RSWC #262, Dan Hagan, Mass Gun Lawyer

Riding Shotgun With Charlie

#261

Dan Hagan, Esq.

Mass Gun Lawyer

I've been running into Dan Hagan at several of the pro-gun events in Massachusetts. At one event, we talked a bit more. Then I found out how many cases he was doing in the Western Mass and the impact he's had on them. So it was time to reach out and have him on the show. We met at a local gun store and took it from there.

Like many people, Dan was into firearms when he was a kid and teenager. His father was a police officer. I found out one of his neighbors was involved with one of the most tragic firearm accidents in Massachusetts. A young boy was at a machine gun shoot and using an Uzi. The boy lost control and ended up taking a fatal round under the chin.

At law school, the Second Amendment doesn't get covered well or much. He says "guns were the third rail of law". I've heard this from other attorneys I've had on the show. For this thesis, he talked about the Second Amendment.

Around the time of Heller (2008), Dan was working a corporate lawyer job. But decided it was time to fill the niche for gun owners in the Bay State. His practice deals with both criminal law and Second Amendment issues.

Dan does open up about some of the bigger cases he's had. There was the Kyle Culotta case. Where Culotta and his fiance, Sarande (RSWC #238), were working their way from Arizona to New Hampshire. While Door Dashing for money, they were pulled over. The car was impounded due to expired registration. When he removed his lawfully owned Arizona firearms, he was now in possession of them in Massachusetts. He ended up going to jail for 4 months on a trumped up "dangerousness" charge as well as a few others. Dan helped get some charges dismissed. Some are still pending now. Although there are projections in the Mass gun laws, they don't help you on the front end of the process. Only once you get to court can the attorneys bring up the laws.

The conversation also leads us into discussing Chapter 135, which was passed in 2024. It's been a disaster for citizens and instructors. There's been a whole movement here to repeal the entire law, which is on the ballot in Nov 2026. The law makes it more difficult for people to get a license to carry. It changes definitions and makes it confusing to the people, but also for law enforcement and lawyers. Even the law makers who signed it can't explain it, because the 130+ page bill was passed in less than 24 hours.

Some other cases that have been happening