Boston Police Commissioner Facing Lawsuits Over Firearms License Application Delays

Police units secure the streets ahead of the 126th Boston Marathon in Boston, Mass., on April 18, 2022. Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

Three gun rights groups and four individuals have sued Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox over the department’s delays in processing firearms license applications.

According to the lawsuit, filed on Aug. 31, the Boston Police Department stopped using an official waitlist to file firearms license applications and has intentionally slowed the processing of required fingerprints for the applications.

“Thus, while it has purportedly abandoned its use of a ‘wait list’ to submit applications, the Licensing Unit is still using the equivalent of a ‘wait list’ to prevent people from completing the application process,” the lawsuit reads.

A spokesperson said the Boston Police Department had no comment and had not been served any lawsuit by Sept. 2.

The Second Amendment Foundation, the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), the Commonwealth Second Amendment, and Rudolf White, Robert Cox, Kenley Exume, and Leslie Good filed the lawsuit (pdf). Commissioner Cox is the sole defendant in his official capacity as Boston Police Commissioner.

According to the lawsuit, the individual plaintiffs have waited anywhere from 50 days to more than seven months with no action being taken on their applications. The lawsuit states that the organizations listed as plaintiffs have members in Massachusetts experiencing similar delays.

Handguns displayed at the 2016 National Shooting Sports Foundation's Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev., on Jan.19, 2016. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The plaintiffs claim that legislators intended the applications to be processed within 40 days, as outlined in state law. They also claim that Commissioner Cox is violating their civil rights to firearms ownership by dragging out the application process.

“For the time that they must wait—which far exceeds the 40 days contemplated by the General Court when it enacted the statutes governing FID and LTC issuance—Defendant’s policy, custom, or practice completely prohibits law-abiding individuals from lawfully acquiring, possessing, or carrying firearms for the purpose of protecting their selves and their family families (or indeed, for any other lawful purpose),” the lawsuit reads.

“Unfortunately, however, the Licensing Unit has now returned to a policy, custom, or practice of doing essentially the same thing it was doing before—making people wait for months to complete the application process.”

The application process in Massachusetts requires fingerprinting, an in-person interview, and qualification at a shooting range. There is also a non-refundable $100 processing fee. In addition, the state can place requirements and limitations on the permit.

Pandemic Blamed for Backlog

The lawsuit states that the backups began in 2020-2021 when the police department stopped processing applications because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement released Sept. 1, Second Amendment Foundation founder and executive vice president Alan Gottlieb said the foundation had sued over that backlog and settled the case through mediation.

“In 2021, we sued over the delay and the case was ultimately settled at mediation. The waitlist was to be eliminated by Oct. 31, 2021,” Mr. Gottlieb wrote in his statement. “However, this year, the Licensing Unit is back to its same old foot-dragging, making people wait for months to begin the application process.”

The FPC echoed these sentiments in a statement on its website.

“A right delayed is a right denied,” Richard Thomson, FPC’s vice president of communications, wrote. “The Bruen decision specifically mentions lengthy gun license wait times as something that could violate the Constitution, and now we’re coming to Boston to restore its residents’ Second Amendment rights.”