State Sen. Kelly Dooner talks electric vehicles, gun laws and more at luncheon

LAKEVILLE — 3rd Bristol District State Sen. Kelly Dooner and other elected officials brought Beacon Hill to the South Coast to talk government transparency, economic policy and gun laws.

Joining Dooner was State Auditor Diana DiZoglio attended as the guest speaker, and 12th Bristol District state Rep. Norman Orrall. They spoke over lunch to Cranberry Country Chamber of Commerce members at the LeBaron Hills Country Club in Lakeville on Sept. 12.

During the lunch, Orrall, who represents Berkley, East Taunton, Lakeville, and Middleborough, and Dooner, senator for the 3rd Bristol and Plymouth district, answered questions submitted by audience members. Several of these questions centered on new and proposed state-level economic policies.

2nd Plymouth District Rep. John Gaskey was slated to attend, but was absent without explanation.

Both the representative and senator expressed their disagreement with the new auto-IRA mandate — a law passed for the 2026 fiscal year requiring small businesses to offer retirement plans to their employees. Doonery said the government should focus on supporting small businesses before trying to create more mandates they must comply with.

“When my husband was starting his [small business], sometimes it’d be two, four months before he’d hear back from somebody on a simple question,” she said “They want to enforce more mandates yet they can’t even answer these basic questions — it’s something I won’t support.”

They also questioned the long-term vision of attempts to mandate electric vehicles in an attempt to curb carbon emissions. Both officials said there is neither the finances nor infrastructure to support these changes.

In response to a question about Chapter 135 — a 2024 act modernizing firearm laws — Orrall and Dooner both said they oppose the act and hope to appeal it in the future.

Dooner said she carries a gun nearly everywhere, as she feels an elevated sense of danger as a public figure. She also pointed to the recent homicide of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was gunned down at Utah Valley University, as a reason not to tighten gun laws.

“I’ve always been fearful, I’m always looking around everywhere that I go,” she said, adding that she frequently receives threats.

“Being able to carry gives me that security and that safety that I need when I’m out in public, when I need to protect myself. We have great law enforcement officers, but as we saw with what happened yesterday [the Sept. 10 shooting], you call them after the fact.”

DiZoglio spoke about her fight to audit the state’s legislation and its refusal to allow her to do so. Despite a majority of voters approving a ballot measure authorizing this audit, she said the legislature has still refused to comply and the state’s attorney general will not enforce the law.

“When 72% of the population of the Commonwealth comes out and says that they’ve made their decision, that’s democracy at work,” DiZoglio said. “But what’s happening is a lot of our top officials right now are acting like the constitution and the laws are there to protect politicians.”

She told listeners this is a non-partisan issue, and said she has found support from both Democrats and Republicans. Orrall and Dooner, both Republicans, said they support the audit efforts of DiZoglio, a Democrat, despite their party differences and want to increase transparency in the state’s government.