process otherwise if you go thru the Boston BS, you will be stuck with a super restricted license for 5 years until you can get it unrestricted upon renewal.

Don‘t listen to people like this: they’re like gun shop employees.

 

[drgrant]

Don‘t listen to people like this: they’re like gun shop employees.

How is he wrong about LTC aids though? Have you ever known them to dump restrictions? Maybe if you suddenly fit in the box they would do it. (deposits, royal title of MD, etc, or NRA instructor creds, etc. )

Other people have reported Boston not dumping licenses even after people move out, which is pretty bad. So then they get to carry LTC AIDS around with them after the
fact, unless they can exploit the system to trigger a license dump somehow. (this seems to have limited chance of working, as it would appear that EOPS seems to camp on the "hey I moved out of state" notification a lot now. I have a friend of mine who moved to NH, who can still get an LTC validation on his old, not yet expired LTC, even though he ratted himself out like 2+ years ago by firing off the letters by certified mail. This tells me that if he had LTC aids and moved back, the renewal/reapplication attempt might fail because the state would just consider him having a still active license. It's hard to get data on this problem, though.

I know a number of people that basically just said "f*** it" and carry/carried against the restrictions.

 

[AHM]

Boston can't touch his down the road LTC application in another town. They won't have any "ownership" over it since he would not have an existing LTC with them that was not expired.

(FID => LTC: Subtle question, subtle answer).

 

[garandman]

I PM'd him.

 

[microACE]

You are actually in a better position than me. At least someone picked up the phone and took your information. I have been trying to apply for LTC in Malden for the last couple of days. I have tried calling the firearm licensing department, email them. No response.