MASS Act

In a state that takes the grant, you would need a license when you buy, rent, or lease a gun or buy ammo. You would also need it the whole time you own one, and renew it on the state's schedule.

Police would run federal and state background checks, possibly with fingerprints, interviews, or reference letters. The state sets who is barred, weighing things like criminal record, protection orders, and age.

Anyone applying for a gun license for the first time would have to finish a safety course. The bill does not say how long the course is.

The local police chief, or someone they pick in the same department, would be the licensing office. That office approves, denies, suspends, or takes away licenses under state rules.

States would have to let applicants and license holders ask a court to review a denial or loss of a license. A denial could not be based on race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Anyone who sells, rents, or leases more than a state-set number of guns a year would need a dealer license. That number can be no higher than 10, and any ammo seller needs one too.

States must set rules for where dealers sell, how they record sales, and checks on their workers. States may also require a shop that is not a home, plus record and inventory inspections.

Dealers and private sellers would have to confirm a buyer's license is valid before selling a gun or ammo. A dealer shown an invalid or expired license must tell the licensing office.

Dealers and private sellers would report all gun sales, rentals, and leases, and all ammo sales, to state officials. The state would also share license records among its agencies.

You could not use your license to buy a gun or ammo for someone who would use it illegally. You also could not buy one to resell or hand to a person without a license.

States would set up a way for a family member to ask a court for an extreme risk protection order. Such an order bars a person seen as a danger from having guns or ammo for a time the state sets.

People who lose their license or are denied one would have to give up or transfer their guns and ammo. The same applies to anyone under an extreme risk or domestic violence protection order.

It would be illegal to keep a gun anywhere unless it is in a locked container or has a lock that stops others from firing it. A gun you are carrying or have under your control does not count.

A license holder whose gun or ammo is lost or stolen would have to report it to the licensing office and state officials. The state sets the deadline and how to report.