A gun rights group in Massachusetts known as the Civil Rights Coalition is working to prevent a controversial bill from becoming law that would further limit gun rights in the state.
Bill H.4885, also known as An Act Modernizing Firearms Laws, was introduced in the Massachusetts House of Representatives on July 17, 2024. The next day, the state House and Senate passed it and Democrat Governor Maura Healey signed the measure into law a week later.
The law creates new restrictions on what firearms citizens can lawfully own and where citizens can take them. It also restricts certain accessories and modifications, including gun parts that can be used to make firearms at home that are hard for the government to trace.
"It basically takes away sales of all long shot guns in Massachusetts," Holly Robichaud, an advisor for the Civil Rights Coalition, told Newsmax.
"When Healy signed it, our group went and collected 100,000 signatures in five weeks, which would have allowed us to put the bill into suspension and then have a ballot referendum on the question in 2026," according to Robichaud.
Under Bay State law, the ballot referendum would allow citizens to vote on whether they want the new law to take effect.
But the referendum did not work as hoped.
"She [Gov. Healey] came back with an emergency preamble overriding the proposed referendum so that the law would go into effect immediately," Robichaud explained, but confirmed: "[W]e're [the referendum] still going to be on the ballot in 2026."
The bill addresses many modern issues with gun ownership and production as private, at-home technology becomes widely available. As Healy explained in a press release on the bill last year, "the legislation cracks down on ghost guns, which are homemade weapons that do not have a serial number and thus are untraceable, and 3-D guns, which are made with a 3-D printer."
However, many gun-owning residents are more concerned about the less publicized parts of the bill that expand the state's assault weapons bans. The bill, for example, "prohibits possession, transfer, or sale of "assault-style" firearms or large capacity feeding devices… [and] the issuance of a license to carry a machine gun except for firearms instructors and bona fide collectors," according to the press release.
Bill H.4885 creates criminal penalties for breaking these rules and, according to the governor's office, "criminalizes the possession of parts that are intended to make weapons more lethal by adding them to the machine gun statute. This includes automatic parts, bump stocks, rapid-fire trigger activators, and trigger modifiers."
The new legislation also seeks to further enhance safety in public spaces by criminalizing possession of a firearm in government buildings, courts, and election/polling areas.
As a result, gun manufacturers would be required to submit new firearm designs to the state for approval before selling them, and, as Robichaud told Newsmax, "that means existing guns that don't fit these standards will be illegal to sell or own."
"The bill does nothing to increase penalties for perpetrators of gun violence," Toby Leary, one of the leaders of opposition to the measure, told Newsmax.
"Healy has selectively delayed the enforcement of the bill's terms in response to lawsuits, making it hard for gun owners and sellers to adequately comply."
Limitations on Leary's own gun store and range led him into Second Amendment activism. He estimates the bill would affect thirty to forty percent of his inventory, leaving many customers upset.
"It's unbelievable how they can just get away with that," Leary said.
"It's like whack-a-mole trying to figure out the new law and comply with it. It's impossible. It's virtually impossible."
Leary expressed frustrations with the fees and restrictions on every part of gun ownership. In his words, "they tax us throughout the entire process, from the manufacturing side with the federal excise tax, with the Pittman-Robertson Act which is at the point of sale, then state and local taxes, not to mention the NFA [National Firearms Act] tax [which taxes certain rifles, machine guns, and accessories like suppressors]."
"[Murdock v. Pennsylvania decided that States] cannot charge a fee, sell a license, issue a permit, or tax the exercise of a constitutionally protected right. Period. But here we are in 2025," said Leary. "The Second Amendment is treated like a second-class right."
Leary wants Massachusetts residents who do not own firearms to join the fight to stop the new measure.
"If they truly value their rights, then they should care about this issue because once the Second Amendment is gone or severely restricted or basically neutered, then all the other rights are next," said Leary.
As of 2023, Massachusetts had the lowest gun death rate of any U.S. state.
Olivia D'Angelo is a graduate of the University of North Carolina (Asheville) and a summer intern with John Gizzi.
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