Question 9, explained: the 2024 gun law
Question 9 asks whether Massachusetts keeps the gun law it passed in 2024. It works backwards from the other eight statewide questions on your ballot, so read the next part before you vote.
Keeps the 2024 gun law in place.
Repeals it and returns Massachusetts to the rules in place before 2024.
Why backwards? Most questions ask you to approve something new. This one is a veto referendum: opponents gathered more than 90,000 signatures to put an existing law up for a vote, so voting yes means keeping what's already there.
What the law does
- Regulates untraceable homemade firearms, often called "ghost guns."
- Broadens the legal definition of an assault weapon to cover more firearms.
- Expands who can ask a court for a red flag order, adding health care providers and school administrators.
- Bans guns in government buildings and at polling places, with narrow exceptions such as police and on-duty security guards.
- Adds licensing requirements, including a new standardized test.
Where it stands now
The law has been in effect since October 2, 2024. A veto referendum usually puts a law on hold until the vote, but Governor Maura Healey signed an emergency preamble that put it into effect right away. It stays in force unless voters repeal it.
Both arguments, equal space
We don't tell you how to vote. Here is the best honest case each side makes.
The case for yes (keep the law)
Supporters argue the law closes real gaps. Homemade guns with no serial number were untraceable, and the old assault weapon definition was narrow enough to work around.
They say letting health care providers and school administrators file red flag petitions reaches people in genuine crisis who would otherwise never be reported, before someone gets hurt.
The case for no (repeal the law)
Opponents argue Massachusetts already had some of the strictest gun laws in the country before 2024, so the new rules add burden without a matching gain in public safety.
They say the licensing and registration requirements fall on lawful owners, not criminals, and that parts of the law face constitutional challenges likely to limit it anyway.
Question 9 is one of nine statewide questions on your ballot
The full 2026 Massachusetts Voter Guide covers every statewide office except the U.S. Senate seat, and all nine ballot questions, each with the strongest case for both sides. Instant PDF download.
Get the Massachusetts guide · $12.99Before you vote: read the official wording of Question 9 in the Secretary of the Commonwealth's Information for Voters booklet, mailed to every household and posted at sec.state.ma.us. This page summarizes; it is not the ballot text.
Sources: Secretary of the Commonwealth, elections division; reporting on the 2026 Massachusetts ballot questions; the text of the 2024 Act Modernizing Firearm Laws.