A massive volunteer effort is underway in Massachusetts to gather signatures on a petition to place Chapter 135, the state’s recently-signed gun control law, on the November 2026 ballot, and in the meantime prevent it from being enforced.
That’s the way Jim Wallace, executive director of the Massachusetts Gun Owners Action League described the situation in the Bay State, where Western Mass News is reporting the new law is “facing push-back from gun owners across the state.” Wallace estimated to TGM that about 400 volunteers are working to gather tens of thousands of signatures to put the law in front of voters. They have 90 days to gather the signatures, take ballot sheets to individual city or town clerks for signature verification and then submit them to the Secretary of State’s office.
The massive law—Wallace said it spans 116 pages—is scheduled to take effect Oct. 23.
Western Mass News quoted Mike Meunier, co-owner of an East Longmeadow gun store, Pioneer Valley Arms. He said the law does not actually protect communities from violent criminals, instead “It just penalizes lawfully gun owners.”
Wallace said the petition originated with GOAL members and was “handed off” to what he calls “an official committee” for the purpose of following the state requirements for referendum and ballot questions. In order to sign the petition, one must be a registered voter and they may only sign a petition which has the name of their hometown. He described the rules for gathering petition signatures as “very strict.”
The November 2026 ballot is the next statewide general election opportunity, he said. In the meantime, if the petition gathers enough valid signatures, the law “is suspended until the vote,” Wallace explained.
Massachusetts, despite once having been home to many, if not most, of the major firearms companies in the country, now has among the strictest gun control laws in the nation. It’s the commonwealth where the actual “shooting war” began which became the American Revolution (1776-1781), with the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Siege of Boston, all in 1775. Boston remained under siege until 1776.
GOAL now has on its website a link by which people can make contributions to support upcoming legal challenges to the law, Wallce confirmed.
