The Massachusetts license to carry

In Massachusetts a judge, the board of police or the mayor of a city, or the selectmen of a town could license a person to carry a pistol or revolver if the applicant had good reason to fear an injury to person or property, or another proper purpose, and was a suitable person (General Laws, c. 140, s. 131). From 27 August 1922 (an Act of that year, in force ninety days after its approval) the license ran for a year at most, was revocable at will, and was issued on forms furnished by the Commissioner of Public Safety, a copy sent to him within the week; every older license lapsed on 1 January 1923. From 27 August 1926 a separate permit, valid ten days, was needed to buy, rent or lease a pistol or revolver (s. 131A), and the dealer took it up and sent it to the Commissioner. From 26 July 1927 the license could also cover the possession of a machine gun; the text of that year shows it already refused, by an amendment of 1925, to an unnaturalized person, a felon, and anyone convicted of the unlawful use or sale of drugs.

The Commissioner's forms have not been found, so the license Bearer prints is set on the words of the law, and the office says so above it. For investigators out of Miskatonic University, the Board of Police of the City of Arkham is the authority to write in.

Bearer makes an investigator's papers for Call of Cthulhu and any 1920s or 1930s tabletop campaign: the passport a consul would have filled in, with the visas and frontier stamps a campaign leaves in it, and the permits, certificates and tickets of the period, to print or to share.

An example

Open this example in the office

The paper

A reconstruction

This paper is a reconstruction. The General Laws of Massachusetts, read in their texts of 1921 and 1932 and in the Acts of 1922, 1926 and 1927 that changed them (each in force ninety days after its approval), say who licensed a person to carry a pistol or revolver (a judge, a city's board of police or mayor, a town's selectmen), on what grounds, for how long (a year at most, revocable at will) and to whom it was refused; the licenses were issued on forms furnished by the Commissioner of Public Safety, which have not been found. Every word of the form is set on the law.

The same paper elsewhere

• Pistol licences by state

Still to be confirmed

• the whole form. What would settle it: a Massachusetts license to carry of 1921 to 1939.

Sources

• Commonwealth of Massachusetts, The General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, enacted 22 December 1920, in force 1 January 1921, vol. II, chapter 140, section 131, The justice of a court or a trial justice, the board of police or mayor of a city, or the selectmen of a town, or persons authorized by them may, upon the application of any person, issue a license to such person to carry a pistol or revolver in the commonwealth if it appears that the applicant has good reason to fear an injury to his person or property or for any other proper purpose, and that he is a suitable person to be so licensed (read directly)
• Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Tercentenary Edition of the General Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (the General Laws as amended before 1 January 1932), vol. II, chapter 140, sections 129A, 130, 131, 131A, s. 131: a license to carry a pistol or revolver in the commonwealth or to possess therein a machine gun, to an applicant residing or having a place of business within the jurisdiction, except an unnaturalized person, a felon or one convicted of the unlawful use or sale of drugs; issued by the justice of a court, the board of police or mayor of a city, the selectmen of a town or the commissioner of public safety; for a term not to exceed one year, revocable at will; issued on forms furnished by the commissioner, a copy sent to him within one week (1922, 485; 1926, 395; 1927, 326); s. 131A: a permit to purchase, rent or lease a pistol or revolver, on the commissioner's forms, valid for not more than ten days (1926, 395); s. 129A: no unnaturalized foreign-born person may own or possess a firearm without a permit to carry (1922, 485) (read directly)
• Commonwealth of Massachusetts; on the Internet Archive, Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts, 1922: chapter 485, An Act relative to the sale and carrying of firearms (approved 29 May 1922), and the Constitution, Amendments, art. XLVIII, The Referendum, I, c. 485 s. 9: G. L. c. 140 § 131 struck out and replaced (the justice of a court or a trial justice, the board of police or mayor of a city, the selectmen of a town, or the commissioner of public safety, may issue a license to carry a pistol or revolver in the commonwealth if it appears that the applicant has good reason to fear an injury to his person or property or for any other proper purpose, and that he is a suitable person; for a term not to exceed one year, revocable at will; issued on forms furnished by the commissioner of public safety, a copy sent to him within one week); s. 11: every license issued before expires on 1 January 1923. Art. XLVIII: no law passed by the general court shall take effect earlier than ninety days after it has become a law, excepting emergency laws (read directly)
• Commonwealth of Massachusetts; on the Internet Archive, Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts, 1925: chapter 284, An Act relative to the sale, rental, leasing and carrying of certain firearms (approved 29 April 1925), s. 4: G. L. c. 140 § 131 replaced: the license refused to an unnaturalized person, a person convicted of a felony or of the unlawful use or sale of drugs, or a minor other than one of fifteen or over employed by a bank, public utility corporation or like business whose application is endorsed by his employer; the applicant to reside or have a place of business within the issuing jurisdiction; revocation notified in writing to the commissioner of public safety (read directly)
• Commonwealth of Massachusetts; on the Internet Archive, Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts, 1926: chapter 395, An Act regulating the sale, rental and leasing of certain firearms and prohibiting loans of money thereon (approved 29 May 1926), s. 3: new G. L. c. 140 § 131A, a permit to purchase, rent or lease a pistol or revolver, to a person qualified for a license and not a minor, if the purchase is for a proper purpose, revocable at will, issued on forms furnished by the commissioner of public safety, valid for not more than ten days after issue, a copy to the commissioner within one week; § 131B, no loan on a pistol or revolver; s. 1, § 123, eighth and ninth conditions: the dealer takes up the permit and endorses on it the time and place of the sale (read directly)
• Commonwealth of Massachusetts; on the Internet Archive, Acts and Resolves of Massachusetts, 1927: chapter 326 (approved 27 April 1927), s. 1: a machine gun defined (any gun of small arm calibre designed for rapid fire and operated by a mechanism, or any gun which operates automatically after the first shot); s. 3: § 131 amended, a license to carry a pistol or revolver or to possess a machine gun, refused to an unnaturalized person, a person convicted of a felony or of the unlawful use or sale of drugs, or a minor (save one of fifteen or over employed by a bank or public utility, his application endorsed by his employer); a term not to exceed one year; revocation notified in writing to the commissioner; forms furnished by the commissioner (read directly)

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