State Legality MatrixSuppressorsMassachusetts
Statute-cited, last verified 2026-07-10 · State detail verified 2026-07-31
Banned
No. Selling, keeping for sale, giving, using, or possessing a silencer is prohibited.
Controlling law: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 269, § 10A
Contested entry
Exempts federally licensed manufacturers selling to law enforcement, the municipal police training committee, and sworn law enforcement officers on duty. Punishable by up to 5 years in state prison.
The statute in practice
Massachusetts General Laws chapter 269, section 10A covers selling, keeping for sale, offering, giving, disposing of, using, or possessing an instrument designed to muffle a firearm's report, including component combinations intended for assembly. Its exceptions are limited to specified federally licensed manufacturers serving law enforcement, authorized Municipal Police Training Committee agents, and authorized on-duty sworn officers.
What it means for you
Chapter 269, section 10A is not a licensing provision for ordinary possession. A Massachusetts firearms license or approved federal form does not itself place a person within one of section 10A's role-specific exceptions.
Federal law
Suppressors are federally legal to own under the NFA. As of January 1, 2026 the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed July 2025) zeroed the federal making and transfer tax on suppressors, formerly $200. Form 4 or Form 1, fingerprints, the NICS background check, and NFA registration are all still required; ATF eForm approvals currently run days to a couple of weeks.
Scope: Firearm suppressors (silencers) as defined by the NFA. Federal NFA compliance (Form 4 or Form 1, fingerprints, NICS, registration) is required everywhere they are legal.
Common questions
No. Selling, keeping for sale, giving, using, or possessing a silencer is prohibited. Controlling law: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 269, § 10A.
The controlling law is Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 269, § 10A. Selling, keeping for sale, giving, using, or possessing a silencer is prohibited.
Suppressors are federally legal to own under the NFA. As of January 1, 2026 the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed July 2025) zeroed the federal making and transfer tax on suppressors, formerly $200. Form 4 or Form 1, fingerprints, the NICS background check, and NFA registration are all still required; ATF eForm approvals currently run days to a couple of weeks.
No. Its definition also reaches a combination of parts designed or redesigned and intended for use in assembling or fabricating an instrument that muffles a firearm's report.