After the Supreme Court of the United States issued the historic civil rights ruling NYSRPA V. Bruen the Massachusetts Legislature, led by Speaker Mariano, set on a mission to punish the Second Amendment Community.


This is how they did it!


June 23, 2022 – The Supreme Court of the United States decides NYSRPA V. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022) throwing the Commonwealth’s licensing scheme into violation of Federal Law.


June 2022 – Speaker Mariano assigns Representative Mike Day, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, to come up with a response to the Bruen case by way of legislation that would eliminate restrictions, make MA a “shall issue” system, and codify “suitability.” 


August 1, 2022 – In a move that would signal things to come, at the final hour of the Legislative Session, House Leadership, including Rep. Day and Speaker Mariano, sneak their “Bruen response” language into a completely unrelated bill: H.5163, An Act to Improve and Modernize the Information Technology Systems and Capacities of the Judiciary became Ch. 175 of the Acts of 2022.


February 2023 – In a further example of House Leadership’s contempt for the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, Speaker Mariano renews his charge that Rep. Day perform a “top-down” review of the Commonwealth’s gun laws. It is announced that the entirety of the law would be up or consideration and all options, including repealing ineffective or punitive laws, would be on the table.


March 16, 2023 – GOAL staff has first meeting with Rep. Day and staff. It is cordial, but at times contentious, Day’s office did not want to entertain any data or information that could help them perform their “review” in an honest way. Nevertheless, GOAL volunteered resources, time and information to assist them.


March 29, 2023 – Representative Day and Senator Cynthia Creem speak at a Moms Demand Action and Everytown USA event at the State House – an obvious and glaring conflict of interest for him given his ongoing charge. Likely not coincidentally, this was before Senator Creem had been assigned a similar duty by the Senate President.


May 3, 2023 – Rep. Day announces “Firearm Safety Listening Tour” and posts the schedule to all of his social media. It was pretty clear from the jump that the so-called “listening tour” was a smokescreen to allow the Legislature the appearance of being open while pre-emptively attempting to avoid the public hearing process that should come later.


  • The initial schedule was thus:
  • May 8 in Brockton – “Impacted Communities”
  • May 16 in Lowell – “Ghost Guns, Parts and Modifications”
  • May 23 in Framingham – “Preventing School Shootings”
  • May 24 in New Bedford – “Impacted Communities”
  • May 30 in Lawrence – “Training and Shooting”
  • June 5 in Springfield – “Impacted Communities”
  • June 6 in Lennox – “Hunting and Recreational Use”


  • There were many last-minute changes to the times throughout the “listening tour,” and most of those changes, on top of the condensed schedule, made it impossible for people to attend every single stop. However, GOAL had staff at each stop on the tour and made sure our presence was known. Also, surprisingly, GOAL recommended many of the experts that took part in the panel discussions at the stops.


May 20, 2023 – Representative Day posts a picture of himself with former Congresswoman, turned anti-gun activist, Gabby Giffords to his Twitter (now “X”) account further cementing his obvious bias and inability to fairly conduct his duties in the minds of anyone paying attention.


June 26, 2023 – Rep. Day releases and files HD.4420,  An Act Modernizing Firearms Laws. A 140 page omnibus bill that reads like a gun controllers wish list. The House refers the bill to the Committee on Rules, who then reports the bill to the Committee on The Judiciary (Rep. Day’s Committee).


June 27, 2023 – GOAL releases our analysis and breakdown for our members to review along with an action plan for outreach to members of the House of Representatives.


July 7, 2023 – The Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association (MCOPA) announces that their membership unanimously voted against recommending that the bill pass due to the bill’s overreach and inability to enforce the provisions within.


July 10, 2023 – The Senate “non-concurs” with the House and suspends Joint Rule 12 referring the bill to the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security – essentially halting the bill’s movement through the Legislature.


July 24, 2023 – Due to the continuous and robust pressure from GOAL members and concerned gun owners in Massachusetts, Speaker Ron Mariano makes the decision to pull the bill before it even received a formal bill number in order to reassess and redraft the bill.


October 16, 2023 – Rep. Day files a new, “redrafted” version of his gun control bill. HD.4607, An Act Modernizing Firearm Laws. This version is 122 pages long.


October 10, 2023 – The Committee on House Ways and Means holds a joint hearing with the House Committee on the Judiciary, effectively cutting the Senate out of the deliberative process in an effort to force the bill through the House.


  • At this hearing, the Committees hear testimony from so-called “stakeholders” and use a little-known, and somewhat confusing legislative procedure. The House Committee on Ways and Means used a previously filed supplemental budget bill (H.4090) that had already been “read” and passed through the initial legislative procedure, as a “vehicle” for the language. Essentially hollowing out the bill, inserting their gun control language into it and sent it to the floor without needing to follow the full legislative process.


October 18, 2023 – The House announces the new bill number H.4135 and takes up the bill in formal session.


  • Initially, members of the House minority object to the bill being taken up as general legislation as bills that come from Ways and Means require a special pre-amble and special voting procedures. The majority votes this down on a roll call, the rules are suspended, and the bill moves forward to the floor as H.4135-2 for further amendments.



September 2023 – Senate President Karen Spilka assigns Senator Cynthia Stone Creem to head the working group for the Senate’s own gun control bill.


September 14, 2023 – GOAL meets with Senator Creem to discuss our concerns.


  • From here on out, the Senate’s “process” takes place completely behind closed doors until an embargoed version is handed off to MCOPA who, on a vote of their Executive Committee only, votes to endorse the Senate’s bill.


January 26, 2024 – The Senate releases their version of a gun control bill in the form of an amendment to H.4139: S.2572, An Act to Sensibly Address Firearm Violence Through Effective Reform.


February 1, 2024 – The Senate recommends substituting the language for H.4135 and takes up the bill in formal session as H.4135. The bill is amendment multiple times and renumbered as S.2584. The Senate passed the bill to be engrossed on a roll call vote of 37 to 3.


February 26, 2024 – The House non-concurred once again with the Senate to accept their version of the bill and suspended their rules to appoint a conference committee delegation of Rep. Day, Rep. Gonzalez and Rep. McKenna.


February 29, 2024 – The Senate suspended their rules to appoint a conference committee delegation of Sen. Creem, Sen. Lovely, and Sen. Tarr.