AUGUSTA, Maine — The Lewiston mass shooting commission’s preliminary report that chiefly blamed police and the U.S. Army Reserve for failing to act on the gunman’s warning signs has sent gun-control backers and opponents to their corners.
But the report released late Friday has also accentuated the rockier political path for more sweeping gun-control measures introduced after Maine’s deadliest mass shooting on record while ramping up debates about whether to strengthen the state’s “yellow flag” law.
The more centrist Democrats who may play a decisive role in helping pass or defeat the suite of measures introduced after the Oct. 25 rampage that left 18 dead and 13 injured are supporting mental health-focused bills from Gov. Janet Mills and House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, and are not rallying behind 72-hour waiting periods and a bump stock ban.
The commission Mills tasked with investigating the shooting found the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office had probable cause in September to initiate Maine’s “yellow flag” law to take away Robert Card II’s weapons after his family and peers had warned police of his declining mental health, access to guns and stated threats to “shoot up” an Army Reserve facility in Saco.
The panel called the office’s decision to rely on Card’s family to remove his firearms “an abdication of law enforcement’s responsibility.” It also faulted Card’s Army Reserve commander for not telling the sheriff’s office about recommendations from mental health providers in New York — where Card was hospitalized last summer — to remove all firearms from Card’s Bowdoin home, among other findings.
Republicans used the report to argue Tuesday against gun control and in support of more awareness and police training on the state’s yellow flag law, which Mills helped craft several years ago in place of a more stringent “red flag” law that does not require family and police to seek a mental health evaluation before asking a judge to temporarily remove weapons from people deemed dangerous to themselves or others.
“Maine’s existing yellow flag law could have changed the course of events,” said Rep. Sheila Lyman, R-Livermore Falls, adding the report “named the real problem: mental health.”
But Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, who has opposed several gun-control measures in past years but has voiced general support for them after the shooting, acknowledged the report while feeling “there should be a pathway for close family members to begin the temporary firearm removal process,” Christine Kirby, his spokesperson, said Tuesday, hinting at support for a shift toward a red flag law.
“This is especially important when we are talking about parts of the state that have a shortage of law enforcement officers and a lack of resources,” Kirby said.
It is not yet clear if Democrats may try to amend current proposals to tweak Maine’s yellow flag law further than the governor has already recommended. Several bills could receive Judiciary Committee votes as soon as Thursday.
Mills, a Democrat, wants to expand background checks to advertised gun sales, increase penalties for selling guns to prohibited persons, amend the yellow flag law to make it easier for police to take people into protective custody and build more crisis receiving centers that treat people in mental health emergencies.
Other bills introduced since the shooting include a measure from Sen. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, to require 72-hour waiting periods for firearm purchases and a proposal from Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth, to ban devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to fire like machine guns. Carney’s bill would require police to destroy all forfeited weapons.
Talbot Ross has a multi-part plan to boost access for medication management services, expand mobile mental health interventions to 24/7 services and create two crisis receiving centers in Aroostook and Penobscot counties, among other initiatives. It was amended after initially seeking $9 million for centers in six counties to instead add two with about $5.75 million, among other tweaks, and it received unanimous, bipartisan support in committee.
Rep. Scott Landry, D-Farmington, a moderate who has previously opposed waiting periods and banning bump stocks, said he likes the bills from Talbot Ross and Mills, but rural Democrats like him are cooler on the other proposals.
“People need help out there,” Landry said in response to the commission’s initial report. “If you’ve got laws that you don’t enforce, why pass new laws?”
Yet Kathleen McFadden, a volunteer with the Maine chapter of Moms Demand Action, argued the report still highlighted “how cumbersome” the yellow flag process can be for police. Moms Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety have continued to push for a red flag law in Maine that would let family and police to straight to a judge when seeking weapons restrictions.
The independent commission’s work is not yet done, with more meetings planned and a final report with additional recommendations due by this summer. The final report will likely touch on problems not mentioned in the preliminary report, such as law enforcement communication during a 48-hour manhunt that ended when police found Card dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and the accessibility issues for loved ones of the several deaf victims.
Assistant House Majority Leader Kristen Cloutier, D-Lewiston, said while the yellow flag law could have been used, “we also know that we need to take comprehensive, proactive steps to strengthen our laws to better protect against the next tragedy, which might not unfold in this same way.”
“For my community, doing nothing is not an option,” Cloutier said.
