Massachusetts, Idaho Voters Face Contrasting Gun Ballot Questions This November
The measures would keep Massachusetts gun restrictions in place and let Idaho voters pick a symbolic state firearm.
- Massachusetts and Idaho voters face contrasting gun ballot questions this November, ranging from a binding decision on a sweeping 2024 law to a nonbinding selection of an official state firearm.
- Governor Maura Healey enacted a 2024 emergency provision establishing a firearm registry, barring 'ghost guns,' and expanding assault-style weapon bans; Massachusetts Question 9 now asks voters to repeal it.
- Idaho's Republican-led Legislature placed a nonbinding question on the ballot seeking advice on designating the state gun of Idaho, with Idaho House Majority Leader Jason Monks saying the measure aims to drive voter turnout.
- Giffords Law Center policy director Lindsay Nichols argues registries help law enforcement solve crimes, while gun shop owner Toby Leary warns that databases put owners at risk of theft by criminals.
- Separated by about 2,000 miles, the two states represent opposite poles in America's gun debate, with the November election providing a gauge of public opinion on firearm freedoms and restrictions.
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Massachusetts and Idaho put guns on the ballot. One seeks to restrict them, the other to honor them – WTOP News
Parked in his truck along a rural Idaho highway on his way to an elk hunt, Neill Goodfellow pondered a question that will appear on his November ballot: which of six historic firearms to choose as the official state gun? Goodfellow is going to vote for the M1 Garand, a semiautomatic rifle widely carried by...
Massachusetts and Idaho put guns on the ballot. One seeks to restrict
FILE - Toby Leary, a gun shop owner and Second Amendment advocate, announces that firearms activists have collected enough signatures to place a question on the Massachusetts 2026 ballot that would repeal the state's new sweeping gun law, Oct. 8, 2024, outside the Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston. (AP Photo/Steve LeBlanc, File)
Associated Press News
Massachusetts and Idaho put guns on the ballot. One seeks to restrict them, the other to honor them
Voters in Idaho and Massachusetts face contrasting gun-related ballot questions that highlight the national tension between firearm freedoms and restrictions.
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