Massachusetts Gun Owners Must Register Their Firearms Today, Six Days Before Voters Decide Whether to Keep the Registry Law

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BOSTON, MA — Massachusetts gun owners face a deadline today, Wednesday, Oct. 28, to register their firearms with the state. Six days from now, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, voters decide Question 9, the referendum on the 2024 gun law that created the registry.

That sequence has frustrated some gun owners, as reported by The Associated Press. “It’s a total violation of people’s rights to require this before they have their chance to vote on it,” said Toby Leary, chair of The Civil Rights Coalition, the group formed to lead the effort to repeal the law.

Normally, when a referendum petition is submitted, the law goes on hold until the election. That did not happen here. Gov. Maura Healey signed H.4885 in July 2024. On Oct. 2, 2024, she signed an emergency preamble that put it into effect immediately, according to Gun Owners of America. That was two years ahead of the vote. Opponents gathered petition signatures and forced the referendum anyway.

Question 9 asks voters whether to uphold the law. If they approve it, the restrictions stay in place. Beyond the registry, the law requires all firearms to be serialized. It bars “ghost guns” that lack serial numbers and devices that convert guns to fire rapidly. It expands the state’s ban on “assault-style” weapons. It also broadens the red flag law. Healthcare providers and school administrators now join the list of people who can ask a court to temporarily remove guns from someone who poses a risk to themselves or others.

Supporters call it the most comprehensive update to the state’s firearms laws in a decade. “This legislation both preserves a legal pathway to gun ownership while also putting guardrails in place that keep people safe,” said Ruth Zakarin, who chairs the campaign committee backing the law and is CEO of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence.

Comprehensive registries are rare. A 40-year-old federal law bars the federal government from creating a national registry of firearms or their owners, but states can build their own. Massachusetts was the third jurisdiction to enact a comprehensive gun registry, behind Hawaii and the District of Columbia. Six more states require registration of some firearms, such as handguns or guns they define as assault weapons, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Lindsay Nichols, the center’s policy director, said registries help police solve crimes and track stolen and trafficked guns.

Leary sees the database itself as the risk. If the information is hacked and leaked, he said, thieves holding gun owners’ addresses could watch their homes and wait for them to leave for work or vacation. “The criminal element will know exactly who has what, where they live,” he said. “It’s a wish list for nefarious actors for where they can go get guns.”

Gun owners are required to register before they get the vote their petition signatures forced. Whatever voters decide next Tuesday, the registrations filed by today’s deadline will already be in the state’s hands.

More from USA Carry:

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• CCW Permit Holder Foils Burglary Attempt
• Guns-in-trunks Bills Pass Tennessee House Committee
• Federal Government Defends Gun Registration Using “Necessary and Proper” Clause
• Federal Judge Lets Out-of-State Gun Owners’ Challenge to Massachusetts Carry Permit Delays Proceed, Tosses Facial Claim

The contrast elsewhere on the November ballot is sharp. In Idaho, about 2,000 miles away, the Republican-led Legislature put a nonbinding question to voters on which of six historic firearms should become the official state gun. Neill Goodfellow, a board member of the Idaho State Rifle & Pistol Association, told AP he plans to vote for the M1 Garand, the semiautomatic rifle widely carried by U.S. troops in World War II.

I will continue tracking Question 9 through the Nov. 3 vote.

Read the original story: Massachusetts Gun Owners Must Register Their Firearms Today, Six Days Before Voters Decide Whether to Keep the Registry Law