Second Amendment

The right to keep and bear arms belongs to law-abiding citizens — not to the government’s discretion.

We defend the constitutional right of law-abiding Cape Codders to keep and bear arms, without apology and without endless new restrictions aimed squarely at the people who already follow the law. Criminals don’t fill out forms. Every new mandate lands on the law-abiding — and leaves families less able to protect themselves.

Rushed through. Forced on you.

In the closing days of the 2024 session, Beacon Hill dropped a 116-page rewrite of the state’s gun laws — Chapter 135 — and pushed it through in about a day, over Republicans’ objections that it had bypassed normal process. Then, when gun owners gathered enough signatures to let the people suspend the law and vote on it, Governor Healey attached an “emergency preamble” in October 2024 — a maneuver that forced the law into effect immediately and denied voters the suspension they were entitled to. They didn’t trust you with the question.

“Right now we have the Constitution on our side. We have many Supreme Court decisions on our side. And if they can do it to this — they can do it to any other right.”

— Toby Leary, co-founder, Cape Gun Works · Hyannis (WBUR, 2024)

They jailed a veteran for four months.

Kyle Culotta, a U.S. Air Force veteran and lawful Arizona gun owner, drove through Massachusetts in June 2025. Pulled over in Gardner for an expired registration, he was found with firearms he owned legally back home — because Massachusetts refuses to honor any other state’s carry license. He was jailed without bail for roughly four months under the state’s “dangerousness” law, denied bail three times, before a judge finally released him. A decorated veteran, treated as a criminal for exercising a right the Constitution guarantees. That is the Massachusetts they’ve built — and it can happen to any lawful traveler.

Now we fight back — at the ballot box.

Toby Leary and The Civil Rights Coalition gathered more than 95,000 certified signatures to put Chapter 135 before the voters in November 2026. The establishment is counting on confusion, so know this cold: a NO vote repeals the law. As the Coalition puts it, this law “isn’t about safety — it’s about control.” Criminals won’t register, serialize, or comply. The law-abiding will — and that is exactly the point.

Where we stand

• The Second Amendment is not negotiable. It protects an individual right, affirmed by the Supreme Court.
• Enforce the laws against criminals — don’t write new ones that only burden the law-abiding.
• Respect due process. No American should sit in a cell for months over a right the Constitution guarantees.
• Honor lawful carry. Recognize other states’ licenses — don’t jail travelers passing through.
• Vote NO to repeal Chapter 135 when it reaches your ballot in November 2026.

Sources: Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024 (malegislature.gov); Boston Globe / WBUR (emergency preamble, Oct 2024); Military.com & Bearing Arms (Culotta case, 2025); Ballotpedia — MA Firearm Regulations Referendum (2026); The Civil Rights Coalition.