Very difficult to obtain in MA?
“Very difficult to obtain in MA?” More of a pain the a$$.
Mandatory to take a state-approved class (I paid $100, normally $150). It consisted of 2 Saturdays, 6 hours total.
Another $100 for the permit.
For your initial license, you must have 2 letters of recommendation, preferably from residents of the city/town where you live.
They make you jump through hoops to discourage you for applying.
And then, after all this, you can only buy “approved”, per the MA AG, pistols. And typically, the “MA-compliant” pistols you can buy have the trigger pulls cranked way up and the magazine capacity is limited to 10 rounds.
So, in MA, you cannot buy new:
Colt
Kimber
Taurus
etc.
Unless someone moves to MA from another state, then the guns are “grandfathered” in. That's how my friend got a Taurus Judge .410/.45LC combo pistol.
Roadblocks at every turn...