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Massachusetts Extreme Risk Protection Orders
An extreme risk protection order is a civil order under M.G.L. c. 140, §§ 131R to 131Y. It suspends a license to carry and a firearm identification card, and it requires the surrender of every firearm and round of ammunition the respondent controls, owns, or possesses. It requires no criminal charge, no conviction, no restraining order, and no allegation that the respondent has threatened anyone. The finding a judge must make is that the respondent poses a risk of causing bodily injury to self or others by having a firearm or ammunition.
Massachusetts adopted the procedure in 2018, and chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024 changed it in ways that matter to anyone who holds a license. The most important change is who is allowed to file.
Who May File a Petition
The word petitioner is defined in M.G.L. c. 140, § 121, and the definition applies to sections 131R through 131Y. Four categories of person or entity may file.
- A family or household member of the respondent. Section 121 defines that term to include a person who is or was married to the respondent, is or was residing with the respondent in the same household, is or was related to the respondent by blood or marriage, has or is having a child in common with the respondent whether or not they ever married or lived together, is or has been in a substantive dating relationship with the respondent, or is or has been engaged to the respondent.
- The licensing authority of the municipality where the respondent resides. That is the police chief or the chief’s designee in most cities and towns.
- A law enforcement agency or officer, as defined in section 1 of chapter 6E, that has interacted with the respondent in an official capacity within the preceding 30 days. The 30 day window is an element. An officer whose only contact with the respondent was older than that does not qualify as a petitioner.
- A health care provider who provided health care services to the respondent within the preceding 6 months. The statute lists the providers who count, including a licensed physician, a licensed physician assistant, a registered nurse, a licensed practical nurse, a certified nurse practitioner, a certified clinical nurse specialist, a certified psychiatric clinical nurse specialist, a licensed psychiatrist, and a licensed psychologist.
The third and fourth categories are the ones most licensed owners do not expect. A police officer who responded to a call at the respondent’s home last week may petition. So may a physician or a nurse practitioner who treated the respondent within the last six months. Neither has to be related to the respondent and neither has to have been threatened.
Section 131X(c) states the other side of that. A family or household member has no obligation to file a petition and faces no liability for declining to file one, and section 131X(f) protects a health care provider who decides in good faith not to petition.
What the Petition Must State
The petition is filed on a form furnished by the court and signed under the pains and penalties of perjury. Under M.G.L. c. 140, § 131R(b) it must state the relevant facts supporting the petition, the reasons the petitioner believes the respondent poses a risk of causing bodily injury to self or others by having a firearm in the respondent’s control, ownership, or possession, the number, types, and locations of any firearms or ammunition the petitioner believes the respondent has, whether a 209A abuse prevention order or a 258E harassment prevention order is already in place, and whether any other action is pending between the parties.
There is no filing fee and no fee for service. The petitioner’s address may be kept confidential from the respondent under § 131R(d). Where the petitioner is a family or household member, the clerk must provide information on crisis intervention, mental health and substance use disorder services, counseling, and the procedure for temporary commitment.
Under M.G.L. c. 140, § 131W the chief justice of the trial court prepares the forms so that a petitioner can file without a lawyer. Respondents should assume the petition was drafted without counsel and that the facts in it have not been tested by anyone.
The Emergency Order Under Section 131T
M.G.L. c. 140, § 131T allows a judge to issue an order without notice to the respondent. The standard is lower than at the hearing. The judge must find reasonable cause to conclude that the respondent poses a risk of causing bodily injury to self or others by holding a license to carry or a firearm identification card, or by having a firearm or ammunition in the respondent’s control, ownership, or possession.
An emergency order expires 10 days after issuance unless a hearing is scheduled under § 131S, in which case it continues through the conclusion of that hearing unless the judge issues a further order.
On service, the respondent must immediately surrender the firearms, the ammunition, and the licenses. If the respondent does not comply within 24 hours, the court may issue a search warrant.
The Hearing Under Section 131S
The court must hold a hearing within 10 days of receiving the petition. It issues a summons stating the date, time, and place, and it directs a law enforcement officer to serve the petition and the summons on the respondent personally. Service must be made not less than 7 days before the hearing. Where personal service by an officer is not possible, the court may, after a hearing, order service by another means reasonably calculated to reach the respondent.
There is a faster route that most respondents do not know about. Under § 131S(b), if the respondent files an affidavit stating that a firearm or ammunition is required in the performance of the respondent’s employment, the court must hold the hearing within 2 days rather than 10. For a police officer, a corrections officer, a licensed security professional, or an armored car driver, that affidavit is the difference between two days without a paycheck and ten.
What the Court Must Find
The standard is a preponderance of the evidence. If the court finds by that standard that the respondent poses a risk of causing bodily injury to self or others by having a firearm or ammunition in the respondent’s control, ownership, or possession, the court shall grant the petition.
A respondent who does not appear does not defeat the petition by staying away. Section 131S(c)(1) directs the court to grant the petition on the petitioner’s showing by the same preponderance standard where the respondent fails to appear. Missing the hearing is the most common way these orders issue without a contest.
The court must enter written findings stating the basis for the order within 24 hours of granting it. Those findings are the record on any later motion or appeal, and they are the first document counsel should read.
Surrender, License Suspension, and the Search Warrant
On granting the petition the court orders the respondent to surrender all licenses to carry, all firearm identification cards, and all firearms and ammunition the respondent then controls, owns, or possesses to the licensing authority of the municipality where the respondent resides.
The clerk-magistrate transmits two certified copies of the order and a copy of the petition and summons to that licensing authority, which serves them on the respondent unless the court orders otherwise. On receipt of service the licensing authority immediately suspends the license to carry or the firearm identification card, notifies the respondent of the suspension, and issues no new license while the order is in effect.
Under § 131S(d), if the court has probable cause to believe the respondent has access to a firearm or ammunition, it may issue a warrant. Where a warrant issues, the court sends certified copies to the law enforcement agency for execution. Officers serving an order or executing a warrant are directed, so far as practicable, to inform the respondent of the terms of the order and of the services available.
Two groups of respondents face an added problem. A nonresident who holds a Massachusetts license should read Massachusetts gun licensing after Bruen for nonresidents, and a visitor who is charged while traveling through the Commonwealth should read firearms offenses for Massachusetts visitors and travelers. A respondent who holds a professional or occupational license may have to report the order or the suspension to a board, and the professional license consequences of a criminal or civil proceeding are treated separately.
How Long the Order Lasts
Sections 131R and 131S provide for expiration and for renewal, but neither section states a term. The expiration date appears in the order itself, and a respondent should read it rather than assume a period.
Not less than 30 calendar days before the order expires, the court must notify the petitioner at the best known address that the order is scheduled to expire and that a renewal petition may be filed under § 131R. A renewal is a new petition and is heard on the same standard, which means the respondent gets a hearing rather than an automatic extension.
Modification and Termination
Either party may move to modify, suspend, or terminate the order at any time under § 131S(c)(2). Due notice must be given to both the respondent and the petitioner, and the court must hold a hearing on the motion. Where the petitioner’s address is confidential and the respondent moves to modify, the court itself notifies the petitioner and does not disclose the address.
A motion to terminate is the principal remedy for a respondent who was defaulted, who has completed treatment, or whose circumstances have changed since the order issued.
Getting the Firearms Back, and the 180 Day Rule
Surrender under an extreme risk protection order does not require the surrender of permanent ownership rights. The order removes the firearms from the respondent’s control; it does not transfer title.
There is a deadline that costs people their property. Where the licensing authority cannot reasonably ascertain a lawful owner of firearms or ammunition surrendered under an extreme risk protection order within 180 days of the expiration or termination of the order, the licensing authority may trade or dispose of them as surplus, donated, abandoned, or junk firearms to a licensed distributor or dealer, and the proceeds go to the municipality for violence reduction or suicide prevention. A violation of that subsection is punishable by a fine of not more than $5,000, by imprisonment for not more than two and one half years in a house of correction, or both.
The practical instruction is short. When the order ends, claim the firearms in writing, promptly, and keep proof of the claim.
Firearms That Belong to Someone Else
Under § 131S(h), where a person other than the respondent claims title to surrendered or seized firearms or ammunition and the licensing authority determines that person to be the lawful owner, the firearms or ammunition are returned to that owner. Two conditions attach. The firearms must be removed from the respondent’s control, ownership, or possession, and the lawful owner must agree to store them so that the respondent has no access to or control of them. The owner must also be lawfully entitled to possess them.
A violation of that subsection carries the same penalty, a fine of not more than $5,000, imprisonment for not more than two and one half years in a house of correction, or both. A spouse or a relative who takes the firearms back and then leaves them where the respondent can reach them is the person exposed.
Filing a False Petition
M.G.L. c. 140, § 131V punishes a person who files a petition knowing the information in it to be materially false, or with intent to harass the respondent, by a fine of not less than $2,500 and not more than $5,000, by imprisonment for not more than two and one half years, or both.
The floor on that fine is unusual. A respondent who believes the petition was filed to harass should preserve the evidence of it, because the finding a judge makes at the hearing is the record that supports any later action.
Medical Records and Confidentiality
Section 131X addresses the health care provider petitioner. Subsection (d) permits a provider acting as petitioner to disclose otherwise protected patient information where necessary for the petition, subject to reasonable limits. Subsection (e) permits the court to compel disclosure of clinical records for its inquiry, with the records sealed. Subsection (f) protects a provider who discloses in good faith and a provider who declines to petition.
For a respondent, that means the treatment record can enter a civil proceeding without the respondent’s consent. Counsel should ask at the outset what records were disclosed, what the court ordered produced, and whether the sealing was in fact done.
What an Extreme Risk Protection Order Is Not
Three other Massachusetts procedures also take firearms, and clients confuse them constantly.
An abuse prevention order under chapter 209A requires a family or household relationship, and M.G.L. c. 209A, § 3B governs surrender under it. A harassment prevention order under chapter 258E requires no relationship at all, and M.G.L. c. 258E, §§ 4A and 4B govern surrender under it. Both are orders restraining conduct, and the firearms consequence follows from the order. An extreme risk protection order restrains nothing but access to firearms. It is the only one of the three whose sole subject is the weapons.
Violating a 209A or a 258E order is itself a crime, and defending that charge is a different task from contesting the order, which is covered at defending 209A and 258E restraining order violations. Where a domestic violence allegation is what put the firearms at issue, firearms after a domestic violence charge covers the criminal side of the same problem.
A criminal firearms charge is different again. It produces conditions of release and licensing consequences through the criminal case, on proof beyond a reasonable doubt, with the protections of a criminal proceeding. An extreme risk proceeding is civil and decided on a preponderance.
Section 131X(a) preserves an officer’s existing authority to remove firearms without any of these orders, and § 131X(b) preserves the licensing authority’s independent power to suspend or revoke a license. An extreme risk order adds a route; it removes none.
Appellate Review
Section 131X(g) gives the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court concurrent jurisdiction to review extreme risk protection order proceedings. That is a meaningful provision, because the written findings the judge must enter within 24 hours are what the reviewing court reads.
Defending the Petition
- Appear. Section 131S(c)(1) permits the court to grant the petition on the petitioner’s showing alone where the respondent does not appear. Default is how most of these orders issue uncontested.
- Surrender on time and in full. Compliance is not an admission. Refusal invites a search warrant under § 131S(d) and a separate charge.
- File the employment affidavit if it applies. Section 131S(b) moves the hearing from 10 days to 2 where a firearm is required in the performance of the respondent’s employment.
- Test whether the petitioner qualifies. An officer must have interacted with the respondent in an official capacity within the preceding 30 days. A health care provider must have provided services within the preceding 6 months. A family or household member must fit one of the six relationships in § 121. Standing is an element, not a formality.
- Read the written findings. The court must enter them within 24 hours, and they are the record for a motion to terminate and for review under § 131X(g).
- Address the risk finding directly. The question is a present risk of bodily injury from access to firearms, not whether the respondent is a good person or whether the petitioner is a bad one.
- Claim the firearms when the order ends. The 180 day rule in § 131S(g) permits disposal after that period where no lawful owner can reasonably be ascertained.
- Do not hand the firearms to a relative informally. Section 131S(h) sets conditions on a third party owner, and violating them carries a fine of not more than $5,000, up to two and one half years, or both.
Key Takeaways
- An extreme risk protection order is civil. No criminal charge, conviction, or restraining order is required.
- Four categories may petition: a family or household member, the local licensing authority, a law enforcement officer who interacted with the respondent in an official capacity within the preceding 30 days, and a health care provider who treated the respondent within the preceding 6 months.
- An emergency order under § 131T issues on reasonable cause without notice and expires in 10 days unless a hearing is scheduled.
- The hearing is within 10 days, or within 2 days on an affidavit that a firearm is required for the respondent’s employment. Service is at least 7 days before.
- The standard at the hearing is a preponderance of the evidence, and the court may grant the petition on that showing if the respondent does not appear.
- Sections 131R and 131S state no fixed term. The order sets its own expiration, and the court notifies the petitioner at least 30 calendar days before it expires that a renewal may be filed.
- Either party may move to modify, suspend, or terminate at any time, with notice and a hearing.
- Filing a knowingly false or harassing petition is punishable under § 131V by a fine of not less than $2,500 and not more than $5,000, imprisonment for not more than two and one half years, or both.
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