Island Gun Owners Join Petition To Repeal New Massachusetts Firearms Law

Nantucket gun owners have joined a statewide effort to repeal the new Massachusetts firearms control law passed in July by putting it up for a ballot vote in 2026.

Governor Maura Healey signed into law “An Act Modernizing Firearms Laws (H.4885)” on July 25, calling it the state’s most significant gun safety legislation in a decade. The bill is intended to address gun safety issues such as untraceable “ghost guns,” and 3-D printed guns, enhance the “Red Flag Law,” expand gun restrictions in public spaces, and increase violence prevention programming in Massachusetts.

But critics, including island residents Matt Roberts and David Bold, believe the new law is unconstitutional, was implemented prematurely, and appears to make some licensed firearm owners criminals overnight.

"They slid a lot of ridiculous regulation in the fine print, severely restricted areas of carry, criminalized and heavily regulated pepper spray, so we are worried about Nantucketers being able to protect themselves with the increased crime rate," Roberts said. "Everyone who has been legal with their FID and duck gun for the last 50 years is now a felon."

They also object to the bill’s additional requirements for registration and obtaining a firearm license, which they believe place undue burdens and expenses on island residents who may have to travel off-island to fulfill some of the new obligations.

“There’s so many of these what-ifs, no one asked the questions,” Roberts said. “They didn’t allow any amendments, they suspended their own rules to do it, and these conversations didn’t happen. It’s so convoluted and confusing, even for the people who have been following it. We were counting on common sense with a bill that doesn’t make any sense.”

Roberts, Bold, and other gun owners on Nantucket are supporting The Civil Rights Coalition, a group that has spearheaded the effort to repeal the new law. The coalition has gathered more than 90,000 signatures, more than enough to get it on the ballot for a referendum vote in 2026. Roberts said more than 500 people on Nantucket have signed the petition.

The Civil Rights Coalition’s original goal was to gather enough signatures to pause the law from going into effect, which typically happens 90 days after being signed by the governor. Roberts and Bold believe Gov. Healy saw that the group was gaining momentum and would have enough signatures to do so, prompting her to sign an emergency preamble last week, allowing many provisions to take effect right away and preempting the effort to pause the law.

“She just bulldozed it through,” Roberts said. “This is no longer a Second Amendment issue but a First Amendment issue. She has crushed our voice and there is nothing we can do."

“It was dirty politics at its worst,” said Bold, who is the only firearms instructor on Nantucket offering a state-approved gun safety course.

Toby Leary, who leads The Civil Rights Coalition, said Tuesday that the campaign is in the process of submitting more than 90,000 voter signatures for review -- well above the 37,287 required to put a repeal question before voters. Leary said the group did not use paid signature gatherers and relied entirely on volunteers.

"We've got a lot of work ahead of us. We've got legal action that will be coming, and we've got a long way to go. I believe this will be a two-year civics lesson for the people of Massachusetts when they see what their politicians have done," Leary said at a press conference outside the State House. "It's our turn to remind them you need to comply with your oath of office. Let's make the oath of office great again."

The referendum is one part of an effort to challenge the new law alongside at least two -- and possibly more to come -- lawsuits.

Leary slammed Healey's move last week to attach an emergency preamble to the law, which effectively guaranteed the measure will take effect right away and cannot be suspended until voters render their verdict on the 2026 repeal effort.

"This emergency preamble that was signed was done so in an effort to suppress a right that is enshrined in our Bill of Rights," he said. "That should never be allowed. It should never be able to stand."

If Healey had not taken that step, most of the law would have taken effect later in October, but opponents also could have paused implementation until the referendum election by filing at least 49,716 signatures.

However, under the state Constitution, any law to which a governor issues an emergency preamble cannot be suspended by a referendum campaign.

Leary argued that the repeal campaign spurred Healey into additional action, an idea she disputed last week.

"This is about ensuring that we're ready to go in terms of implementation. The system is there. It's a democracy. You can go to your Legislature and you can advocate for policy and advocate for laws, and that's the way the system works," Healey, who initially signed the law without an emergency preamble, said on Wednesday.

Leary hinted opponents are weighing legal options to challenge her maneuver.

"We don't want to tip our hand exactly as to what we're doing, but yes, we are exploring all options. I do believe the governor acted outside of the constitutional provisions," he said. "No doubt, under Article 48, there's a provision there for a governor to sign an emergency preamble. However, the way in which it was done for purely political purposes to suppress a right, I believe the courts would look very disfavorably on."

The wide-ranging law combines new licensing and training requirements, expansion of the state's "red flag" law, tighter restrictions on untraceable "ghost guns," updated definitions for assault weapons, and a ban on carrying firearms in some public places.

"Every resident of Massachusetts has the right to live free from the threat and trauma of gun violence. This new law will save lives and create safer communities for all of us," the Mass. Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence said Tuesday while re-upping attention on its summary of the bill.

Firearms owners allege many of the reforms are unconstitutional, and Leary said he views the law as "moving the goalpost to total disarmament."

That is a sentiment Roberts agrees with.

“The only reason to have registration (for all firearms) is so you know where the guns are, and when they force buybacks, they know where it is, and they’re going to come and take them from you,” Roberts said. “That’s how it starts and how liberty dies. It’s a slippery slope.”

Gun owners have filed two lawsuits so far challenging the constitutionality of new training requirements and the updated assault weapons definitions, and Gun Owners Action League Executive Director Jim Wallace said he expects additional cases will soon emerge.

While those arguments play out in court, Leary's group will begin its work to convince voters to repeal the law.

The coalition has raised more than $100,000 so far, he said, though it has not yet reported any fundraising to state campaign finance regulators. Leary said the top donation came from Smith & Wesson, which moved its headquarters from Springfield, Massachusetts, to Maryville, Tennessee, last year while describing a "changing business climate for firearms manufacturing in Massachusetts."

"This is just getting started. There's so many people, whether it be through a lack of media coverage or whether it be people just busy with their lives, that don't even realize what's happened. I know gun owners that still come into our shop every day and say, 'Wait, what happened?'" Leary, who co-owns Cape Gun Works in Hyannis, said. "People are still waking up to this. We need two years to alert people that, hey, your rights have been violated."

The campaign faces an Oct. 9 deadline to file signatures with local elections officials for review. Signatures must then be filed with Secretary of State William Galvin's office by Oct. 23, where they will be vetted and tallied by county because no more than 25 percent of the total can come from a single county.