GREENFIELD — While Massachusetts gun regulations are stricter than most, they still can’t guarantee against an Orlando-style attack in which the alleged shooter, Omar Mateen, used an AR-15 assault-style rifle even though he had been investigated twice by the FBI.
“We have some of the strictest gun laws in the country,” Whately Police Chief James Sevigne said Tuesday. Massachusetts, for example, is among a handful in the country, that bans possession and sale of certain semi-automatic assault-style weapons.
But while state and federal background checks are required for buying firearms here, there is no way police chiefs who issue gun permits will necessarily know about mental health histories or FBI checks that don’t result in arrests — which are issues raised in the Orlando case.
Before residents can even apply for a gun permit, they must take a firearms safety course, overseen by the state, that show the applicant how to use a gun, explain firearms safety and offer live-fire opportunities.
After the course has been completed, the local police department interviews the applicant and runs a background investigation.
Then, the State Firearms Bureau conducts a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), a federal level investigation that uses an FBI database. In the case of Mateen, he was not on a federal watch list when he bought his weapons, although he had been interviewed by the FBI twice in earlier years and placed for a time on a watch list.
Massachusetts also has its own background check, called the Massachusetts Instant Records Search (MIRCS), which flags, among other things, state court or restraining orders. The national database check doesn’t always catch records at a local level.
The application also requires two letters of reference. However, there is no mental health screening, because of federal health information privacy laws.
“We can’t (look at health records),” said Greenfield Police Chief Robert H. Haigh Jr. “I think there’s a huge, huge amount of discussion on that right now. If somebody has suicidal attempts in the past, or has thought about committing suicide with a gun and may have been seen by somebody, we just can’t know that (right now).”
Haigh said that if someone who had been previously investigated by the FBI or suffered from mental health problems tried to obtain a gun permit in Massachusetts, it is possible that they could be approved.
“If (that person) isn’t being flagged at a local level,” he said, “if they didn’t have anything on him, and unless there’s another agency coming forward, then theoretically, yes.”
There are three types of gun permits in Massachusetts: License to Carry (LTC) Class A, B and C permits. With a Class C license, also known as a Firearms Identification Card (FID), the permit carrier can own rifles. Class B allows for handguns, and Class A allows permit carriers to own high-capacity (10 rounds or more of ammunition) magazines.
All three permits are good for six years and cost $100.
“It’s a confusing myriad of regulations,” said Al Noyes, who, along with his wife, Christine, owns GrrGear, a store in Orange that sells guns. “In general, they work.”
But, Noyes said, the laws aren’t perfect.
He explained that active law enforcement personnel can buy a military-grade handgun with high-capacity magazines (more than 10 rounds), and then turn around and sell the weapon — which out of the box isn’t available to the general public — to anyone who has a Class A license.
“To me, it feels like a loophole,” he said. “It’s something that’s hard to regulate. Also, handguns manufactured before 1998, (which can have more than 10-round magazines), are grandfathered. So you have a lot of older, high-capacity guns out there, and they’re legal; they’re fine.”
State law bans possession, sale or purchase of semi-automatic assault rifles, defined in the same way as the now expired federal assault rifle ban, although such weapons purchased before 1994 are grandfathered. The law also bans certain semi-automatic shotguns and pistols that have specialized features like pistol grips, flash suppressors and detachable magazines.
According to a December 2015 letter from the state attorney general’s office to gun dealers, any gun transfers must be documented in a database. Dealers must also, among other things, conduct background checks on employees. The letter, signed by Attorney General Maura Healey, called attention to “the gun violence epidemic,” which “demands our collective action.”
You can reach Andy Castillo at:
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