Massachusetts gun owners have until October 28, 2026 to register any firearm that is not already in the state’s electronic transaction records, including “assault-style firearms” lawfully owned on or before August 1, 2024 and grandfathered under the 2024 gun law. That date comes from the state’s compliance guidance on Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024, and it lands six days before voters decide Question 9, the referendum that could repeal the law.
A word about that date. The statute sets no calendar deadline; Section 157 of Chapter 135 requires registration within one year after the state’s registration system became “completed and publicly available.” The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security’s Guidance #4, issued November 13, 2025, says individuals need not comply “until October 28, 2026.” A separate answer in the same document, and the Gun Owners’ Action League’s compliance page, both cite October 2, 2026 instead. An owner who wants zero risk should treat the earlier October date as the working deadline and confirm the current one with the Firearms Records Bureau.
This article is general information, not legal advice, and it takes no position on Chapter 135 or on Question 9.
Who Actually Has to File
The registration mandate is broader than most coverage suggests. New Section 121B of Chapter 140 says all firearms possessed, manufactured, or assembled in the Commonwealth “shall be registered,” and the implementing regulation, 501 CMR 19.00, applies that command to every firearm not specifically exempted. The saving grace for most owners: any transaction already recorded in MIRCS or the legacy systems counts as registered, so a gun bought through a Massachusetts dealer or reported on an FA-10 needs nothing further.
Everyone else needs to act before the deadline. Owners of grandfathered assault-style firearms, meaning guns that meet the new definition and were lawfully possessed here on or before August 1, 2024 by a license holder, must register them; amended Section 131M ties the grandfather protection itself to registration and serialization. Owners of ordinary firearms that never passed through the state’s records must file too. That category sweeps in guns bought before electronic reporting, guns brought along on a move into Massachusetts, unreported inherited guns, and privately made firearms. Registering does not legalize a gun that is otherwise unlawful to possess, a point GOAL warns about explicitly.
What Counts as an Assault-Style Firearm
Chapter 135 replaced the old “assault weapon” language with a new defined term. In plain English, an assault-style firearm is a semiautomatic rifle, pistol, or shotgun that accepts a detachable magazine and has at least two listed features, such as a folding or telescoping stock, a pistol grip, a threaded barrel, or a barrel shroud; anything on the state’s assault-style firearm roster; a set of enumerated models including the AK and AR-15 families, the UZI, the FN/FAL, the Steyr AUG, and the TEC-9; or a copy or duplicate of an enumerated gun, judged by interchangeable receivers or substantially similar internal components.
The copies-and-duplicates clause is the contested part. A federal lawsuit backed by gun rights groups, Hanlon v. Campbell, filed in August 2025, attacks the new definition; the court consolidated it in October 2025 into Capen v. Campbell, the longer-running challenge to the assault weapons ban pending before Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV in the District of Massachusetts. No court has enjoined the definition or the registration requirement as of this writing, so the deadline stands while the litigation continues. Our Massachusetts gun laws guide covers the wider Chapter 135 landscape.
How to File Through MIRCS, Step by Step
Registration runs through the MIRCS Firearms Licensing Portal, which went live for registration and serialization in October 2025. The regulation spells out the process.
- Gather your information. For each firearm: the type of gun, the acquisition date if known, the source’s name and address if known, and whether it is privately made, plus your LTC or FID number and expiration date.
- Create a portal account. Go to mircsportal.chs.state.ma.us/mircs-portal, register for an account, and accept the terms and conditions. Any internet-connected device works; there is no in-person step.
- Enter each firearm. The portal collects your name, address, phone, and email, your license details, and the firearm information. Under 501 CMR 19.03, details you genuinely do not know are required only “if presently known,” and photographs are not part of the submission.
- Sign the attestation. Each registration closes with a statement, under the penalties of perjury, that you are properly licensed or exempt and not otherwise prohibited. A false attestation is its own crime, one reason to get legal advice first if any gun’s status is in doubt.
- Serialize if needed. A firearm with a manufacturer’s serial number needs nothing further. An unserialized gun needs a unique serial number issued through the portal, permanently engraved to the regulation’s standards; most owners will want a dealer or gunsmith to do that work.
- Keep the confirmation. Save each firearm’s confirmation with your license paperwork.
No fee appears in the statute or 501 CMR 19.00 for registering. The Firearms Records Bureau does charge for a copy of your transaction history, which is the document to request if you are not sure whether a gun is already in the system. Guidance #4 adds that there is no penalty for registering a firearm a second time, so when the records are ambiguous, the cautious move is simply to file.
What Missing the Deadline Costs
Failure to register is a crime under Section 121B(e). A first offense carries a fine of up to $1,000. A second offense rises to a fine of up to $7,500, up to six months of imprisonment, or both, and a third or subsequent offense reaches $10,000 and one to five years. Non-registration is also grounds for suspension or permanent revocation of the owner’s LTC or FID, often the more consequential exposure.
Grandfathered assault-style firearms carry a second layer of risk. Section 131M exempts them from the possession ban only for owners who comply, and it punishes unlawful possession of an assault-style firearm with a fine of $1,000 to $10,000, imprisonment of one to ten years, or both, for a first offense. Whether a prosecutor could treat an unregistered but otherwise grandfathered rifle as unlawfully possessed has not been tested in court. No statutory safe harbor or grace period exists for late registration.
Exemptions Worth Knowing
Several categories sit outside the requirement. Antique firearms and permanently inoperable guns are excluded from the definition of “firearm” entirely. Guns already recorded in MIRCS or the legacy FA-10 system are exempt, as are dealer purchases, which the dealer records. Nonresidents lawfully traveling through the state with properly stored guns, federal government property, guns headed to police for destruction, and loans shorter than seven days are all outside the rule. Licensed dealers, gunsmiths, and manufacturers are covered rather than exempt: they must register imported inventory within seven days. No exemption exists for curio and relic collectors as such, though firearms made before October 22, 1968 are excused from serialization, and new residents and heirs get 60-day windows to file after acquiring a gun.
The Question 9 Wrinkle
The awkward part of this deadline is the calendar. Registration compliance comes due October 28, 2026. On November 3, 2026, voters decide Question 9, where a yes vote keeps Chapter 135 and a no vote repeals it. Owners are being asked to enter their guns into a state database days before an election that could eliminate the requirement.
State guidance treats the deadlines as standing: the referendum did not suspend the law, which has been in effect since October 2, 2024, and compliance runs on the statutory schedule regardless of what happens at the polls. On the other side, GOAL, which is campaigning for a no vote, publishes the compliance deadlines for its members while cautioning that EOPSS guidance is “just guidance” that the Attorney General, district attorneys, and courts have not endorsed, and warning that the portal will accept registrations for guns the filer cannot lawfully possess. Attorneys advising owners in this spot weigh the certainty of criminal exposure for missing the deadline against a client’s reluctance to register before the vote; that is a conversation to have individually with counsel, not a choice this article can make for anyone.
None of that changes the legal baseline. Chapter 135 is in force today, no court has enjoined the registration provisions, and a repeal, if it happens, would arrive after the deadline has already passed. An owner who waits for the election results is choosing to be out of compliance during the gap, whatever the voters ultimately decide.
Where to Get Authoritative Help
To learn whether a specific gun is already registered, request your transaction history from the Firearms Records Bureau through the firearms services section of mass.gov. The Department of Criminal Justice Information Services runs the MIRCS portal, and EOPSS publishes the Chapter 135 guidance letters; its main line is (617) 727-7775. Licensed dealers work in the system daily and can often walk a customer through a registration at the counter. For anything touching the assault-style definition or the register-versus-wait question, an hour with a Massachusetts firearms attorney costs little next to the penalty schedule above.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the deadline to register?
EOPSS Guidance #4 states that individuals must comply with the registration and serialization requirements by October 28, 2026, under Section 157 of Chapter 135. The same document elsewhere cites October 2, 2026, as does GOAL’s compliance page, and the discrepancy has not been publicly resolved. Cautious owners should aim for the earlier date and verify with the Firearms Records Bureau.
What counts as an assault-style firearm?
Semiautomatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns with two or more listed features such as a pistol grip, folding stock, or threaded barrel, plus enumerated models like the AK and AR-15 families and their copies or duplicates, judged by interchangeable receivers or substantially similar internals. That copies-and-duplicates language is being challenged in the consolidated Capen and Hanlon litigation in federal court, but it remains enforceable while the case is pending.
What happens if I don’t register?
Failure to register carries a fine of up to $1,000 for a first offense, up to $7,500 and six months for a second, and up to $10,000 and one to five years for a third, plus possible suspension or permanent revocation of your LTC or FID. For a grandfathered assault-style firearm, non-registration may also jeopardize the grandfather protection itself, and unlawful possession of an assault-style firearm carries one to ten years. There is no grace period or safe harbor for late filing.
Is registration free?
Yes. Neither Section 121B nor 501 CMR 19.00 imposes any fee for registering through the MIRCS portal, and no photographs are required. The Firearms Records Bureau charges a fee for a copy of your transaction history, and having an unserialized gun professionally engraved will cost whatever the dealer or gunsmith charges.
If Question 9 repeals the law, was registering pointless?
Not legally. Registration satisfied an obligation that was in force when the deadline passed, and complying protected the owner from penalties and license consequences during the gap between the deadline and any repeal. What a repeal would mean for the data already collected, including whether records would be retained or purged, is a question no official source has answered; owners who care about it should raise it with counsel or their legislators rather than assume either outcome.