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The Maine Legislature’s “crisis intervention” bill, LD 2283, set for a Friday hearing, would give families the right to go to court for an emergency order to remove guns from their dangerous relative who is threatening to shoot themselves or others. It would particularly help families in those rural counties that do not have enough police officers to go through the yellow flag law process for them.
It is the one bill that directly addresses the observation by the commission investigating the Lewiston mass shooting, that, when the police made “the decision to turn over the responsibility for removing Mr. Card’s firearms to Mr. Card’s family” and “close the case without any plans for follow up,” the family, as “civilians,” had “neither the legal authority to begin the Yellow Flag process nor any legal authority to seize weapons.”
This crisis intervention bill would give families that right to go to court themselves.
The bill protects gun owners’ rights to due process. It requires any court gun removal order to be served at the “earliest possible time and take precedence over other summonses and orders,” and guarantees a court hearing within 14 days, with an appointed attorney. This process is consistent with the notice and 14-day hearing guarantees, with counsel, in Maine’s yellow flag law, which the Maine Supreme Judicial Court specifically found to provide constitutional due process. The bill addresses the specific needs of Maine, and is worthy of all Mainers’ support.
Peggy McGehee
Adjunct professor
Maine Law School
Falmouth
