Massachusetts voters weigh gun registry law as Idaho voters consider state firearm

Registration deadline comes six days before the referendum

Massachusetts residents face a Wednesday deadline to register their firearms, six days before voters decide whether to uphold a 2024 gun law. Idaho voters are being asked to advise lawmakers on which of six historic firearms should become the official state gun, a nonbinding measure with different aims. The states are about 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) apart.

Massachusetts Question 9 asks voters whether to uphold a law requiring all firearms to be serialized and registered with the state and broadening a ban on “assault-style” guns. The Democratic-led Legislature passed the measure overwhelmingly in a state with one of the nation’s lowest gun ownership rates. Opponents gathered enough petition signatures to force a referendum.

The registration deadline has frustrated some Massachusetts gun owners because it comes before they can vote on the requirement. Toby Leary, chair of The Civil Rights Coalition, a group formed to lead the repeal effort, said, “It’s a total violation of people’s rights to require this before they have their chance to vote on it.”

Ordinarily, when a referendum petition is submitted, a law is placed on hold until an election can occur. Democratic Gov. Maura Healey signed an emergency provision in 2024 that made the gun law effective immediately, two years ahead of the referendum.

Advocates describe the measure as the most comprehensive update in a decade to Massachusetts firearms laws. Besides establishing a state registry, the law bars “ghost guns” that lack serial numbers and devices that convert guns to fire rapidly, expands the assault-style weapons ban and broadens the state’s “red flag” law.

The red flag expansion allows healthcare providers and school administrators to ask courts to temporarily remove guns from people who pose a risk to themselves or others. Ruth Zakarin, who chairs the campaign committee backing the gun law and is CEO of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, said, “This legislation both preserves a legal pathway to gun ownership while also putting guardrails in place that keep people safe.”

The Republican-led Legislature in Boise placed the Idaho question on the ballot as a nonbinding way to seek voters’ advice on designating “the state gun of Idaho.” About 3 in 5 Idaho adults live in households with guns, which ranks among the highest rates nationally, according to an estimate from the RAND Gun Policy in America initiative. Some Republican lawmakers hope the question will encourage more people to vote.

Neill Goodfellow was parked in his truck along a rural Idaho highway while heading to an elk hunt when he considered the ballot question. He plans to vote for the M1 Garand, a semiautomatic rifle widely carried by U.S. troops in World War II. Goodfellow is a board member of the Idaho State Rifle & Pistol Association.

A 40-year-old federal law prohibits the U.S. government from establishing a national registry of firearms or their owners, but some states have adopted their own requirements. Massachusetts was the third jurisdiction, behind Hawaii and the District of Columbia, to enact a comprehensive gun registry. The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence says six additional states require registration of some firearms, including handguns and firearms defined as assault weapons.

Lindsay Nichols, the center’s policy director, said, “These laws help law enforcement solve crimes, track down stolen and trafficked guns.” She also said the requirements discourage illegal gun sales and give law enforcement information about guns that may be present when officers respond to an incident.

Leary said a government database could put gun owners at risk if the information were hacked and leaked. He said thieves with their addresses could monitor their homes before they left for work or vacation and steal their firearms. “The criminal element will know exactly who has what, where they live,” Leary said. “It’s a wish list for nefarious actors for where they can go get guns.”

About a dozen states have official firearms. Utah and Arizona were the first to adopt them in 2011. Utah lawmakers selected the Browning M1911 pistol, designed by a Utah native, while Arizona lawmakers chose the Colt single-action Army revolver, which the National Rifle Association described as “an iconic firearm of the American West.”

Goodfellow questioned whether the Idaho options have a strong historical connection to the state. “none of them really have a significant place in the history of Idaho,” he said. “My suspicion is a lot of folks are not going to have a clue” about which one to choose.

For some Idahoans, debating the options is the point, said Jason Monks, the Republican House majority leader who sponsored the measure to drive turnout during the midterm elections. The question was intentionally timed to coincide with the nation’s 250th anniversary. “There’s not much more patriotic in Idaho than guns — and the importance of guns in helping to found our country and settle the West,” Monks said.

If the Idaho vote produces a clear winner, lawmakers would likely take up a bill during their 2027 session to make the preferred firearm official. If the results are evenly split, Monks said, the issue might be too controversial for lawmakers to settle.