October 2, 2024 –

Healey Signs Emergency Order to Bypass the People’s Voice

GOAL Prepared to Take Immediate Legal Action

For at least the second time in her career, Governor Maura Healey is about to make hundreds of thousands of citizens into “felons in waiting”.

On July 20, 2016, Maura Healey woke up and held a press conference that changed 18 years of settled law by reinterpreting a single word. That word was “copy”. In an instant, and with no warning, she turned endless thousands of the 2A community into felons in waiting. While she never prosecuted any License to Carry holders, much to the chagrin of the Boston Globe, the weight of a ten-year felony hung over innocent citizens.

Eight years later, almost to the day, Healey signed H.4885 into law (Chapter 135 of the Acts of 2024). The final language of the bill was kept secret until the night before the legislature voted on it. Within a few days, Healey signed into law what would become the worst attack on civil rights in modern U.S. history.

As a result of this historic assault on civil rights, an effort was undertaken to bring a repeal of the law before the citizens of the Commonwealth. If enough signatures were gathered, the entire law would have been suspended until a referendum was placed before the voters in November of 2026. Because it was clear that volunteers were well on their way to collect the tens of thousands of signatures necessary, the Governor pulled a very rare maneuver. The radical move was to attach an emergency order to the new law and thus circumventing its suspension, regardless of the will of the people.

“Ever since this tantrum against the Supreme Court decision Bruen started last year, the so-called ‘process’ has become even more putrid,” said Jim Wallace, Executive Director of GOAL. “At every turn, the legislature and now the Governor, have avoided honest public input, especially from the 2A community. We are the only stakeholders involved and there is a consistent effort to silence our voices and mislead the general public.”

Knowing the history of Governor Healey, GOAL had already begun to draft a complaint to go before a Federal Court. We hope the court will take this up immediately, and place an injunction on any enforcement.