Review of the Commonwealth’s Firearms License Permitting Process

This is a State Auditor performance audit of how Massachusetts processed firearm license permits from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2016.

“I am pleased to provide this performance audit of the Commonwealth’s firearms license permitting process, which is coordinated by your department.”

Auditors checked whether licenses were processed on time and whether local police access to the state licensing system was properly controlled.

“In this performance audit, we examined the Commonwealth’s firearms license permitting process to determine whether it was completed within the 40-day timeframe required by Section 131(e) of Chapter 140 of the General Laws and whether DCJIS had established adequate access controls over MIRCS for local police departments.”

The law says applicants should get an approval or denial within 40 days, but many did not.

“The licensing authority shall, within 40 days from the date of application, either approve the application and issue the license or deny the application and notify the applicant of the reason for such denial in writing.”

If you applied for a firearm license, the audit says delays could mean waiting much longer than the legal deadline, including for work or protection reasons.

“As a result of the processing delays, applicants who needed a firearm for their employment or desired one for protection may have had to wait for extended periods.”

Approved applications took 65 days on average, which was 25 days longer than the 40-day requirement.

“Our analysis of the 114,522 approved applications that were completed3 through the Massachusetts Instant Record Check System (MIRCS) during our audit period showed that the firearms license permitting process took the Commonwealth an average of 65 days to complete, which is 25 days longer than the state-mandated 40-day timeframe.”

The auditor recommended that DCJIS work with local licensing authorities that were missing the deadline to look for ways to improve processing time.

“DCJIS should collaborate with local licensing authorities that are struggling with meeting the mandated timeframe for processing firearms licensing permits to discuss what measures, if any, can be taken by either DCJIS or the local licensing authorities to address this problem.”

The problem was widespread: only 38 of 347 licensing authorities met the required timeframe during the audit period.

“Of the 347 local licensing authorities that used MIRCS during our audit period,4 only 38 (11%) had completed the process within the required timeframe.”

DCJIS is the state agency coordinating the process, and MIRCS is the web system used for firearm licensing and background checks.

“This information is managed with a Web-based firearms licensing and point-of-sale system known as the Massachusetts Instant Record Check System (MIRCS), which DCJIS uses in collaboration with the Massachusetts State Police, the Department of Mental Health, and local PDs to process all firearms license permits.”