On Halloween 2025, a Massachusetts joint committee will consider a pile of over 40 bills related to firearms. Mysteriously, the signup to testify went down hours before the advertised deadline.
News broke the other week that the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security will be hearing a package of over 40 Second Amendment-related bills. The committee sent out notifications stating constituents could sign up to testify in person, via Zoom, or send in their written testimony. The deadline for registration was October 27 at 5 p.m. Reports came in that people trying to sign up were unable to and thus locked out from being able to petition their representatives.
John Mawhinney, the campaign manager for the Civil Rights Coalition alerted Bearing Arms of the situation. The Civil Rights Coalition was formed in response to the Massachusetts Bruen-response law enactment — Chapter 135.
The group came together to gather petition signatures to halt the law going into force, putting the measure up for a vote in the next gubernatorial election in 2026. Democratic Governor Maura Healey signed an emergency preamble when it became apparent the Coalition was on track to gather the necessary signatures.
“As the 5 p.m. deadline approached on Monday, October 27, there were reports of significant challenges registering to testify for the upcoming public hearing,” Mawhinney said. “The Civil Rights Coalition has been in contact with state representatives, who confirmed that in-person testimony will still be accepted on the day of the hearing. Unfortunately, the option to testify via Zoom has now been closed, further limiting accessibility for residents who are unable to travel to Boston.”
Terra Semaia, a Massachusetts gun owner and an outreach coordinator with Gun Owners of America attempted to sign up to testify. Semaia is a survivor of domestic abuse, firearms instructor, and grassroots activist. She said that she hit a wall when trying to register.
“I went on about 4 o’clock. I had my account already created, and I tried to sign up, and it was giving me an error message,” Semaia said. “It was like a canned message that either they were not allowing testimony or the window had closed essentially.”
Semaia said that she submitted a request via some back channels but she’s not confident that she’s going to be admitted.
Another advocate-activist, Chrysovalanto Provida, said she too was locked out. Provida is a cyber security specialist by trade. Like Semaia, Provida is a firearms instructor and survivor of domestic abuse. Provida said she wanted to testify to oppose the entire Chapter 135 package, asking for its repeal.
“I found a lot of difficulties when I tried to submit — to press the submit button,” Provida said. “I was trying to submit my request, my application over there, but nothing was going on, so it popped out an error message.”
She said that she tried several times over 15 to 20 minutes to get the form to process her request. Leaning on her experience with computers, Provida noted that she tried several different browsers and got the same result.
Provida reached out to Dana Mascari, the legislative director handling the committee meeting on Oct. 31. “I would like to tell her, I do understand what you are doing,” Provida alluded to the registration process being purposefully obstructed. Provida said that she was told there was “a glitch of the software” and they “are not responsible for that.” She said they denied knowing how the system went down.
Mawhinney was able to get some answers. He told Bearing Arms that he received the following note from a representative who looked into the committee meeting testimony issues:
Thank you for your inquiry regarding testimony at Friday’s hearing. If your constituents wish to testify in person, they are welcome to do so by signing up at the hearing itself. We will have a designated table with a sign-up sheet available for this purpose.
Unfortunately, the window for virtual testimony has closed, and we are no longer accepting additional sign-ups for constituents to participate via Zoom.
Director of Public Policy Mike Harris from Gun Owners Action League was apprised of the situation. Harris is scheduled to testify on behalf of the League and its members.
“If it is true that the committee shut off participation in the hearing prior to their self-established 5 o’clock deadline, it wouldn’t be a surprise to me,” Harris told Bearing Arms. “The leadership of this legislature has shown over and over again that their own rules aren’t worth the pixels they take up on your monitor. Anyone who wants to peacefully testify on any bill listed on the hearing notice should be able to do so — no matter how many people sign up or how long it takes.”
Calls to Dana Mascari’s office went to voice mail. Mascari did not respond to requests for comment sent via direct messages on X and Facebook.
The Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security meeting is scheduled to be held on October 31 from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Gardner Auditorium at the State House. The Civil Rights Coalition will be holding a rally at 10:30 a.m. outside of the State House stairs. For Bay State gun owners, attendance to both the rally and committee meeting is paramount. Visit TheCivilRightsCoalition.com for more information about combatting Chapter 135 and how gun owners in the Commonwealth can support these important efforts.
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