Massachusetts Extreme Risk Protection Orders

An extreme risk protection order is a civil order that a Massachusetts judge issues under M.G.L. c. 140, §§ 131R to 131Y. The order suspends the respondent’s license to carry and a firearm identification card and requires the respondent to surrender every firearm and round of ammunition the respondent controls, owns, or possesses. A judge can issue the order without a criminal charge, a conviction, a restraining order, or an allegation that the respondent has threatened anyone. To issue the order, the judge must find that the respondent poses a risk of causing bodily injury to self or others by having a firearm or ammunition.

The Massachusetts Legislature adopted the extreme risk protection order procedure in 2018. The Legislature amended the procedure in Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024. The amendments affect every person who holds a license to carry or a firearm identification card. The principal amendment changed who may file a petition.

Who May File a Petition

M.G.L. c. 140, § 121 defines the word petitioner for sections 131R through 131Y. Four categories of person or entity may file a petition.

• A family or household member of the respondent. Section 121 defines a family or household member 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. In most cities and towns, the licensing authority is the police chief or the chief’s designee.
• 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. An officer whose only official contact with the respondent occurred more than 30 days before the petition 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.

Most licensed gun owners do not expect that a police officer or a health care provider may file a petition. A police officer who responded to a call at the respondent’s home last week may petition. A physician or a nurse practitioner who treated the respondent within the last six months may also petition. The officer and the health care provider do not have to be related to the respondent or to have been threatened by the respondent.

Under section 131X(c), a family or household member has no obligation to file a petition and faces no liability for declining to file one. Section 131X(f) also protects a health care provider who decides in good faith not to petition.

What the Petition Must State

The petitioner files the petition on a form furnished by the court and signs the petition under the pains and penalties of perjury. Under M.G.L. c. 140, § 131R(b), the petition 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 quantity, types, and locations of any firearms or ammunition the petitioner believes the respondent has, whether a 209A restraining order (abuse prevention order) or a 258E harassment prevention order is already in place, and whether any other action is pending between the parties.

The court charges 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. A respondent should assume that the petitioner drafted the petition without a lawyer and that no one has tested the facts in the petition.

The Emergency Order Under Section 131T

M.G.L. c. 140, § 131T allows a judge to issue an emergency order without notice to the respondent. The judge applies a lower standard for an emergency order than at the hearing under § 131S. 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 the judge issues it unless the court schedules a hearing under § 131S. If the court schedules a § 131S hearing, the emergency order continues through the conclusion of that hearing unless the judge issues a further order.

Once the respondent is served with the emergency order, the respondent must immediately surrender the firearms, the ammunition, and the licenses. The court may issue a search warrant if the respondent has not surrendered the firearms, ammunition, and licenses within 24 hours.

The Hearing Under Section 131S

The court must hold a hearing within 10 days of receiving the petition. The court issues a summons stating the date, time, and place of the hearing. The court also directs a law enforcement officer to serve the petition and the summons on the respondent personally. The officer must serve the respondent at least 7 days before the hearing. If an officer cannot serve the respondent personally, the court may, after a hearing, order service by another means reasonably calculated to give the respondent notice.

Under § 131S(b), the court must hold the hearing within 2 days rather than 10 if the respondent files an affidavit stating that a firearm or ammunition is required in the performance of the respondent’s employment. For a police officer, a corrections officer, a licensed security professional, or an armored car driver, the employment affidavit can shorten the time without a paycheck from ten days to two.

What the Court Must Find

At the hearing, the judge applies the preponderance of the evidence standard. The court must grant the petition if the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence 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.

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. The court most often issues an uncontested order because the respondent missed the hearing.

The court must enter written findings stating the basis for the order within 24 hours of granting the petition. The written findings form the record for any later motion or appeal. Counsel should read the written findings first.

Surrender, License Suspension, and the Search Warrant

When the court grants 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 the licensing authority of the municipality where the respondent resides. Unless the court orders otherwise, the licensing authority serves the order, the petition, and the summons on the respondent. 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), the court may issue a warrant if the court has probable cause to believe that the respondent has access to a firearm or ammunition. When the court issues a warrant, the court sends certified copies to the law enforcement agency for execution. The statute directs officers who serve an order or execute a warrant to inform the respondent, so far as practicable, of the terms of the order and of the services available.

Respondents who live outside Massachusetts and respondents who hold professional licenses face additional rules. A nonresident who holds a Massachusetts license should read Massachusetts gun licensing after Bruen for nonresidents. 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 licensing board. A separate page explains the professional license consequences of a criminal or civil proceeding.

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. A respondent should read the expiration date in the order 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. The court hears a renewal petition as a new petition, on the same standard as the original petition. The respondent therefore receives a hearing on the renewal petition 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. When the petitioner’s address is confidential and the respondent moves to modify the order, the court itself notifies the petitioner without disclosing the petitioner’s 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 but does not transfer title to the firearms.

A firearm owner can lose surrendered firearms and ammunition after a 180 day deadline passes. The licensing authority may trade or dispose of firearms or ammunition surrendered under an extreme risk protection order as surplus, donated, abandoned, or junk firearms to a licensed distributor or dealer if the licensing authority cannot reasonably ascertain a lawful owner within 180 days of the expiration or termination of the order. The proceeds go to the municipality for violence reduction or suicide prevention. A person who violates § 131S(f) can be fined not more than $5,000, imprisoned for not more than two and one half years in a house of correction, or both.

A respondent should claim the firearms in writing promptly after the order ends and should keep a copy of the written claim.

Firearms That Belong to Someone Else

Under § 131S(h), the licensing authority returns surrendered or seized firearms or ammunition to a person other than the respondent who claims title to them if the licensing authority determines that the person is the lawful owner. The return is subject to conditions. The firearms must be removed from the respondent’s control, ownership, or possession. The lawful owner must also agree to store the firearms so that the respondent has no access to or control of them. In addition, the owner must be lawfully entitled to possess the firearms and ammunition.

A person who violates § 131S(h) can be fined not more than $5,000, imprisoned for not more than two and one half years in a house of correction, or both. A spouse or relative who takes back the firearms and then leaves them where the respondent can get them faces that penalty.

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.

Section 131V sets a minimum fine of $2,500. A respondent who believes the petitioner filed the petition to harass should preserve evidence of the harassment. The finding the judge makes at the hearing is the record that supports any later action under § 131V.

Medical Records and Confidentiality

Section 131X governs petitions filed by health care providers. 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.

Under these provisions, a health care provider or the court can bring a respondent’s treatment records into the civil proceeding without the respondent’s consent. Counsel should ask at the outset what records the provider disclosed, what records the court ordered produced, and whether the court in fact sealed the records.

Other Massachusetts Procedures That Take Firearms

Three other Massachusetts procedures also result in the surrender of firearms. Clients often confuse those three procedures with an extreme risk protection order.

A restraining order (abuse prevention order) under chapter 209A requires a family or household relationship. M.G.L. c. 209A, § 3B governs firearm surrender under a 209A restraining order. A harassment prevention order under chapter 258E requires no relationship at all. M.G.L. c. 258E, §§ 4A and 4B govern firearm surrender under a 258E harassment prevention order. A 209A restraining order and a 258E harassment prevention order each restrain the defendant’s conduct. The firearm surrender under either order is a consequence of that order. An extreme risk protection order is the only one of the three orders that restrains nothing but the respondent’s access to firearms.

Violating a 209A restraining order or a 258E harassment prevention order is itself a crime. Defending a criminal charge of violating an order is a different task from contesting the order. Separate pages cover violating a 209A restraining order and violating a 258E harassment prevention order. For firearms taken after a domestic violence allegation, the page on firearms after a domestic violence charge covers the criminal case.

A criminal firearms charge differs from all three orders. A defendant charged with a firearms crime faces conditions of release and licensing consequences through the criminal case. The Commonwealth must prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt, and the defendant has the protections of a criminal proceeding. By contrast, a judge decides an extreme risk protection order petition in a civil proceeding by a preponderance of the evidence.

Section 131X(a) preserves an officer’s existing authority to remove firearms without any of these orders. Section 131X(b) also preserves the licensing authority’s independent power to suspend or revoke a license. The extreme risk protection order statute adds a procedure for removing firearms and leaves those other powers in place.

Appellate Review

Section 131X(g) gives the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court concurrent jurisdiction to review extreme risk protection order proceedings. On review, the Supreme Judicial Court or the Appeals Court reads the written findings that the judge must enter within 24 hours.

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. The court issues most uncontested orders after the respondent fails to appear.
• Surrender on time and in full. Surrendering the firearms is not an admission of the facts in the petition. A respondent who refuses to surrender the firearms risks a search warrant under § 131S(d) and a separate criminal charge.
• File the employment affidavit if it applies. Under Section 131S(b), the court must hold the hearing within 2 days instead of 10 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. A petitioner who does not meet one of these requirements cannot obtain the order.
• Read the written findings. The court must enter written findings within 24 hours. The written findings are the record for a motion to terminate and for review under § 131X(g).
• Address the risk finding directly. The judge decides whether the respondent’s access to firearms creates a present risk of bodily injury, not whether the respondent is a good person or whether the petitioner is a bad one.
• Claim the firearms when the order ends. Under § 131S(f), the licensing authority may dispose of the firearms after 180 days if the licensing authority cannot reasonably ascertain a lawful owner.
• Do not hand the firearms to a relative informally. Section 131S(h) sets conditions for returning firearms to a third party owner. A person who violates those conditions can be fined not more than $5,000, imprisoned for up to two and one half years, or both.

Key Takeaways

• An extreme risk protection order is a civil order. A judge can issue the order without a criminal charge, a conviction, or a restraining order.
• Four kinds of people or agencies may file a 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.
• A judge can issue an emergency order under § 131T on reasonable cause without notice to the respondent. The emergency order expires in 10 days unless the court schedules a hearing.
• The court must hold the hearing within 10 days, or within 2 days on an affidavit that a firearm is required for the respondent’s employment. An officer must serve the respondent at least 7 days before the hearing.
• The standard at the hearing is a preponderance of the evidence. The court may grant the petition on that showing if the respondent does not appear.
• Sections 131R and 131S state no fixed term. The expiration date appears in the order. The court notifies the petitioner at least 30 calendar days before the order expires that the petitioner may file a renewal petition.
• 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.

Frequently Asked Questions About Massachusetts Extreme Risk Protection Orders

Related Serpa Law Office Resources

• restraining and harassment orders
• 209A restraining orders (abuse prevention orders)
• 258E harassment prevention orders
• firearm surrender under a 258E harassment prevention order
• Massachusetts firearms charges
• the October 2026 firearms deadlines
• Question 9 and the 2026 firearms referendum
• firearms after a domestic violence charge