One week out, Massachusetts votes on keeping its 2024 gun law while Idaho picks a state gun

As of 6:09 p.m. ET, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026

Voters in Massachusetts and Idaho will decide gun questions on Nov. 3 that point in opposite directions. Massachusetts will decide whether to keep a sweeping 2024 firearms law, and Idaho will give nonbinding advice on which gun should become the official state gun, The Associated Press reported.

Massachusetts Question 9

Question 9 is a referendum on the existing law that the Legislature passed on July 18, 2024, by votes of 124-33 in the House and 35-5 in the Senate, according to the secretary of the commonwealth's voter information page. It reached the ballot because opponents gathered petition signatures to force a referendum, AP reported.

According to the official ballot language, a "yes" vote "would keep in place the law, which increases the regulation of firearms, including ghost guns, machine guns, and assault-style weapons." A "no" vote would repeal it.

The attorney general's summary says the law requires serial numbers on all firearms except antiques and relics, including unfinished frames and receivers, and penalizes untraceable "ghost guns," including 3D-printed guns. It sets 21 as the minimum age to own semiautomatic rifles or shotguns. It also adds school administrators and licensed health care providers to those who may ask a court for an extreme risk protection order, expands the definition of "machine gun" to cover devices such as bump stocks and Glock switches, and bars carrying firearms in government buildings, polling places and schools, with some exceptions. The law also creates a state firearm registration system.

Gun owners face a Wednesday deadline to register their firearms with the state, six days before the vote, AP reported. Normally a law challenged by referendum petition is put on hold until the election, but Gov. Maura Healey signed an emergency provision in 2024 that made it take effect immediately.

The two sides

Supporters say the law saves lives. "This legislation both preserves a legal pathway to gun ownership while also putting guardrails in place that keep people safe," Ruth Zakarin, who chairs the committee backing the law and leads the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, told AP. In the official ballot argument, Vote Yes for a Safe Massachusetts says the state's gun death rate is 70% lower than the national average and that repeal "would make everyone in Massachusetts less safe." GROKsiNEWS.com has not independently verified that figure. The commonwealth does not certify the accuracy of either side's argument.

Opponents call the law government overreach. "It's a total violation of people's rights to require this before they have their chance to vote on it," Toby Leary, chair of The Civil Rights Coalition, which is leading the repeal effort, told AP. In its ballot argument, the coalition calls the law "a deeply flawed, 116-page piece of bureaucratic overreach" that burdens local police and mandates an electronic tracking system "that the state hasn't funded." Leary also told AP that a government database of gun owners could put them at risk if it were hacked.

The state's statement of fiscal consequences says repeal would require the commonwealth to spend resources suspending or redirecting investments already made to carry out the law.

Idaho's state gun question

Idaho's Republican-led Legislature put the advisory question on the ballot through House Bill 932, which passed 68-0 in the House and 32-0 in the Senate and was signed by Gov. Brad Little on April 2, according to the Legislature's bill page. The question asks: "Which of the following guns should be designated as the state gun of Idaho? Please choose only one answer." The choices, as listed by the Idaho Capital Sun's voter guide, are:

• Winchester Model 1894 (.30-30)
• Winchester Model 1873 (.44-40)
• 1873 Colt Single Action Army Revolver (.45 Colt)
• M1 Garand rifle (.30-06)
• Colt M1911 .45 automatic Colt pistol (.45 ACP)
• Remington Model 700 bolt-action rifle (.30-06)

The vote does not make any gun official. Lawmakers would have to pass a separate law. House Majority Leader Jason Monks, the Republican who sponsored the measure, told AP he hopes it will drive turnout, and that lawmakers would likely take up a bill in 2027 if there is a clear winner. "There's not much more patriotic in Idaho than guns," he said. Utah and Arizona were the first states to adopt official state firearms, in 2011, AP reported.