In a little more than a month, Massachusetts' latest gun control measures will be in effect and fully enforced, but gun owners are hoping to do the new restrictions by placing a referendum on the 2026 ballot to repeal Chapter 35 (billed as "The Devil's Snare" by the Gun Owners Action League). 

In order to put the new restrictions to a vote of the people, Second Amendment advocates need to collect 50,000 signatures by October 21st. There's not much time to gather that many names, but many gun shops in the state are serving as a central point of contact for signature gatherers as well as a source of information about the new restrictions. The Civil Rights Coalition, which is the driving force behind the referendum, has a handy map of locations where gun owners can add their names to the petition. From Pittsfield in western Massachusettes to Yarmouth on Cape Cod, there are dozens of gun shops and other businesses serving as collection points. 

“It doesn’t prioritize actually protecting the community from violent offenders. It just penalizes lawfully gun owners,” said Mike Meunier, co-owner of Pioneer Valley Arms in East Longmeadow. 

Meunier told Western Mass News that the new gun laws present a confusing tangle of rules and regulations with, so far. little clarity from the state.

“The problem is, a lot of it is, just sort of cobbled together. One of the major things that we saw as a major issue is the training aspect, where ‘Hey, there’s a whole new curriculum in place for licensing processes. All of the previous LTC courses that have been approved will no longer be valid as of August 1.’ It’s a new curriculum that doesn’t exist yet,” Meunier explained.

Meunier also said there’s been no information from the state regarding the ‘approved firearms roster,’ which means he’s still unsure which guns he’ll even be able to sell.

“As of August 1, again same concept, every long gun must be approved. Well, there haven’t been any submitted for approval, so that essentially freezes sales of all long guns in Massachusetts if you were going directly by the verbiage of the bill,” Meunier noted.

Supposedly the Massachusetts State Police will have the brand new curriculum written by late October, but the state will still have to certify instructors to teach the new coursework. That means the licensing process is likely going to come to screeching halt for at least several weeks, if not longer. And even after instructors are certified, the live-fire requirement is going to dramatically scale back the number of classes that take place, given the fact that there are no public ranges in the state. Instructors who have access to one of the few commercial ranges or a local gun club will still be able to teach their courses, but an untold number of trainers are going to struggle to find the facilities necessary to host a LTC class. 

Then there's the issue of gun sales that Meunier discussed. Massachusetts requires all "firearms" to undergo independent testing and be certified by the state before they can be sold, but until now rifles and shotguns weren't considered "firearms" under state law. So what happens when Chapter 35 starts getting enforced in late October, and the vast majority of long guns aren't on the state's "approved firearms roster"? No one seems to know, but lawmakers who voted in favor of this legislative atrocity are downplaying the concerns of gun owners. 

State Senator John Velis voted for the bill. He said he supports the rights of gun owners in the Bay State and understands their frustration.

“One of the beautiful things about this country and this Commonwealth is that, if you’re upset with something or don’t agree with something or you think something is unconstitutional, you have every right bring that forth, challenge that, and let either voter in the case of a petition on a ballot, or courts decide if that’s accurate,” Velis said.

If Velis supports the rights of gun owners and understands their frustration, then why did he vote for H. 4885? Did he even read the more than 100 pages of text before he gave it his stamp of approval? 

The ugly truth is that H. 4885 was rammed through the House and Senate with little debate and virtually no public input. The legislation was crafted behind closed doors in a conference committee after the House and Senate couldn't come to an agreement on two competing bills. The result was a constitutional monstrosity that, as Meunier says, targets lawful gun owners while paying almost no attention at all to violent criminals.