After Gun Owners' Action League officially launched a ballot initiative to repeal Chapter 135, the Civil Rights Coalition, led by Toby Leary and John MaWhinney, gathered 100,000 raw signatures to place the matter before the voters in 2026. This incredible job by the coalition scared Governor Healey into signing an "emergency order" to put the new laws in place immediately and bypass the voter process.

Because more than enough signatures were certified, Massachusetts Attorney General Campbell had no choice but write the question for the voters. The Commonwealth’s first "stick in the eye" to the repeal effort was to change the premise of the question. It should follow that a question asking whether or not a law should be repealed would require a “yes, we want to repeal the law” vote. However, the Commonwealth did just the opposite, drafting the question in such a way that repeal will require voters to say “no, we don’t want to keep the law.”

GOAL, among others, was contacted by the Attorney General's office for our input in what would become the official summary. Our response had to be brief in nature because of the limited space allowed for a summary. Interestingly enough, cc'd on the email was virtually every national anti-Second Amendment group in the country. If they had nothing to do with establishing the ballot question, why were they officially being consulted?

GOAL did return a summary that described how the new laws were a blatant attack on our civil rights. Of course, our input was completely ignored. Below is what the state has produced for the voter information on the repeal effort. It was evidently designed by Gifford's and company to gloss over the bigotry and harm on the Second Amendment community.

We will have a hard fight ahead of us on this one, but we all need to get it done.

GOAL's Chapter 135 Petition Summary Draft: (This could have easily been many pages.)

• The law continues the practice of opinion-based licensing denials found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. (Bruen)
• The law creates a new mandate that all firearms be registered with the state on a system that does not currently exist and for which no funding was provided.
• The law would prohibit lawful gun owners from entering onto most government property. Hunters would be banned from state managed land that is not directly owned by the Commonwealth.
• The law would ban the possession, of any person of any age, holding a Firearm Identification Card from possessing semi-automatic firearms in common use including basic entry level models.
• The law bans re-enactors and hobbyists from possessing the ammunition components for antique style muzzle loaders without a license.
• The law would allow the State to produce rosters of firearms that are banned or eligible for sale at the discretion of the State.
• The law created a brand definition for “Assault Style Firearms” to drastically broaden what semi-automatic firearms in common use will be banned. It utilizes a new list of “features” that determine what an Assault Style Firearm is including features that most common use firearms have. It sets up a confusing set of so-called grandfathering laws.
• The law perpetuates the cruel and dangerous practices of the “Red Flag” law by not providing any assistance to persons found to be suicidal and no monitoring and/or follow up of those found to be an extreme public safety risk.
• The law places great burdens on federal, and state, licensed firearm retailers. Most firearms in common use would not be eligible for sale through a retailer because of strict laboratory testing standards, even for the most basic entry level firearms. Common carriers delivering firearms to retailers will be forced to meet secure storage laws. Retailers will be required to register their inventory, a mandate never seen prior.
• The law mandates that everyone seeking a new license take a course for which no curriculum exists in Massachusetts or anywhere in the nation. The cost of the proposed training would likely be cost prohibitive. There are no certified trainers to provide the required training. It would mandate live fire training that would put a strain on private clubs and ranges.
• The law declares all “unfinished frames and receivers” to be firearms, but there is no clear definition of that term. A block of aluminum could legally be considered an unfinished machine gun.

Official state Attorney General ballot question summary:

This law makes a number of changes to Massachusetts laws governing firearms. The law adds school administrators and licensed healthcare providers as parties permitted to ask a court to issue an Extreme Risk Protection Order – requiring an individual to surrender or relinquish their firearm licenses, permits, and firearms – if an individual is a present danger to self or others. The law also provides that, when issuing an Harassment Prevention Order, a court may also order the surrender of firearms licenses, permits, and firearms. The law imposes penalties for possessing, creating, and transferring untraceable “ghost gun” firearms and requires all firearms except antiques and relics, including unfinished frames and receivers that can be readily made into a finished product, to have serial numbers. The law includes privately-made guns like 3D-printed guns within the provisions governing untraceable “ghost gun” firearms. The law changes firearms licensing requirements to: (1) allow local licensing authorities to request prior license and permit information from the state, as well as access petitions for involuntary mental health commitments denied by a court in addition to prior involuntary commitments, as a part of their review of applications for licenses to carry firearms, firearm ID cards, and licenses to sell firearms; (2) require an individual to be 21 years of age to own semiautomatic rifles or shotguns; (3) add the possibility of incarceration of up to six months for a second offense of failing to report a firearm loss or theft; and (4) enable 12-15 year olds to apply for a self-defense spray permit with parental permission, and 15 to 18 year olds to apply independently. The law allows local firearm licensing authorities to transfer the responsibility to inspect firearm dealers to the State Police. The law requires local licensing authorities to attend statewide training regarding those inspections. It requires dealers to confiscate expired or suspended licenses and report them to the state and to local licensing authorities. The law changes the definition of “machine gun” to include bump stocks, trigger cranks, Glock switches and auto sears among the devices whose possession and use are subject to penalties. It expands the definition of “silencer” to include the parts used to construct a silencer. The law clarifies how to determine whether a firearm is an assault-style weapon and the circumstances under which a person may continue to possess assault-style weapons and large capacity feeding devices they already own. The law requires the state Firearm Control Advisory Board and the state Secretary of Public Safety and Security to review and update the rosters of prohibited assault style firearms, approved firearms, and approved firearms sold for target shooting. The law clarifies requirements relating to the carry and transport of firearms in motor vehicles and ATVs. It prohibits the carrying of firearms in government buildings, polling locations, and schools, with certain exceptions. The law expands data compilation and reporting requirements to and from the state, and creates a publicly-accessible dashboard of anonymized aggregate firearm data, along with a commission to study that data. The law requires the State Police to provide training and a test for new applicants for licenses to carry or Firearm ID cards. The law establishes two special legislative commissions – one to examine funding for violence prevention services, and one to study emerging firearms technology. The law criminalizes discharging a firearm and striking a building in use.