The first lawsuits over Massachusetts' sweeping new restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms have already been filed, and more are on the way. But gun owners aren't just trying to overturn Chapter 35 in court. They're also pushing for a referendum that would put the new law to a vote of the people.

A referendum petition seeking to repeal the law was submitted to the state elections division with the signatures of 10 registered voters, the first step in a process which could land the question on the 2026 ballot. 

"We started the process in filing a referendum petition to repeal the law," Gun Owners' Action League (GOAL) Executive Director Jim Wallace told the State House News Service. "This is a flat-out ban on the Second Amendment regardless of what they tell people. Regardless of what you feel about guns, the law as it stands is unenforceable."

GOAL won't be organizing the referendum effort, a job that Wallace said will be up to a special campaign committee.

"There's plenty of people who would be willing to step up and take care of that," he said.

Even though the referendum wouldn't take place until 2026, Second Amendment advocates have a tight deadline to meet if they're going to get repeal on the ballot. The petition is currently under review by Attorney General Andrea Campbell's office, and once the AG's staff has prepared a summary of the proposed referendum it has two weeks to provide the petitions that advocates of repeal must use to collect signatures. 

At the earliest, then, we're probably looking at late August or early September before the referendum's supporters can start to collect the tens of thousands of signatures that are needed, and that would give them just a little more than a month to wrap up their work. 

Petitioners will need to file 49,716 signatures if they want to suspend the law upon the filing of the petitions, and can’t suspend the law if the governor adds an emergency preamble, according to the elections division. Without suspension, they need at least 37,287 signatures to place the question on the state ballot.

Signed petitions would be due with local clerks by Oct. 9 and with the state elections division by Oct. 23. The timeframe points to a 2026 ballot question, since signed petitions would be needed by Sept. 6 to qualify a question for the 2024 ballot. Even if the signatures were filed early, local clerks, who are readying for the Sept. 3 primary elections, are not required to complete certification until mid October.

That business about the governor being able to keep the law in place by adding an emergency preamble to the referendum language is a perfect example of the screwiness of the state government in what was once the cradle of liberty. Why even have that as an option if the chief executive of the state can unilaterally keep the questionable law in place even after the referendum language has been placed on the ballot? 

That provision means that the best bet for short-term relief for Massachusetts gun owners remains with the federal courts, but if supporters of the referendum are able to collect enough valid signatures to put the issue before voters in 2026, success at the ballot box could still come long before the lawsuits are fully appealed to the Supreme Court... and potentially decided by the nine justices. 

It's going to be a challenge to get nearly 50,000 (or close to 40,000, depending on how you look at it) valid signatures from Massachusetts voters before October 9th, but I expect that gun shops, gun clubs, and other establishments frequented by gun owners will play a major role in gathering the needed signatures. In fact, we'll be talking with Cape Gun Works' Toby Learly about his efforts to aid the referendum, as well as the impact that Chapter 35 is already having on FFLs in the state, later this week on Bearing Arms Cam & Co. 

Undoing Chapter 35 via a voter referendum is an uphill fight in a state as hostile to the Second Amendment as Massachusetts, but it's a fight worth having, and we'll be doing our part to spread the word about how gun owners can help in the days to come.