510 CMR, § 2.01

Current through Register 1536, December 6, 2024

Section 2.01 - Information

(1)References. M.G.L. c. 33, §§ 129, 130, 131.

(2)Purpose. The purpose of 510 CMR 2.00 is to prescribe the standards and conditions under which bodies of citizens of the United States, or foreign troops to whose admission to the United States the government of the United States has consented, may drill or parade with firearms of harmless imitations thereof, or use a state armory or air installation for drill or training.

(3)Definitions. For the purpose of 510 CMR 2.00, the following terms shall have these meanings respectively assigned to them:

Firearms. Muskets, fowling pieces, rifles, pistols, Colonial or Civil War cannon or mortars or other weapons of similar type, or replicas thereof, commonly carried by the original military unit whose memory and tradition is being perpetuated. (Attention is called to the fact that this definition does not change in any way the definition of the word "firearm" as it appears in M.G.L. c. 140, § 121, or the effect of that definition in M.G.L. c. 140, § 121 in connection with the gun laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts).

Foreign Troops. Bodies of troops of nations other than the United States.

Historic Units. Such bodies of citizens of the United States as have associated together to participate in drills or parades or other commemorative ceremonies and events to honor and perpetuate the memory and tradition of a former military unit of the Colony or Commonwealth of Massachusetts or other governmental authority.

Nonresident. A unit located in, or an individual residing in, a state of the United States or Territory of the United States other than Massachusetts.

Weapons. Instruments of offensive or defensive combat such as firearms, cannon, knives, swords, daggers, bayonets, pikes, spontoons, halberds, etc.

(4)Precedence.

(a)510 CMR 2.00 may not be interpreted so as to rescind, revoke, alter or modify any existing law or statute or rule or regulation. Current laws, statutes and rules and regulations of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and its agencies, which may apply to historic units, include but are not limited to the following:

M.G.L. c. 33, §§ 129, 130 and 131;

M.G.L. c. 269, § 10;

M.G.L. c. 269, §§ 11 and 12;

M.G.L. c. 140, §§ 121 through 131Q;

M.G.L. c. 148, §§ 9 and 10; and

527 CMR 1.00: Massachusetts Comprehensive Fire Safety Code; Section 1.12.8.39: Explosives, Fireworks and Model Rocketry governing the keeping, storage, use, manufacture, sale, handling, transportation or other disposition of explosives.

(b) No provision of 510 CMR 2.00 may be interpreted so as to rescind, revoke, alter or modify the authority of any city or town to require permits, licenses or other approvals for drills, parades, or other appearances with or without weapons, powder or other ammunition, or ball, shot, or other projectile within their city or town boundaries.

(c) No provision of 510 CMR 2.00 can affect in any way the responsibility of historic units, or individual members thereof, to possess all necessary Firearms Identification cards or Licenses to Carry Firearms required by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

(d) Historic units possessing Colonial or Civil War cannon or mortars, or replicas thereof, are advised that they must become familiar with and comply with 527 CMR 1.00: Massachusetts Comprehensive Fire Safety Code; Section 1.12.8.39.2.4: Cannon Mortar, governing the supervised discharging of cannon and mortars with or without projectile.

(5)Severability. If any provision of 510 CMR 2.00 or application thereof to any historic units, foreign troops, or circumstances, is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of 510 CMR 2.00 which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to that end the provisions of 510 CMR 2.00 are severable.

510 CMR, § 2.01

Amended by Mass Register Issue 1318, eff. 7/29/2016.