Massachusetts prices its firearm licenses in the statute itself. The amount is not a local budget decision, and it does not move from one city to the...
Reviewed by Will Luker, Founder of CCW Hub. USCCA Training Counselor, USCCA Certified Instructor, NRA Certified Instructor, Law Enforcement.
Massachusetts prices its firearm licenses in the statute itself. The amount is not a local budget decision, and it does not move from one city to the next. One sentence of the General Laws fixes the number, splits it three ways, and tells your police department how much of it they are allowed to keep.
That sentence sits in a section of the General Laws that did not exist before 2024. If you are working from an older guide, a printed application packet, or a police department webpage that has not been rewritten since, check the citation it gives you against the current code. A dollar amount can still be right while the section number attached to it points nowhere.
The fee authority is MGL c. 140, s. 121F, whose official heading reads in part "Process for obtaining permit, card or license ... appeals; fees; expiration; reinstatement." Subsections (n) through (q) carry all of it.
Section 121F was inserted into chapter 140 by SECTION 32 of Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024, the act titled "An Act Modernizing Firearm Laws," approved July 25, 2024, and it is the section that now carries the fee schedule. Section 131 as it stands today is a short list of conditions running only through subsection (h), and none of those subsections mentions money. Section 129B does not price the FID card either. If a guide sends you to a subsection of s. 131 for the license fee, read the current text of s. 131 before you rely on it.
Section 121F(o) opens with the operative words: "Unless otherwise stated in this section the fee for an application or renewal of ..." and then names the amounts. There is no delegation to the licensing authority, no cap-and-floor arrangement, no local option. The licensing authority collects, and s. 121F(n) directs that fees be "payable to the issuing licensing authority," but the licensing authority does not choose the number.
Every amount below is set in statute, not by a licensing authority. The source column gives the controlling citation and the enactment behind it.
| What you are applying for | Fee | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| License to Carry (s. 131), new or renewal | $100 | MGL c. 140, s. 121F(o)(i), inserted by St. 2024, c. 135, s. 32, approved July 25, 2024; text retrieved August 13, 2026 |
| Firearm Identification card (s. 129B), applicant 18 or over, new or renewal | $100 | MGL c. 140, s. 121F(o)(i), same enactment and retrieval date |
| Firearm Identification card (s. 129B) for a person under 18 | $25 | MGL c. 140, s. 121F(o)(iii), same enactment and retrieval date |
| License to Carry for active and retired law enforcement officials, or for local, state or federal government entities acting on their behalf | $25 | MGL c. 140, s. 121F(o)(ii), same enactment and retrieval date |
| Self-defense spray permit (s. 122D) | $25 | MGL c. 140, s. 121F(o)(iii), same enactment and retrieval date |
| Permit to purchase, rent or lease a firearm (s. 131A), valid for not more than ten days after issue | $100 | MGL c. 140, s. 131A, first and second paragraphs; text retrieved August 13, 2026 |
| Temporary or non-resident license to carry (s. 131F), one-year term | $100 | MGL c. 140, s. 131F, fourth paragraph; text retrieved August 15, 2026 |
| Initial certification as a firearms safety instructor | $50 | MGL c. 140, s. 131P(b) in the earlier text and s. 131P(b)(iii) as amended by St. 2024, c. 135, s. 74; the figure is identical in both, so the disputed effective date discussed below does not change it; retrieved August 13, 2026 |
| Renewal of firearms safety instructor certification | $10 | MGL c. 140, s. 131P(b) in the earlier text and s. 131P(b)(iii) as amended; the figure is identical in both; retrieved August 13, 2026 |
The $100 figure in s. 121F(o)(i) attaches to "any license, card or permit," which is why the LTC and the adult FID carry the same price. The two $25 categories are the stated exceptions.
Renewal costs the same as an initial application. Subsection (o) prices "an application or renewal" as a single item and never distinguishes between them, so there is no separate renewal schedule to look up.
Massachusetts does not simply hand the fee to the town. Section 121F(o)(i) splits the $100 into three fixed shares:
All four figures in that split, the $100, the $25, the $50, and the $50,000 board allocation, come from MGL c. 140, s. 121F(o)(i), inserted by St. 2024, c. 135, s. 32, text retrieved August 13, 2026.
The $25 law enforcement fee under (o)(ii) and the $25 juvenile FID and spray permit fee under (o)(iii) each split 50 percent to the licensing authority and 50 percent to the General Fund.
The $100 permit-to-purchase fee under s. 131A splits the same way as the license fee: $25 retained by the licensing authority, $50 to the general fund of the commonwealth, and $25 to the Firearms Fingerprint Identity Verification Trust Fund.
Read that $100 against what it buys. The first paragraph of s. 131A provides that such permits "shall be valid for not more than ten days after issue." The same $100 that buys a license to carry good for 5 to 6 years buys a purchase, rent or lease permit good for ten days, and s. 131A adds that the licensing authority "may revoke such permit at will." Budget it per ten-day window rather than per year, and remember that the fee "shall not be prorated or refunded in case of revocation or denial."
Section 121F(n) adds two rules that matter to an applicant. First, the fee "shall not be prorated or refunded in case of revocation or denial." If your application is denied, the money is gone. Second, licensing authorities must deposit all fees into the specified funds quarterly, no later than January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1 of each year. That second rule is housekeeping for the department, but it tells you the split is enforced rather than aspirational.
Section 121F(p) waives the renewal fee for two groups:
Read the subsection precisely. It exempts these applicants "from the requirement of paying a renewal fee." It is written as a renewal exemption, not a blanket exemption covering a first-time application.
Section 121F(q) adds a narrower waiver on the dealer side: a person holding a license to sell under s. 122 "shall not be assessed any additional fee for a gunsmith's license."
An LTC is valid for not more than 6 years and expires on the birthday anniversary falling not less than 5 nor more than 6 years from the date of issue, under MGL c. 140, s. 131(e). An FID card runs on the same clock under s. 129B(d). Both sections send a license issued on February 29 to a March 1 expiration.
The Department of Criminal Justice Information Services must send you an expiration notice, electronically or by first class mail, not less than 90 days before the license expires, and must enclose or link a renewal form, under s. 121F(r). That form includes an affidavit verifying you have not lost or had stolen any firearm since your last renewal or issuance, plus notice of the penalties that apply if you do not renew and stay in possession of firearms.
Section 121F(s) keeps an expired license alive in three situations: you applied for renewal before the expiration date, in which case the license stays valid until the application is approved or denied; you were on active duty with the armed forces on the expiration date, which extends validity through release plus at least 180 days; or the expiration is not yet more than 90 days past the stated date, unless the license has been revoked or suspended.
Past that, the money consequence is in s. 121F(t). A person in possession of an LTC or FID that is invalid for the sole reason that it expired, who is not otherwise disqualified from renewal, "shall be subject to a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $5,000 and section 10 of chapter 269 shall not apply." That fine range comes from MGL c. 140, s. 121F(t), inserted by St. 2024, c. 135, s. 32, approved July 25, 2024, text retrieved August 13, 2026.
The second half of that sentence is the part worth reading twice. Chapter 269, s. 10 is the carrying-without-a-license statute. A person who knowingly possesses a firearm, or knowingly has one under control in a vehicle, without a license in effect under s. 131 or s. 131F and without another listed exemption "shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not less than two and one-half years nor more than five years, or for not less than 18 months nor more than two and one-half years in a jail or house of correction." The same subsection adds that the sentence "shall not be reduced to less than 18 months, nor suspended," and that the person is not eligible for probation, parole, work release, or furlough, or for any good conduct deduction, until 18 months have been served. That is MGL c. 269, s. 10(a), text retrieved August 13, 2026. What s. 121F(t) does is replace that exposure, for the expired-license case only, with the $100 to $5,000 fine. That relief does not apply if the license was revoked or suspended, is the subject of pending revocation or suspension, or has had a renewal application denied. The narrow exception in each case is a revocation or suspension caused only by failure to give notice of a change of address.
Expiration also has a hardware cost. An officer who finds a person in possession of a firearm more than 90 days past the stated expiration date must confiscate the firearm and the expired license, forward the license to the issuing authority, and give the person a written inventory and receipt. The confiscated firearm is treated as surrendered under s. 129D, and s. 121F(t) provides that it "shall be returned to the owner if proof of license or permit reinstatement is provided within 1 year of confiscation."
No LTC issues without a basic firearms safety certificate meeting the requirements of s. 131P. That is s. 131(b), flat and unconditional.
Section 131P prices exactly two things, and neither is your class. The Department of State Police "may impose a fee of $50 for initial issuance" of instructor certification "to offset the cost of certifying instructors," and "the fee for certification renewal shall be $10." Those words appear in s. 131P(b) of the earlier text and again, unchanged, in s. 131P(b)(iii) of the text as amended by St. 2024, c. 135, s. 74. Text retrieved from malegislature.gov August 13, 2026.
When that amended text takes effect is not settled, and you should know that before you trust a date you see quoted elsewhere. The editor note on malegislature.gov says the section "as amended by 2024, 135, Sec. 74" is "effective January 25, 2026," pointing to "2024, 135, Sec. 159 as amended by 2024, 206, Sec. 51." EOPSS gives April 2, 2026. Its guidance says a licensing authority may keep accepting certificates under the older requirements "until section 74 takes effect, on April 2, 2026," its legislative report says the live fire requirement "takes effect 18 months after the effective date of the Act, which is approximately April 2, 2026," and the approved basic firearms safety course list published on mass.gov heads its older block of courses "Valid until April 2, 2026."
The section numbering behind that disagreement is settled in the session laws, even if the date is not. Chapter 135 as enacted reads "SECTION 159. Sections 38 and 75 shall take effect 18 months after the effective date of this act," naming section 75 rather than section 74. SECTION 51 of chapter 206 of the Acts of 2024, approved September 16, 2024, struck that section out and inserted in place of it: "SECTION 159. Sections 38 and 74 shall take effect 18 months after the effective date of this act." Section 74, the one that rewrites s. 131P, is therefore the section running on the 18-month clock. What the two agencies still disagree about is where that clock lands, so confirm the date with your licensing authority before you rely on it.
For the money, none of that matters. Both the earlier and the amended text of s. 131P carry the same $50 initial certification fee and the same $10 renewal fee, so the instructor fees are the same figures whichever date controls.
What a student pays for the course is not set anywhere in s. 131P. The statute governs curriculum content, instructor certification, and the certificate itself. The amended text adds a written examination on top of that: s. 131P(b)(i) directs the colonel to "create a written examination and establish minimum requirements to pass said examination that shall be used in all firearm safety courses or programs mandated under this section." The earlier text has no examination. What the statute never governs, in either version, is price. That is left to the instructor. Do not expect a statutory number here, and treat any guide that quotes one as a statutory figure with suspicion.
The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security published its "Legislative Report on the Live Firearm Training Component of the Basic Firearms Safety Certificate Requirement" on July 2, 2025, required by SECTION 152 of Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024. Its cost analysis reported that "classes without a live fire component ranged in cost from $80 to $150" and "classes with a live fire component ranged from $120 to $199."
Read that with the report's own qualifications attached. It states that "a small subset of courses from across Massachusetts were used in the research," and that at the time of writing "new live fire certification requirements are not finalized and updated courses are not yet approved by MSP." These are observed prices from a limited sample as of July 2025, not a fee schedule and not a cap. The statute that prompted the report directed EOPSS to recommend how to ensure live fire training "does not become cost prohibitive," which is the legislature acknowledging that the requirement carries a price it did not fix.
Live firearms training is now an element of the approved curriculum under s. 131P(b)(ii)(H), and s. 131P(c)(i) conditions the certificate on class participation, satisfactory completion of the written examination prescribed by the colonel, and live firearms training. The two halves of your total cost behave differently. The statutory fees are fixed in s. 121F and change only when the legislature changes them. Course prices are set by each instructor, and the EOPSS ranges above are what a small July 2025 sample was charging rather than a schedule anyone is held to.
Two more dollar figures in s. 131P are penalties, and one of them is aimed squarely at instructors. Under s. 131P(d), a person applying for a license or card who "knowingly files or submits a basic firearms safety certificate to a licensing authority which contains false information" shall be punished by "a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000 or by imprisonment for not more than 2 years in a house of correction, or by both." Under s. 131P(e), a firearms safety instructor "who knowingly issues a basic firearms safety certificate to a person who has not successfully completed a firearms safety course approved by the colonel" shall be punished by "a fine of not less than $5,000 nor more than $10,000 or by imprisonment for not more than 2 years in a house of correction, or by both." Both fine ranges are identical in the earlier and the amended text of s. 131P. Text retrieved August 13, 2026.
The non-resident fee is priced in its own section rather than in the s. 121F schedule. Section 121F(n) names sections 122, 122D, 129B, and 131 when it directs where fees are paid, and it does not name s. 131F, the non-resident and temporary license section, though s. 121F(o)(i) does speak broadly of "any license, card or permit." Section 131F carries its own fee sentence: "The fee for an application for the license shall be $100, which shall be payable to the licensing authority and shall not be prorated or refunded in case of revocation or denial." It splits three ways exactly as the resident fee does, with $25 retained by the licensing authority, $50 to the general fund of the commonwealth, and $25 to the Firearms Fingerprint Identity Verification Trust Fund. mass.gov (DCJIS and EOPSS, "Apply for or renew a firearms license," retrieved August 13, 2026) carries the same $100 in its fee table as a "Non-Resident Firearms License" fee.
The renewal cycle costs a non-resident more than the fee alone suggests. Section 131F provides: "Such license shall be valid for a period of one year but the colonel may renew such license if such renewal is necessary." A resident license to carry runs 5 to 6 years under s. 131(e), so a non-resident pays that $100 every year where a resident pays it once per multi-year cycle. Section 131F carries carve-outs from the one-year term. A license issued to a non-resident in the employ of a bank, a public utility corporation, a firm in the business of transferring monies or a business of similar nature, or a firm licensed as a private detective under chapter 147, whose application is endorsed by his employer, or to a member of the armed services stationed within the commonwealth who has the written consent of his commanding officer, "may be issued for any term not to exceed two years." mass.gov adds two practical points: "There is no grace period for non-resident firearms licenses," and "You must apply for a non-resident license to carry firearms through the Firearms Records Bureau," rather than through a local police department (mass.gov, DCJIS and EOPSS, retrieved August 13, 2026).
Any local surcharge, fingerprinting charge, or processing charge. Nothing in s. 121F authorizes one, and no such charge appears in the statutory text. If a licensing authority asks for money beyond the statutory fee, ask which statute authorizes it.
The statute is the fee schedule. Read MGL c. 140, s. 121F(n) through (q) directly at malegislature.gov, confirm the amount that matches your application type, and check whether the s. 121F(p) age or law enforcement renewal waiver applies to you. Bring the s. 121F(b) receipt requirement to mind as well: on receiving your application, the licensing authority must give you a receipt recording your name and address, the date received, the authority that received it, the application type, and whether it is new or a renewal. Keep it. It is your proof of the filing date, and under s. 121F(s)(i) the filing date is what keeps an expiring license valid while the application is pending.
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