Massachusetts: Non-Resident Hunters Beware

[NRA]

As noted in a recent American Hunter article, Massachusetts Hunters Face Anti-Gun Law This Fall, there are new legal risks for those looking to hunt in the Bay State. 

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[dmandoes]

What a bunch of bs! How long before ny pulls this sheet?

[broomeguy]

What the fid!

[Caeden4]

relax guys. as usual, this is a load of crap. 

read it for yourself. https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/H4885 (have to download the pdf for whatever reason).   

Seriously, you have to realize that there is a reason these NRA articles never include the link to the thing theyre complaining about - they dont want you to read it, they just want you to trust them and be outraged without knowing what even happened.  

if you dont feel like reading through 116 pages of legalese, and then going back and forth to the original bill (that this is updating) to read the sections they refer to, here's what it actually says about nonresident hunters: nonresidents can hunt just the same as they normally do, without the FID that Massachusetts has (which is really nothing different than the green light we get every time we go through a background check in NY, by the way), as long as you've got a hunting license from your home state (in addition to their state's nonresident license obviously), and your state has comparable requirements to obtain a license in the first place (i.e. youre a citizen, not mentally incapacitated, the usual). 

as for the NRA's basically incoherent sentence which seems to be suggesting you cant use a muzzleloader (?) this says no such thing. all it did was add "antique firearm" as a defined term to the original law, and include a muzzleloader in that definition. 

 

 

[boo711]

12 minutes ago, Caeden4 said:

relax guys. as usual, this is a load of crap. 

read it for yourself. https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/H4885 (have to download the pdf for whatever reason).   

Seriously, you have to realize that there is a reason these NRA articles never include the link to the thing theyre complaining about - they dont want you to read it, they just want you to trust them and be outraged without knowing what even happened.  

if you dont feel like reading through 116 pages of legalese, and then going back and forth to the original bill (that this is updating) to read the sections they refer to, here's what it actually says about nonresident hunters: nonresidents can hunt just the same as they normally do, without the FID that Massachusetts has (which is really nothing different than the green light we get every time we go through a background check in NY, by the way), as long as you've got a hunting license from your home state (in addition to their state's nonresident license obviously), and your state has comparable requirements to obtain a license in the first place (i.e. youre a citizen, not mentally incapacitated, the usual). 

as for the NRA's basically incoherent sentence which seems to be suggesting you cant use a muzzleloader (?) this says no such thing. all it did was add "antique firearm" as a defined term to the original law, and include a muzzleloader in that definition. 

 

 

So by reading this no semi automatic shotguns??  Yeah nothing restrictive about that

[Caeden4]

11 hours ago, boo711 said:

So by reading this no semi automatic shotguns??  Yeah nothing restrictive about that

i didnt say Massachusetts gun laws arent restrictive. of course they are.  to clarify, yes this does say no semiauto shotguns. yes, that is restrictive. yes, it bothers me too. but thats not what the NRA reported. and it wasnt the subject of my post. 

what i said was that, contrary to what this NRA article claims, nonresidents do not require any sort of firearm identification card to hunt in the state, and it doesnt ban or prevent the use of muzzleloaders. 

there are definitely things to complain about and to challenge in court (IMHO, parts of it will be shot down by the courts bc they already have been in NY, e.g. bump stock), there is simply no reason for the NRA to keep making things up to scare people who either dont have the time to read, or dont have the ability to make sense of, these long and sometimes confusing bills. it pisses me off that the NRA has become just like everything else in that it only gives you misleading partial truths that serve its fundraising or political goals.  maybe youre not, but I am sick of being lied to.  

[Mike103]

Well you might be upset that the NRA either lied or was not clear in their reporting but I think you are definitely missing the important stuff.

The state of commie MA outlaws whole classes of common use firearms the are used for clays, hunting  and self defense and your take away is the NRA sucks??

Soul Searching:

noun: soul-searching; plural noun: soul-searchings

deep and anxious consideration of one's emotions and motives or of the correctness of a course of action.

"my conclusions required a great deal of soul-searching"

BTW my son lives there so this is important to me. 

 

[Caeden4]

No. my takeaway from the bill itself is not that "the NRA sucks."  but my takeaway from this NRA's "news" article is that it sucks,  because it did not give me any accurate information as to what this bill actually says or how it actually impacts nonresident hunters... despite the claims of its title. if i had not gone and read the bill itself, i would not have known from this article that i cannot use my semiauto shotgun in that state, instead i would have incorrectly believed that i cannot hunt at all in that state because i dont have some sort of firearm registration ID. the inaccurate reporting is doing a disservice to nonresident hunters. i dont know how you can possibly not be annoyed that you are not being provided accurate information on an issue that is important to you?  I can dislike the state's gun laws and dislike the misleading reporting at the same time - they are not mutually exclusive.  

 

 

[SportsmanNH]

1 hour ago, Caeden4 said:

i didnt say Massachusetts gun laws arent restrictive. of course they are.  to clarify, yes this does say no semiauto shotguns. yes, that is restrictive. yes, it bothers me too. but thats not what the NRA reported. and it wasnt the subject of my post. 

what i said was that, contrary to what this NRA article claims, nonresidents do not require any sort of firearm identification card to hunt in the state, and it doesnt ban or prevent the use of muzzleloaders. 

there are definitely things to complain about and to challenge in court (IMHO, parts of it will be shot down by the courts bc they already have been in NY, e.g. bump stock), there is simply no reason for the NRA to keep making things up to scare people who either dont have the time to read, or dont have the ability to make sense of, these long and sometimes confusing bills. it pisses me off that the NRA has become just like everything else in that it only gives you misleading partial truths that serve its fundraising or political goals.  maybe youre not, but I am sick of being lied to.  

Is the NRA making this up about muzzleloaders , or are they warning hunters not to get caught in the technical unconstitutional laws that MA is creating . 

So that said ,  " Would You Like Fries Or Chips With Your Crow ? "   This is what the NRA is warning about on muzzleloaders . Read it carefully what MA calls a legal and illegal muzzy . For example my TC Encore Muzzleloader is ILLEGFAL to hunt with in MA because the receiver can except a center fire cartridge barrel just like many other muzzleloaders can including firearms that have been converted to a muzzleloader . If you can buy a centerfire rifle barrel for the gun , its illegal to use even though you dont have one

"Antique firearm”, any firearm manufactured in or before 1899 and any replica of any such firearm if such replica: (i) is not designed or redesigned for using rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition; or (ii) uses rimfire or conventional centerfire fixed ammunition that is no longer manufactured in the United States and that is not readily available in the ordinary channels of commercial trade. This includes any muzzle loading rifle, shotgun or pistol that is designed to use black powder, or a black powder substitute, and that cannot use fixed ammunition, except any weapon that incorporates a firearm frame or receiver, any firearm that is converted into a muzzle loading weapon, or any muzzle loading weapon that can be readily converted to fire fixed ammunition by replacing the barrel, bolt, breechblock, or any combination thereof.