Can I Travel Through Massachusetts With a Firearm?

Federal law lets you drive through Massachusetts with a firearm even if you don’t hold a Massachusetts license, but only if the gun is unloaded, locked away from the passenger compartment, and you keep moving. The federal protection covering this is narrow, and Massachusetts imposes an 18-month mandatory minimum jail sentence for unlawful possession, with no probation or parole until that time is served.¹ Get the details right before your tires touch I-90.

The Federal Rule That Lets You Transit

The Firearm Owners Protection Act, at 18 U.S.C. § 926A, allows interstate transport of a firearm through a restrictive state if you can legally possess and carry the gun both where your trip starts and where it ends.² No Massachusetts permit is required for the transit itself. No notification to state authorities. No registration.

What FOPA covers is the act of passing through. It does not authorize you to carry the firearm on your person in Massachusetts, use it there, or access it while you’re inside the state’s borders. It is legal cover for the drive, and nothing more.

How to Store the Firearm in Your Vehicle

FOPA’s protection depends entirely on storage. The firearm must be unloaded, and neither the gun nor the ammunition can be readily accessible from the passenger compartment.²

If your car has a separate trunk, putting the unloaded firearm and ammunition in the trunk meets the federal standard. The statute doesn’t technically require the trunk to be locked or the ammunition to sit in a different container from the gun. Even so, a locked hard-sided case inside the trunk is the safer practice. If an officer stops you, you want zero ambiguity about whether your setup complies.

SUVs, pickups, and hatchbacks are treated differently because they lack a separate trunk. In those vehicles, the firearm or ammunition must be in a locked container, and the glove compartment and center console are explicitly excluded.² A locked hard-sided gun case in the cargo area is the accepted approach. A soft case with a cable lock tucked behind the back seat is not a risk worth taking in a mandatory-minimum state.

One common misconception is worth correcting. FOPA does not require ammunition to be kept in a container separate from the firearm. The gun has to be unloaded, and everything has to be inaccessible from where people sit. Ammunition can ride in the same locked case as the unloaded firearm. Separating them is a precaution some travelers take, not a legal requirement.

What Counts as Passing Through

FOPA covers you while you are in transit. The federal shield disappears the moment your trip through Massachusetts stops being a trip through Massachusetts, and once it disappears, state law governs everything about your possession of the gun.

Brief stops for fuel, food at a rest area, or a restroom are consistent with continuous travel. The firearm stays locked, you get back on the road.

An overnight hotel stay is different. A federal appeals court ruled that a traveler whose flight was diverted overnight lost FOPA’s protection the moment he retrieved his luggage, because his firearm and ammunition became “readily accessible” during the overnight stay. That stay fell outside the statute’s scope of vehicular transport.³ The court rejected the idea that FOPA covers a whole journey as long as the traveler intends to keep going eventually.

Visiting a friend, sightseeing, or stopping for a business meeting fall outside continuous travel for the same reason. Any stop with a purpose other than getting through the state exposes you to Massachusetts firearms law in full.

FOPA Doesn’t Stop an Arrest

This is the point most travelers misjudge. FOPA is an affirmative defense, not a bar on arrest. It gives you an argument to make in court after you’ve been charged. It does not prevent a Massachusetts officer from putting you in handcuffs at the roadside.

From the officer’s vantage point, discovering a firearm during a traffic stop is a person possessing a firearm without a Massachusetts license. That is probable cause under state law. You’ll likely be booked, your firearm seized, and your compliance with FOPA raised as a defense later. Mentioning FOPA to the officer may or may not change how the encounter unfolds, but it is not a legal obstacle to the arrest.

Federal courts have read FOPA this way consistently. In Revell, the Third Circuit held that a traveler arrested despite FOPA compliance has to pursue a Fourth Amendment challenge to the arrest rather than a freestanding FOPA claim.³ Doing everything right doesn’t guarantee you avoid arrest or easily recover damages afterward. You’d fight the charge in court and prove every element of compliance.

Banned Magazines and Assault-Style Firearms

Massachusetts prohibits possession of assault-style firearms and large-capacity feeding devices. A large-capacity feeding device is any magazine holding more than ten rounds of ammunition or more than five shotgun shells.⁴ The ban was updated effective August 1, 2024, and there is no exception for non-residents passing through.

A first offense for unlawful possession of one of these items carries one to ten years in prison, a fine of $1,000 to $10,000, or both.⁵

Whether FOPA protects transit of a banned item through Massachusetts is genuinely unsettled. The federal statute overrides state restrictions for the limited purpose of transport, but Massachusetts law provides no non-resident carve-out. An officer who finds a prohibited magazine in your vehicle has grounds to arrest under state law, and you’d raise FOPA as an affirmative defense with no guarantee of success. The legal exposure is heavy enough that traveling through Massachusetts with an assault-style firearm or a magazine holding more than ten rounds is best avoided entirely.

What the Penalties Look Like

Unlawful firearm possession in Massachusetts is a felony with hard mandatory minimums. Carrying a firearm without a valid Massachusetts license carries a mandatory minimum of 18 months in jail and a maximum of five years in state prison. The statute expressly forbids judges from suspending the sentence, granting probation, or allowing parole until 18 months are served. Prosecutors cannot continue the case without a finding or place it on file.¹

Possession of a large-capacity firearm or large-capacity feeding device without a license runs even higher: two and a half to ten years in state prison, with a one-year mandatory minimum served before any release eligibility.¹

These minimums are built into the statute in a way that ties a judge’s hands. A storage mistake or a wrong turn is not going to be resolved with a fine and a warning.

Getting a Massachusetts Non-Resident License

If you drive through Massachusetts often, or your route runs any risk of an overnight stop or unexpected delay, a non-resident license to carry firearms is the way to remove most of the legal exposure. The license is issued by the Firearms Records Bureau.⁶

The fee is $100, and the license is valid for one year from the date of issue with no grace period for renewal. New applicants must complete a Massachusetts Basic Firearms Safety Course. Applications go through the state’s gun licensing portal or by mail to the Firearms Records Bureau.⁶

A non-resident license gives you something FOPA cannot: affirmative authority to possess the firearm in Massachusetts rather than a defense you raise after arrest. It does not override the ban on assault-style firearms or large-capacity feeding devices, so those restrictions still apply regardless of license status.

1
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 269 Section 10
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 926A – Interstate Transportation of Firearms
3
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Revell v. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
4
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Superior Court Model Criminal Jury Instructions – Unlawful Possession of Large-Capacity Weapon or Feeding Device
5
General Court of Massachusetts. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 140 Section 131M
6
Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Apply for or Renew a Firearms License