Mike Kennealy, a Republican candidate for Massachusetts governor, said he supports a campaign to repeal a sweeping gun law that Beacon Hill Democrats say creates safer communities but opponents criticize as an overreach of governmental powers.
In pledging to support efforts to repeal the law, the 57-year-old from Lexington has sided with a group of gun owners, hunters, and Second Amendment rights activists who have launched a ballot question campaign asking voters to buck the statute during the 2026 statewide elections.
In a statement posted to his campaign website, Kennealy said he supports measures to address “illegal gun ownership” but plans to oppose proposals that are “politically motivated” attempts to infringe on constitutional rights.
“The advocates of a referendum question that would overturn (the law) collected over 100,000 signatures, enough to suspend enforcement of the law until it could be decided by voters in 2026. In response, Maura Healey said ‘I know better’ and used a procedural tactic to put the law into effect immediately. I will never act that way as your governor. I will be supporting the effort to repeal (the law),” Kennealy said.
A coalition of gun groups collected more than 100,000 signatures last year to place a ballot question before voters in 2026 asking them to repeal a law they have argued unconstitutionally reduces the rights of gun ownership to “mere privileges.”
The number of signatures the groups gathered would have been enough to suspend the law until the election next year. But Gov. Maura Healey, who plans to run for reelection, used her executive powers to implement the statute by declaring it an emergency measure.
Toby Leary, the owner of Cape Gun Works and head of the campaign to repeal the law, said he is “thrilled that Mike is supporting our efforts.”
“To win this ballot question, we need all the support we can get,” Leary said in a statement to the Herald. “We welcome all support. Who knows, after Healey’s flip-flops on spending and utility costs this week, maybe she will see the light and support our constitutional rights.”
A group of gun control advocates launched their own effort earlier this week to convince voters to keep the law in place. The Vote Yes for a Safe Massachusetts campaign said losing the “vital piece of legislation would be a threat to public safety.”
Ruth Zakarin, the chair of the campaign Vote Yes for a Safe Massachusetts and executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, did not respond to a Herald inquiry Thursday.
But in a statement earlier this week, Zakarin asked voters to “stop the repeal of these important regulations.”
“We owe it to our communities — and our children — to do everything we can to protect them from gun violence. In order to protect our children, we must protect this critically important legislation,” she said.
Kennealy “praised” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers who participated in the controversial arrest of a woman as a crowd of protestors, which included a local city councilor, tried to block the action.
He described the actions of the crowd as “dangerous interference.”
“We should be working with federal officials — not against them — to get violent criminals off our streets,” he said. “The Healey administration’s unwillingness to coordinate with federal law enforcement is contributing to the spread of misinformation, which further enflames tensions and puts hard-working police in harm’s way. I won’t stand by while law enforcement is demonized for doing their job.”
During a radio appearance last week, Healey said the images and the videos of the arrest were “disturbing” but cautioned people against “rushing to judgment.”
“Some in the crowd moved on law enforcement. You cannot move on police. You can’t attack police. I don’t know the circumstances of why this young woman was taken in,” Healey said.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Tricia McLaughlin identified the woman federal immigration authorities arrested as Ferreira de Oliveira, who they said had been previously charged with assault and battery on a pregnant person.
McLaughlin did not disclose when and where de Oliveira was previously arrested.
Worcester police also arrested de Oliveira’s 16-year-old daughter and a candidate for Worcester School Committee who allegedly tried to intervene in the altercation.
The situation drew condemnation from U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley, who said the “interference with ICE operations around Massachusetts has been disturbing, to say the least.”
But some local officials in Worcester and Democrats in Massachusetts have blasted the arrest as another example of a hostile crackdown by the Trump administration on immigrants who entered the United States illegally.
Healey said law enforcement “can, must, and should work together to investigate and apprehend those who are committing criminal activities.”
“That has always been my position,” she said on GBH News. “I’ve also been clear that we are not a sanctuary state. I’ve also been clear that some of what I’ve seen when I look at the actions of ICE around the country is really disturbing and problematic, and we see it play out in court right now.”