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About a week after a horrific shooting in Lewiston left 18 people dead and 13 injured, some Mainers took to social media to beseech U.S. Sen. Angus King to do something to reduce the gun violence in America.
One person said on Instagram that they had long supported King but was “so disappointed in Maine leaders” for not doing more to “take weapons of war out of the hands of dangerous people.”
King responded: “You won’t be disappointed much longer.” It was an unusual and bold promise.
Three weeks later, King and several colleagues introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate that would place some new restrictions on high capacity magazines and gas-operated semi-automatic guns.
It is a modest bill that is far short of a ban on assault weapons, which many people — including the BDN editorial board — have called for.
It is, however, an important potential move forward at a time when much gun control legislation has faced dim prospects in Congress. However, given that King’s bill so far has no Republican co-sponsors, it, like much other legislation aimed at restricting guns and ammunition, faces extremely long odds in Congress.
That is unfortunate, because even if this bill is far from perfect, Americans want — and deserve — more restrictions on some types of guns. Gun violence is much more prevalent in the U.S. than other wealthy, advanced countries.
The Oct. 25 mass shooting in Lewiston was one of the worst in the country’s history. Afterward, some politicians pledged action to curb gun violence. This included President Joe Biden who visited Lewiston after the shooting, and U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of the 2nd District, who gave an impassioned speech apologizing for his past opposition to an assault weapons ban.
King is the first to offer specific legislation.
The Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion Act, or GOSAFE Act, would establish a list of prohibited semi-automatic firearms and mandate that future “gas-operated” designs, which allow rapid firing, go through an approval process before being manufactured. It would also prevent certain modifications of allowed firearms, and prevent “unlawful” self-assembly of “ghost guns.”
It would limit magazines to no more than 10 rounds of ammunition and outlaw conversion devices, such as Glock switches and bump stocks that allow guns to fire rapidly. Finally, it would set up a voluntary buyback program to allow gun owners to turn in and receive compensation for guns and magazines that would be banned moving forward under the legislation.
U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New Mexico, joined King in introducing the bill, which is co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colorado, and Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, the husband of former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords who suffered a severe brain injury in a 2012 shooting.
The bill includes many exemptions, including for some shotguns and does not cover guns that people already own.
It was still roundly attacked by gun advocacy groups and some Republicans, who wrongly suggest that Americans oppose further restrictions on guns. In addition to strong support nationally for a ban on assault weapons, a recent poll found that Mainers strongly support broader background checks and waiting periods for gun purchases. While not part of King’s legislation, these should be top areas for debate among state lawmakers when they return to Augusta early next year.
We won’t venture an assessment on whether King’s bill has eliminated disappointment among those seeking policy solutions to end the gun violence that devastated Lewiston in October. What we can say is that is one modest proposal in what needs to be a sweeping reassessment of the many contributors — including gun access, inadequate mental health services and gaps in existing laws — to our unacceptably high number of gun deaths in the U.S.
