Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140 § 131Q

Current through Chapter 89 of the 2024 Legislative Session

Section 140:131Q - Tracing of firearms used to carry out criminal activity; statistical data; report

A firearm, rifle or shotgun, large capacity weapon, machine gun or assault weapon used to carry out a criminal act shall be traced by the licensing authority for the city or town in which the crime took place. The licensing authority shall report statistical data, when the data is readily available as determined by the chief of police, including, but not limited to:

(i) the make, model, serial number and caliber of the weapon used;

(ii) the type of crime committed;

(iii) whether an arrest or conviction was made;

(iv) whether fingerprint evidence was found on the firearm;

(v) whether ballistic evidence was retrieved from the crime scene;

(vi) whether the criminal use of the firearm was related to known gang activity;

(vii) whether the weapon was obtained illegally;

(viii) whether the weapon was lost or stolen; and

(ix) whether the person using the weapon was otherwise a prohibited person.

The data shall be reported to the commonwealth fusion center or the criminal firearms and trafficking unit within the division of investigation and intelligence in the department of state police established pursuant to section 6 of chapter 22C. The colonel of state police shall produce an annual report by December 31 of each year regarding crimes committed in the commonwealth using firearms, rifles or shotguns, large capacity weapons, machine guns or assault weapons, including all of the categories of data contained in this section, and shall submit a copy of the report to the joint committee on public safety and homeland security, the clerks of the house of representatives and the senate and, upon request, to criminology, public policy and public health researchers and other law enforcement agencies.

Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 140, § 131Q

Added by Acts 2014, c. 284,§ 70, eff. 1/1/2015.