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. 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. 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. But Democratic Gov. 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 firearms laws. In addition to establishing a state firearm registry, it bars “ghost guns” that lack serial numbers and devices that convert guns to fire rapidly, and expands a ban on assault-style weapons. It also broadens a “red flag” law to add healthcare providers and school administrators to the list of those who can ask courts to temporarily remove guns from people who pose a risk to themselves or others.

“This legislation both preserves a legal pathway to gun ownership while also putting guardrails in place that keep people safe,” said Ruth Zakarin, who chairs the campaign committee backing the gun law and is CEO of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence.

Few states have wide-ranging gun registries

A 40-year-old federal law prohibits the U.S. government from establishing a national registry of firearms or their owners. But some states have adopted their own requirements.

Massachusetts was the third jurisdiction, behind Hawaii and the District of Columbia, to enact a comprehensive gun registry. Six additional states require registration of some firearms, such as handguns or those defined as assault weapons, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

“These laws help law enforcement solve crimes, track down stolen and trafficked guns,” said Lindsay Nichols, the center’s policy director. “They also discourage illegal gun sales, and they help protect law enforcement by providing them information about what guns might be present when they are responding to an incident.”

But creating a government database of gun owners also could put people at risk, if the information is hacked and leaked, Leary said. Thieves possessing the addresses of gun owners could monitor their homes, waiting for them to leave for work or vacation to rob them of their firearms, he said.

“The criminal element will know exactly who has what, where they live,” he said. “It’s a wish list for nefarious actors for where they can go get guns.”

About a dozen states have official firearms

Utah and Arizona were the first states, in 2011, to adopt official state firearms. Utah lawmakers chose the Browning M1911 pistol, which was designed by a Utah native. Arizona lawmakers picked the Colt single-action Army revolver, described by the National Rifle Association as “an iconic firearm of the American West.”

Of the six options presented to Idaho voters, “none of them really have a significant place in the history of Idaho,” said Goodfellow, a board member of the Idaho State Rifle & Pistol Association. “My suspicion is a lot of folks are not going to have a clue” which one to choose, he said.

Yet for some people, the gun vote is a fun topic to debate. That’s primarily the point, said Idaho House Majority Leader Jason Monks, a Republican who sponsored the measure as a means of driving up voter turnout during the midterm elections.

It’s timed intentionally to coincide with the nation’s 250th anniversary.

“There’s not much more patriotic in Idaho than guns — and the importance of guns in helping to found our country and settle the West,” Monks said.

If the election results in a clear winner, Idaho lawmakers likely will take up a bill during their 2027 session to make the preferred firearm official. If the results are evenly split, well, that might be too controversial for lawmakers to settle, Monks said.