Summary

• Three recent Massachusetts arrests expose the failure of strict gun laws to stop criminals
• A 22-year-old caught in Dorchester with a homemade gun, extended magazine, and laser sight
• A convicted felon in Lynn found with two ghost guns, a stolen pistol, and crack cocaine
• A fugitive wanted for three Worcester shootings captured in Texas wearing body armor
• Governor Healey's emergency gun law (Chapter 135) didn't prevent any of these cases

BOSTON — Massachusetts has some of the strictest gun laws in America. Guess who didn't get the memo?

A 22-year-old strutting through Dorchester with a tricked-out homemade gun in his fanny pack. A convicted felon dealing crack out of his Lynn apartment with two DIY firearms and a stolen pistol. A fugitive wanted for THREE Worcester shootings, finally nabbed in Texas wearing body armor.

These aren't law-abiding gun owners caught up in red tape. These are violent criminals who ignored every law on the books — and found firearms anyway.

So much for background checks.

Ghost guns can be manufactured at home with readily available technology, making them impossible for law enforcement to trace.

Healey's Emergency Law

In July 2024, Governor Maura Healey signed what her office called "the state's most significant gun safety legislation in a decade" — a sweeping bill that promised to crack down on homemade firearms, strengthen background checks, and keep Massachusetts safe, according to Mass.gov.

The law, known as Chapter 135, was supposed to take effect 90 days after Healey signed it. But there was a problem: gun owners across the state were gathering signatures for a citizens' petition to suspend it — and they were gaining momentum.

So Healey did what politicians do when democracy becomes inconvenient. On October 2, 2024, she signed an emergency declaration, bypassing the waiting period and putting the law into immediate effect before voters could have their say.

Her justification? The law was necessary to preserve the "public peace, health, safety and convenience" of Massachusetts residents.

More than a year later, the criminals in this story apparently didn't get that memo.

Governor Maura Healey used emergency powers to bypass voters and rush Chapter 135 into law — angering gun owners who had gathered enough signatures to suspend it.

The Fanny Pack Special

Zayvion Guity, 22, of Milton, thought he was slick.

On January 13, 2026, Boston Police Youth Violence Strike Force spotted him near Allstate Road in Dorchester, according to Boston Police. Detectives had been circulating his photo after he allegedly brandished a firearm days earlier.

When officers approached, Guity "hunched his body forward and fell to the ground," according to the police report. He kept reaching for his midsection. Cops knew exactly what that meant.

Multiple officers had to wrestle him into handcuffs. That's when they found the fanny pack hidden beneath his jacket.

Inside: a homemade gun with a fifteen-round magazine, a flashlight attachment, and a laser sight. No serial number. No background check. No paper trail. No compliance with Chapter 135.

Guity now faces charges for carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a loaded firearm without a license, possession of ammunition without an FID card, and possession of a large-capacity feeding device.

Every single one of those charges existed before Healey's new law. The law didn't stop Guity. Good policing did.

Lynn, Massachusetts — where convicted felon Derrick Poe allegedly ran a drug operation out of his apartment while stockpiling illegal firearms.

The Drug Dealer's Armory

Derrick Poe was running a crack cocaine operation out of his Mall Street apartment in Lynn. When Salem and Lynn police kicked in the door in December 2025, they found a lot more than drugs, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Two homemade guns. A stolen handgun. An extended magazine. Plus enough drug paraphernalia to stock a dealer's starter kit.

Here's the kicker: Poe is a convicted felon with a 2006 robbery conviction. He's been legally barred from possessing firearms for nearly 20 years.

Federal law already banned him from touching a gun. State law already banned him from touching a gun. Chapter 135 added more laws banning him from touching a gun.

He had three guns anyway.

If convicted on federal charges, Poe faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. But the real question isn't what happens to him now — it's why a convicted violent felon was walking around free long enough to build an arsenal and run a drug operation in the first place.

The Fugitive in Body Armor

Kenneth Diaz, 29, was wanted for THREE separate shootings in Worcester dating back to 2019, according to local news reports.

For years, he was a ghost. His female associate vanished — social media wiped, location unknown. Investigators hit dead ends at every turn.

Then U.S. Marshals tracked him to Houston, Texas.

When they finally grabbed him in January 2026, Diaz was carrying multiple firearms and wearing body armor. Not exactly the wardrobe of an innocent man.

He's now back in Massachusetts facing charges. Years too late for whoever was on the wrong end of those Worcester shootings.

The Real Problem

Governor Healey rushed her gun law through using emergency powers, cutting off a citizens' petition and adding another layer of regulations to a state that already had some of the strictest firearms laws in the nation.

Some provisions were so poorly conceived that even the legislature had to quietly delay them — like the requirement for live-fire training that no one had actually figured out how to implement.

But here's what Chapter 135 didn't do: stop a single criminal in this story.

Every person arrested was already breaking multiple laws. Felons in possession. Drug trafficking. Assault with a dangerous weapon. Fleeing prosecution. These aren't people who would have passed a background check if only the rules were tighter.

They don't care about rules.

Homemade firearms aren't proof that Massachusetts needs more gun control. They're proof that criminals will always find a way — and that the real failure is a system that keeps putting violent offenders back on the street while law-abiding gun owners fill out more paperwork.

You can ban every gun part on the internet. You can require serial numbers on 3D printers. You can sign emergency declarations at midnight.

None of it matters if guys like Derrick Poe — a convicted robber caught with crack, homemade guns, and a stolen pistol — keep getting chances to reoffend.

Enforce the laws we already had. Lock up the criminals we catch. Stop pretending the next regulation will be the one that finally works.