Ballot measure · Massachusetts · November 3, 2026

Question 9

Title as the state lists it: Firearms Regulation1,2

Research draftCitizen referendumState law
How it got there
Citizen referendum
Kind of measure
State law
To pass
More than one condition
Researched
October 27, 2026

Research draft. We gathered this from official sources on October 27, 2026: election offices, state laws and court records, each linked to its source. Separate reviewers checked a random sample of 48 facts from the ballot-measure research against the cited sources and found no errors. The rest hasn't been reviewed fact by fact yet, so check the linked source before relying on anything here.

§1What your vote means

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

A yes vote

A yes vote would leave in effect the 2024 law titled An Act Modernizing Firearm Laws, which among other things lets more people ask a court for an extreme risk protection order, requires serial numbers on firearms and regulates untraceable ghost guns, sets 21 as the minimum age to own semiautomatic rifles or shotguns, treats bump stocks and similar devices as machine guns, and bars carrying firearms in government buildings, polling places and schools, with some exceptions.1 pp. 22-23, 45-85

A no vote

A no vote would repeal the 2024 law titled An Act Modernizing Firearm Laws, so its changes to the rules on extreme risk protection orders, serial numbers and ghost guns, the minimum age to own semiautomatic rifles or shotguns, machine gun devices, and where firearms may be carried would no longer apply.1 pp. 22-23, 45-85

More about it

The law was passed by the House and Senate on July 18, 2024, and is in effect now; this question asks voters whether to keep it.1 pp. 22-23

§2How it got on the ballot

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

Citizen referendum. Voters signed a petition to put a law the legislature passed to a public vote.1,2

State law. It would change state law, not the constitution.1,2

Voters petitioned to put this existing state law to a vote, and the ballot asks whether to approve the law.1,2 p. 22

It is on Massachusetts's list of statewide measures for November 3, 2026.1,2 None of the official sources we read calls the list certified or final, so we don’t either. What we couldn't confirm about the list is in the notes on Massachusetts's measures.

§3What it needs to pass

Drafted by AI from the public sources cited. Each sentence links to its source.

More than one condition. The existing law is repealed only if it fails to win a majority of the votes cast on the question and the no votes equal at least 30 percent of all ballots cast in the state election; otherwise it stays in effect.3 Amend. art. XLVIII, The Referendum, III, secs. 3 and 4, as amended by Amend. art. LXXXI, secs. 4 and 5