Mass. gun law to be dispatched by Healey’s emergency order

Governor Maura Healey will use her executive power on Wednesday to immediately put into effect a gun law passed over the summer, dashing the hopes of gun rights activists who for weeks have scrambled to gather tens of thousands of signatures to suspend it.

The wide-reaching law, passed in July, overhauled Massachusetts firearms regulations and included measures to expand “red flag laws” and prohibit guns from being carried in schools or polling places. It drew swift backlash from Second Amendment advocates claiming its new standards will penalize gun owners and sellers in the state.

Healey’s office confirmed Tuesday that she planned to sign an emergency preamble to enact the law on Wednesday, weeks before it was originally supposed to go into effect on Oct. 23. The signing is expected to take place before a key signature-gathering deadline next week for opponents aiming to temporarily halt the new law until it could be placed on the 2026 ballot.

“This gun safety law bans ghost guns, strengthens the Extreme Risk Protection Order statute to keep guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves or others, and invests in violence prevention programs,” Healey said in a statement. “It is important that these measures go into effect without delay.”

Top Democratic leaders in the state asserted at the law’s signing that it would withstand any legal challenges, which came in shortly after. A group calling itself the Civil Rights Coalition began gathering signatures at the end of August to support a referendum petition, which, if successful, would put a question about the law to voters on the 2026 ballot. They have until Oct. 9 to submit more than 37,000 valid signatures to do so.

Prior to the emergency preamble being added, the group could have the law suspended in the meantime if it gathered a few thousand more signatures, totaling nearly 50,000. But with an emergency preamble in place, that’s no longer possible — a move by Healey that the law’s opponents sharply criticized as undemocratic.

Toby Leary, the owner of Cape Gun Works who leads the coalition, said the group had gathered more than 65,000 signatures so far — well past the required number to suspend the law — and called it “insulting” that Healey did not implement the preamble earlier .

“She waited over two months until they knew we were going to have enough signatures to suspend this and then she is violating the will of the people in signing this unconstitutional law, signing an emergency preamble so it can’t be suspended,” Leary said . “That is the act of a tyrant — she lacks the constitutional authority to do what she did, and she’s doubling down on her initial bad decision.”

Leary said the group plans to continue collecting signatures, which he said are being collected by over 800 grassroots volunteers around the state.

The coalition is also looking into legal routes to either challenge the emergency preamble or pursue a preliminary injunction to stop the law from going into effect, he said. Pro-gun organizations have already sued over components dealing with licensing and training components of the law.

The governor’s political opponents, too, criticized her move.

“By invoking an emergency preamble to this flawed law targeting lawful firearm ownership, Governor Healey is deliberately subverting the democratic process and trampling on the people’s right to petition,” the Massachusetts GOP wrote on X.

Gun violence prevention groups, meanwhile, praised Healey for putting the gun law into effect sooner. Ruth Zakarin, the executive director for the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, said that should the petition effort be successful and the gun modernization law placed on the 2026 ballot, her organization planned to work to protect it from being overturned.

“We are always thinking about what we can do to strengthen this legislation, implement it effectively, and make sure that we are putting these critical policies in place so that we’re actually saving lives,” Zakarin said. “This is going to be an ongoing effort for us.”

Anjali Huynh can be reached at [email protected].