Massachusetts
Gun activists say they are aiming to put gun law repeal on ballot
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts gun advocates announced Tuesday that they have gathered enough signatures to place a question on the 2026 ballot that would repeal a sweeping new gun law that cracks down on privately made, unserialized ghost guns, criminalizes possession of bump stocks and trigger cranks and requires applicants for a gun license to complete live-fire training.
The law also expands the state’s red flag law to let police as well as health care and school officials alert the courts if they believe someone with access to guns poses a danger and should have their firearms taken away, at least temporarily.
Supporters of the repeal effort said they have collected at least 90,000 signatures — more than enough to put the new law before voters.
One of the leaders of the repeal effort, Toby Leary, said the new law was aimed at harming the rights of lawful citizens and not reducing crime or getting guns off the street.
“This is something that is aimed at all of our civil rights,” said Leary, president and co-founder of a gun shop and shooting range in Hyannis. “If they can do this to the 2nd Amendment, they can do this to any other right.”
Advocates were particularly upset with action taken by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey last week to immediately implement the new law. The action frustrated efforts by gun rights activists who had hoped to gather enough signatures to suspend the law before it took effect until the 2026 ballot question.
Leary called Healey’s decision “an effort to suppress a right that is enshrined in our Bill of Rights.”
“That should never be allowed,” he said.
Healey defended the action.
“This gun safety law bans ghost guns, strengthens the Extreme Risk Protection Order statute to keep guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves or others, and invests in violence prevention programs,” Healey said. “It is important that these measures go into effect without delay.”
Leary said the group has raised about $100.000. He said the largest donation came from gun-maker Smith & Wesson. The company opened its new Tennessee headquarters last year after moving from its longtime home in Massachusetts.
The law was enacted in part as a response to the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision declaring citizens have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.
A federal lawsuit also filed by gun advocates argues that the Massachusetts law is unconstitutional, characterizing it as “onerous firearms legislation that imposes sweeping arms bans, magazine restrictions, registration requirements, and licensing preconditions that are as burdensome as they are ahistorical.”
The lawsuit — which cites the Bruen decision — asks the federal court to issue a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction barring the state from enforcing the “burdensome licensing regimes on the possession and carry of firearms for self defense.”
The Massachusetts law also prohibits people who aren’t part of law enforcement from carrying guns at schools, polling locations and government buildings. It requires those applying for a license to carry firearms to demonstrate a basic understanding of safety principles and provides local licensing authorities with relevant mental health information.
District attorneys would be able to prosecute people who shoot at or near homes, which also seeks to ensure people subject to restraining orders no longer have access to guns.
The new law also expands the definition of “assault weapons” to include known assault weapons and other weapons that function like them. It bans the possession, transfer or sale of assault-style firearms or large-capacity feeding devices.
New York
McDonald’s sues top meat packers for allegedly colluding to inflate beef price
NEW YORK (AP) — McDonald’s has some beef with today’s largest meat packers.
The fast food giant is suing the U.S. meat industry’s “Big Four” — Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef Packing Company — and their subsidiaries, alleging a price fixing scheme for beef specifically. In a federal complaint, filed Friday in New York, McDonald’s accused the companies of anticompetitive measures such as collectively limiting supply to boost prices and charge “illegally inflated” amounts.
This collusion caused the beef market to become “a monopoly in which direct purchasers were forced to buy at prices dictated by (the meat packers),” McDonald’s suit reads — later noting that the injury it has sustained as one of those buyers is what “antitrust laws were designed to prevent.”
McDonald’s alleges that the meat packers’ conspiracy dates back nearly a decade, at least as early as January 2015, and continues today. Its suit argues these companies’ actions violate the Sherman Act, a federal antitrust law.
Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. But these companies have faced federal probes and allegations of price fixing before.
Lawsuits filed by grocery stores, ranchers, restaurants and wholesalers have piled up over the years. Some litigation is still pending, although meat packers and processers have opened their wallets in the past.
In 2022, for example, JBS agreed to a $52.5 million settlement in a similar beef price-fixing lawsuit. And Tyson agreed to pay $221.5 million back in 2021, after facing class-action claims that alleged purposely inflated chicken prices.
Such settlements did not include admissions of wrongdoing, however. Meat processors have previously maintained that larger supply and demand factors out of their control, not anticompetitive behavior, has caused prices to go up. Meat processing plants were occasionally closed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, and the industry has also faced labor shortages that were worsened by the pandemic.
Still, lawsuits like the one from McDonald’s point to increased profit margins during the alleged time of conspiracy — and argue that overall concentration of the market helps facilitate collusion.
“Conspiracies are easier to organize and sustain when only a few firms control a large share of the market,” McDonald’s suit reads. Data from recent years has showed that Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef control more than 80% of the U.S. beef market combined, the suit notes.
McDonald’s is seeking a trial by jury. The Chicago-based chain, which did not immediately respond to a request for further comment Tuesday, has more than 39,000 locations across over 100 countries worldwide, including about 13,000 in the U.S. The vast majority are franchised.
Gun activists say they are aiming to put gun law repeal on ballot
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts gun advocates announced Tuesday that they have gathered enough signatures to place a question on the 2026 ballot that would repeal a sweeping new gun law that cracks down on privately made, unserialized ghost guns, criminalizes possession of bump stocks and trigger cranks and requires applicants for a gun license to complete live-fire training.
The law also expands the state’s red flag law to let police as well as health care and school officials alert the courts if they believe someone with access to guns poses a danger and should have their firearms taken away, at least temporarily.
Supporters of the repeal effort said they have collected at least 90,000 signatures — more than enough to put the new law before voters.
One of the leaders of the repeal effort, Toby Leary, said the new law was aimed at harming the rights of lawful citizens and not reducing crime or getting guns off the street.
“This is something that is aimed at all of our civil rights,” said Leary, president and co-founder of a gun shop and shooting range in Hyannis. “If they can do this to the 2nd Amendment, they can do this to any other right.”
Advocates were particularly upset with action taken by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey last week to immediately implement the new law. The action frustrated efforts by gun rights activists who had hoped to gather enough signatures to suspend the law before it took effect until the 2026 ballot question.
Leary called Healey’s decision “an effort to suppress a right that is enshrined in our Bill of Rights.”
“That should never be allowed,” he said.
Healey defended the action.
“This gun safety law bans ghost guns, strengthens the Extreme Risk Protection Order statute to keep guns out of the hands of people who are a danger to themselves or others, and invests in violence prevention programs,” Healey said. “It is important that these measures go into effect without delay.”
Leary said the group has raised about $100.000. He said the largest donation came from gun-maker Smith & Wesson. The company opened its new Tennessee headquarters last year after moving from its longtime home in Massachusetts.
The law was enacted in part as a response to the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision declaring citizens have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.
A federal lawsuit also filed by gun advocates argues that the Massachusetts law is unconstitutional, characterizing it as “onerous firearms legislation that imposes sweeping arms bans, magazine restrictions, registration requirements, and licensing preconditions that are as burdensome as they are ahistorical.”
The lawsuit — which cites the Bruen decision — asks the federal court to issue a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction barring the state from enforcing the “burdensome licensing regimes on the possession and carry of firearms for self defense.”
The Massachusetts law also prohibits people who aren’t part of law enforcement from carrying guns at schools, polling locations and government buildings. It requires those applying for a license to carry firearms to demonstrate a basic understanding of safety principles and provides local licensing authorities with relevant mental health information.
District attorneys would be able to prosecute people who shoot at or near homes, which also seeks to ensure people subject to restraining orders no longer have access to guns.
The new law also expands the definition of “assault weapons” to include known assault weapons and other weapons that function like them. It bans the possession, transfer or sale of assault-style firearms or large-capacity feeding devices.
New York
McDonald’s sues top meat packers for allegedly colluding to inflate beef price
NEW YORK (AP) — McDonald’s has some beef with today’s largest meat packers.
The fast food giant is suing the U.S. meat industry’s “Big Four” — Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef Packing Company — and their subsidiaries, alleging a price fixing scheme for beef specifically. In a federal complaint, filed Friday in New York, McDonald’s accused the companies of anticompetitive measures such as collectively limiting supply to boost prices and charge “illegally inflated” amounts.
This collusion caused the beef market to become “a monopoly in which direct purchasers were forced to buy at prices dictated by (the meat packers),” McDonald’s suit reads — later noting that the injury it has sustained as one of those buyers is what “antitrust laws were designed to prevent.”
McDonald’s alleges that the meat packers’ conspiracy dates back nearly a decade, at least as early as January 2015, and continues today. Its suit argues these companies’ actions violate the Sherman Act, a federal antitrust law.
Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. But these companies have faced federal probes and allegations of price fixing before.
Lawsuits filed by grocery stores, ranchers, restaurants and wholesalers have piled up over the years. Some litigation is still pending, although meat packers and processers have opened their wallets in the past.
In 2022, for example, JBS agreed to a $52.5 million settlement in a similar beef price-fixing lawsuit. And Tyson agreed to pay $221.5 million back in 2021, after facing class-action claims that alleged purposely inflated chicken prices.
Such settlements did not include admissions of wrongdoing, however. Meat processors have previously maintained that larger supply and demand factors out of their control, not anticompetitive behavior, has caused prices to go up. Meat processing plants were occasionally closed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, and the industry has also faced labor shortages that were worsened by the pandemic.
Still, lawsuits like the one from McDonald’s point to increased profit margins during the alleged time of conspiracy — and argue that overall concentration of the market helps facilitate collusion.
“Conspiracies are easier to organize and sustain when only a few firms control a large share of the market,” McDonald’s suit reads. Data from recent years has showed that Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef control more than 80% of the U.S. beef market combined, the suit notes.
McDonald’s is seeking a trial by jury. The Chicago-based chain, which did not immediately respond to a request for further comment Tuesday, has more than 39,000 locations across over 100 countries worldwide, including about 13,000 in the U.S. The vast majority are franchised.
