We're still more than a year away from a ballot measure in Massachusetts that would fully repeal the newest round of gun controls going before the voters, but the campaign to overturn the laws is gaining enough steam that anti-gunners have now launched a counter-effort of their own. 

The gun controllers announced their “Vote Yes for a Safe Massachusetts” campaign on Monday, with an eye towards keeping the new restrictions in place for gun owners, gun sellers, and even licensing authorities. Gov. Maura Healey has pushed back enforcement of much of the law until next year after signing an emergency proclamation that made the law effective immediately, but if and when they go into effect it will become much more difficult to keep and bear arms in the state... at least for those who want to abide by the law. 

Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence Executive Director Ruth Zakarin said “strong policies” in the state are working to keep people safe from gun violence, and the bill approved last year helps lower the rate of gun deaths.

“I think for me, it’s about making sure that people understand the role that these kinds of laws play in decreasing rates of gun violence and nothing that’s in the law is taking people’s rights away,” Zakarin told the Herald. “Legal gun owners still have a right to have their legal guns. That does not change.”

Toby Leary, owner of Cape Gun Works and head of the group trying to repeal the law, The Civil Rights Coalition, did not immediately respond to a Herald inquiry Monday morning. But the social media account for The Civil Rights Coalition blasted the new campaign.

“Restricting non-resident junior hunting has nothing to do with stopping violent crime. We look forward to multiple debates and forums to help educate voters,” the coalition said. “The way to stop violent crime is to lock up violent criminals and not re-release them to the streets.”

The changes to Massachusetts gun laws enacted by Chapter 135 are so voluminous that it could take a book, not a blog post, to detail them all, but the Gun Owners Action League has a section of its website devoted to helping gun owners understand how the law will impact them. As the Civil Rights Coalition pointed out in response to the claims of anti-gunners, there's no real public safety argument to be made about provisions like blocking minors who live out of state from hunting in Massachusetts or prohibiting out-of-state residents from purchasing ammunition. Chapter 135, billed by GOAL as "The Devil's Snare", is less about combatting violent crime and more about curtailing a fundamental civil right. 

The gun law is sweeping.

It bans people under 21 from owning semiautomatic rifles or shotguns, takes aim at so-called “ghost guns” by requiring the serialization of all firearms, and bars technology that turns semiautomatic weapons into fully automatic ones.

The law also implemented a host of new training and licensing requirements

Other parts of the statute govern inspections of firearms dealers, establishment of a new firearms control advisory board, and notifications related to applications for civil commitments and the expiration of harassment prevention orders.

Getting a repeal of Chapter 135 on the 2026 ballot was a victory for 2A advocates in and of itself, but now the work of educating a public that's ignorant on the specifics and broadly supportive of gun control efforts in general has begun in earnest. The Civil Rights Coalition is facing its biggest challenge yet; combatting the misinformation from anti-gun groups while helping voters understand the attacks on a civil right contained within The Devil's Snare.