I now live in California but grew up in Massachusetts and still have my FID issued for free in Lenox in 1968 that clearly says on it "valid unless revoked". I thought getting a FID was a one time thing that was good for life as long as you stayed out of trouble. It looks like things have really changed for the worse.

The "inspection" thing might be similar to what I encountered when I lived in Japan where gun laws are strict even by Mass. standards. I had to bring my guns into the police station once a year so that the police could physically check the serial numbers on the guns against those listed on my permit. Yakuza (gangsters) in Japan are all individually well known to the police and would never pass the strict background check to get a Japanese firearms permit so they apparantly get weapons by buying them from people who can legally buy guns. The inspections are a means to prevent legal gun owners from selling their weapons to criminals at a healthy profit by proving they still have the guns in their possession. This might be a reasonable approach to keeping guns out of the hands of criminals in Japan which is an island nation where the ports of entry are strictly controlled but I do not see how it would be of any use in Massachusetts which has land borders with five other states. It will be a burden on gun owners and could actually increase crime by diverting police officers from higher priority activities. The number of gun owners in Japan is relatively small so the police do not have to spend an inordinant amount of time on these inspections but I think it will be a huge drain on police resources in Mass. where per capita gun ownership may be low by national standards but is still very high compared to Japan.