Massachusetts and Idaho put guns on the ballot. One seeks to restrict them, the other to honor them

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 U.S. In Massachusetts, voters are deciding a vastly different ballot question — whether to uphold a 2024 law requiring all firearms to be serialized and registered with the state and broadening a ban on “assault-style” guns.

Massachusetts and Idaho are about 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) apart — literally and figuratively — in America’s gun debate. The November election won’t settle the tension between firearm freedoms and restrictions, but the ballot questions will provide a gauge of public opinion. Should voters approve it, Massachusetts Question 9 will continue an array of gun restrictions passed overwhelmingly by the Democratic-led Legislature in a state with one of the nation’s lowest gun ownership rates.

The question is going to voters because opponents gathered petition signatures forcing a referendum. In Boise, the Republican-led Legislature placed a nonbinding question on the ballot seeking voters’ advice on designating “the state gun of Idaho.” About 3 in 5 Idaho adults live in households with guns, which ranks among the highest rates nationally, according to an estimate from the RAND Gun Policy in America initiative. Some Republican lawmakers hope the ballot question will encourage more people to vote.

Massachusetts gun owners face a registry deadline Residents in Massachusetts face a Wednesday deadline to register their firearms with the state. The referendum on whether to repeal that requirement happens six days later. That sequence has frustrated some gun owners.

“It’s a total violation of people’s rights to require this before they have their chance to vote on it,” said Toby Leary, chair of The Civil Rights Coalition, a group formed to lead the effort to repeal the gun law. Normally, when a referendum petition is submitted, a law is placed on hold until an election can occur. Maura Healey signed an emergency provision making the gun law take effect immediately in 2024 — two years ahead of the referendum.

Advocates tout the measure as the most comprehensive update in a decade to the state’s firear… troops in World War II.In Massachusetts, voters are deciding a vastly different ballot question — whether to uphold a 2024 law requiring all firearms to be serialized and registered with the state and broadening a ban on “assault-style” guns.Massachusetts and Idaho are about 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) apart — literally and figuratively — in America's gun debate. That sequence has frustrated some gun owners.“It’s a total violation of people’s rights to require this before they have their chance to vote on it,” said Toby Leary, chair of The Civil Rights Coalition, a group formed to lead the effort to repeal the gun law.Normally, when a referendum petition is submitted, a law is placed on hold until an election can occur.