Massachusetts voters are in line to face a question during the 2026 election asking them to repeal a new gun law heralded by Beacon Hill Democrats after Second Amendment advocates reported collecting more than 90,000 signatures over the past month.

The milestone achieved by a coalition of gun groups sets up a contentious campaign where opponents of the law are likely to argue the measure is an overreach of governmental powers and an infringement on Constitutional rights while supporters will contend it saves lives and creates safer communities.

Toby Leary, owner of Cape Gun Works and head of The Civil Rights Coalition, said the campaign to repeal the law received “unwavering support from people of all walks of life.”

“In the birthplace of liberty, Massachusetts voters are still passionate about defending their civil and Constitutional rights. It also shows how the State House is not listening to the people they are supposed to represent,” Leary said in a statement shared with the Herald ahead of a noon press conference.

Opponents of the law have until Wednesday to submit signatures to local election officials to place a referendum on the ballot in 2026.

The 90,078 signatures Leary and other Second Amendment groups collected is well over the 37,287 threshold needed to advance the question, though they still need to be certified by Secretary of State William Galvin’s Office.

It also would have been enough to immediately suspend the law for the next two years if Gov. Maura Healey had not signed emergency language earlier this month that put the statute into effect immediately instead of later in October.

In a letter sent to Secretary of State William Galvin more than two months after she originally signed the measure into law, Healey said “strong gun laws save lives.”

“This law is the state’s most significant gun safety legislation in a decade. It will make Massachusetts safer as soon as it goes into effect, including by keeping assault-style weapons that are a danger to our communities off our streets, and by keeping guns out of government buildings and courts.”

At an event last week, Healey said she decided to approve the emergency language months after she approved the bill because “this is when we were able to process it and look through it, review the legislation.”

A spokesperson for Healey did not immediately respond to a Herald inquiry Tuesday morning.

The statute that mostly took effect last week is expansive and already faces multiple legal challenges at the federal level from a local affiliate of the National Rifle Association and the owner of a gun shop in Bellingham.

Its implementation also comes as Massachusetts continues to see fatal shootings, including one in Worcester last week in which I-90 was closed after an armed man killed a person at a home and then turned a gun on himself while on the highway.

A man was also killed and three others injured after a Monday night shooting in Roxbury, according to police.

It is incidents like those that make clear the need for additional reforms on top of an “already strong baseline of legislation to keep us safe from gun violence,” said Ruth Zakarin, the CEO of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence.

The law bans people under 21 from owning semiautomatic rifles or shotguns, outlaws untraceable firearms known as “ghost guns,” expands who can petition the court for an extreme risk protection order, bars carrying weapons in certain places, and sets up a group to study funding for community violence intervention programs.

Lawmakers also worked in a range of new training and licensing requirements like the need for live fire training, though the Legislature took steps last month to delay some of their implementation dates after acknowledging drafting mistakes.

Zakarin said if the law is repealed, officials will have a harder time keeping “more people safe from gun violence.”

“It’s going to be a job to balance the Constitutional rights along with the right to safety. But we don’t feel that there’s anything in this that’s an overreach. We feel like this is a very reasonable and measured approach to really thinking about access to guns and the proliferation of guns in our communities,” Zakarin told the Herald Tuesday morning.

But gun groups have said the law makes it harder for gun shop owners to stay in business, potentially incriminates everyday citizens who own firearms, and makes the licensing process unduly complicated.

Leary said collecting enough signatures to advance a referendum on the statute is “just the beginning of a campaign that will empower Massachusetts voters to stand up for their rights.”

“We will not rest until the civil rights of the people are respected and this law is overturned,” he said in his statement.

This is a developing story…