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December 17, 2025 Clouds | 30°F
The 194th General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
  1. General Laws
  2. Part I ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
  3. Title XX PUBLIC SAFETY AND GOOD ORDER
  4. Chapter 140 LICENSES
  5. Section 128 Penalty for violation of statute on selling, renting or leasing weapons; evidence on sale of machine gun

Section 128

Section 128: Penalty for violation of statute on selling, renting or leasing weapons; evidence on sale of machine gun

[ First paragraph effective until October 2, 2024. For text effective October 2, 2024, see below.]

  Section 128. Any licensee under a license described in section one hundred and twenty-three, and any employee or agent of such a licensee, who violates any provision of said section required to be expressed in the second, fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth or twenty-first condition of said license, and except as provided in section one hundred and twenty-eight A, any person who, without being licensed as hereinbefore provided, sells, rents or leases a firearm, rifle, shotgun or machine gun, or is engaged in business as a gunsmith, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $10,000, or by imprisonment for not less than one year nor more than ten years, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

[ First paragraph as amended by 2024, 135, Sec. 40 effective October 2, 2024. For text effective until October 2, 2024, see above.]

  Whoever, licensed under section 122 or 122B, sells or furnishes a firearm or ammunition to any person without a firearm license card or permit shall have their license revoked and shall not be entitled to apply for such license for 10 years from the date of such revocation and shall be punished by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $10,000, by imprisonment in a state prison for not more than 10 years or house of correction for not more than 21/2 years or by both such fine and imprisonment; provided, however, that a valid permit to purchase issued under section 131A may permit certain firearm transfers to persons over 18 years of age. Any person who, without being licensed under section 122 or exempt as provided under section 129C, sells, rents, leases or otherwise transfers a firearm, or is engaged in business as a gunsmith, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $10,000, or by imprisonment for not less than 1 year nor more than 10 years, or by both such fine and imprisonment. Evidence that a person sold or attempted to sell a machine gun shall constitute prima facie evidence that such person is engaged in the business of selling machine guns.

  Evidence that a person sold or attempted to sell a machine gun without being licensed under section one hundred and twenty-three shall, in a prosecution under this section, constitute prima facie evidence that such person is engaged in the business of selling machine guns.