AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine lawmakers on Wednesday began their first discussions on gun control proposals introduced after Lewiston became the site of the state’s deadliest mass shooting on record, outlining some pressure points and unanswered questions.
Democratic lawmakers introduced a range of gun control measures including 72-hour waiting periods, expanded background checks and a bump stock ban after the Oct. 25 mass shooting in Lewiston that left 18 dead and 13 injured. Gov. Janet Mills has a separate proposal that would mandate background checks on advertised gun sales and overhaul a “yellow flag” law.
The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee had not yet taken votes on any of the bills as an afternoon meeting stretched into the evening. Questions from both Democrats and Republicans revealed a desire to hammer out various points of contention before advancing the measures.
Similar proposals failed in the Democratic-controlled Legislature as recently as last year, but the shooting at a Lewiston bowling alley and bar altered political debates in a liberal state with lax gun laws and strong hunting traditions. Lewiston gunman Robert Card II, a 40-year-old Army reservist from Bowdoin, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot following a two-day manhunt.
Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, is sponsoring the 72-hour waiting period bill, while Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth, is sponsoring the proposed ban on bump stocks and other devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns. The bump stock ban was tacked onto Carney’s initial proposal to require the destruction of all firearms forfeited to police.
Another bill considered Wednesday came from Rep. Vicki Doudera, D-Camden, who initially proposed creating a process in Maine by which people could voluntarily add themselves to a do-not-sell list for firearms. But Doudera amended her bill to instead create an 11-member task force to study the “feasibility of establishing a voluntary waiver of firearms rights in the state.”
A report would be due by December. Doudera said Wednesday that a task force could help resolve several lingering concerns, such as which agency is best equipped to manage a list. The committee voted to delay action on Doudera’s bill to receive additional information.
The Judiciary Committee tabled the multi-part bill from Mills, which also includes several mental health reforms and upgrades the crime of selling guns to felons and other prohibited persons from a misdemeanor to a Class C felony.
Mills also proposed making it easier for police to take people deemed a danger to themselves or others into protective custody in order to start the “yellow flag” process in which a judge — after the person gets a mental health evaluation — can temporarily take away a person’s weapons.
Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck said Mills’ background check plan is trying to find “bipartisan middle ground.” But Democrats and Republicans had questions about adding “recklessly” to the law penalizing selling guns to prohibited people, allowing judges to consider “reliable hearsay” when extending weapons restrictions and tweaks to the “yellow flag” law.
The yellow flag law came under scrutiny after experts said police should have triggered it with Card given that his family and peers told police in the months before the Lewiston rampage about his erratic behavior, threats and access to firearms. Sheriff’s deputies tried unsuccessfully to contact Card through welfare checks at his Bowdoin home.
The governor’s proposal also would create a violence and injury data hub along with a statewide network of crisis receiving centers that treat people in mental health emergencies. It complements a bill before a different committee from House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, focused on mental health services and violence prevention.
Ahead of the committee meeting, dozens of volunteers from the Maine chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action rallied Wednesday morning in the Hall of Flags, with Moms Demand Action Executive Director Angela Ferrell-Zabala, who is based in Washington, D.C., also in attendance. The volunteers and other advocates have additionally called for a more stringent “red flag” law and assault-style weapons ban.
“I am no longer willing to sit back and wait for change to be made while I watch tens of thousands of people die from gun violence every single year,” said Casey McAndrews, a University of New England medical student and volunteer with the university’s Students Demand Action chapter.
