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Victoria Doudera of Camden represents House District 41 in the Maine Legislature. She is the co-chair of the Legislature’s Gun Safety Caucus.
As the daughter and granddaughter of Vermonters, I have often looked to that state for inspiration. The imagery of Robert Frost’s poetry. The beauty of the Adirondacks looming just across Lake Champlain. My love of venison, maple syrup and wild mushroom foraging — all were fostered there, as was my desire from an early age to live and raise a family in northern New England.
Recently, I have found myself looking to the Green Mountain State for inspiration on another front: legislation to prevent gun violence.
The horrific events in Lewiston last week have highlighted a disturbing truth that those of us working in gun violence prevention have long recognized: Maine’s gun laws are woefully weak. The Annual Gun Law Scorecard, a tool by which Gifford’s Law Center rates each state on their gun laws, gives us a glaring “F,” while Vermont — which shares our demographics, an independent yet civic-minded spirit and a common hunting heritage — receives a passing grade of “C-.”
Why is that and what can our state do to improve?
As co-chair of the Maine Legislature’s Gun Safety Caucus, I have examined the measures Vermont has in place and how we as a state could emulate their progress. Take background checks, for example. Unlike Maine, Vermont has a universal background check law. It was strengthened in 2018, when Vermont enacted legislation to close the dangerous “private sale” loophole by requiring most gun sales or transfers to be processed by a licensed firearms dealer, pursuant to a point-of-sale background check. Here in Maine, we have tried to close this loophole in all three of my legislative terms, and each time we have failed.
We must make sure that those who are prohibited from owning firearms cannot get them through private sales. We must close the background check loophole.
Just this year, Vermont enacted a 72-hour waiting period to purchase guns. Waiting periods are an important tool in gun violence prevention, helping to prevent impulsive acts of gun violence, including suicides. Here in Maine, we also introduced a 72-hour waiting period in 2023, and although the bill passed out of the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, it went no further than that.
Waiting periods make sense and Maine should put one in place.
In 2018, Vermont enacted an extreme risk protection law, also known as a red flag law, which authorizes certain prosecutors to petition a court for a civil order preventing a person who poses a risk to themself or others from accessing firearms for up to six months. The law was updated this year to allow household or family members to petition for orders. These laws can keep firearms out of the hands of those in crisis, de-escalate emergencies, and save lives. While 21 states — including Vermont — are already using these laws to temporarily disarm individuals that have made significant and credible threats of violence, Maine does not have a similar extreme risk protection law.
Clearly, this needs to change.
Gun violence is a complex issue, and no one policy can do it all. A bright spot is that this year, Vermont emulated our state by passing a safe storage of firearms law in homes with children, a law that I introduced twice here in Maine and which went into effect in 2021. That glimmer of progress proves to me that we can do this hard work in our state. We can pass critical gun safety measures, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Maine Legislature to do so.