Maine's "yellow flag" gun law has been used more than 1,000 times in the past five years, according to public safety officials.
State lawmakers passed the law in 2019 after negotiations between gun control advocates, gun owners' rights groups, Gov. Janet Mills and a bipartisan group of lawmakers. The yellow flag law allows police to seek an "extreme risk protection order" from a judge to temporarily confiscate firearms from those who pose a danger to themselves or others. Before that can happen, however, police must take the person into protective custody and have them evaluated by a mental health professional.
Use of the yellow flag process increased dramatically following the October 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston that left 18 people dead. Police did not use the yellow flag process against the Lewiston gunman despite numerous warnings from family, friends and his fellow Army reservists.
As of earlier this week, the law had been used 1,037 times in Maine, most often with potentially suicidal individuals. Mills and the commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, Michael Sauschuck, said that figure shows the law is working.
“It is saving lives every day,” Mills said in a statement. “Law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges are accustomed to the law and understand the process. It is being used at least once every day in courts across the state. The law is preventing suicide and other violent behavior; it puts the responsibility for protecting public safety squarely on public officials, without putting the responsibility on family members, neighbors, bystanders or other private citizens.”
"I read five of these this morning," Sauschuck said Thursday in an interview. "So you know, these things are active, they are occurring every day. The process is effective. It is saving lives in this state every single day. So it works."
Maine voters will also decide this November on a "red flag" referendum put forward by gun control advocates that would supplement, not replace, the yellow flag law.
Under the current law, only police can initiate the yellow flag process. If enacted by voters, Question 2 on the November ballot would allow family members to directly petition a judge to order a person to temporarily give up their guns because they pose a danger to themselves or others. Roughly 20 other states have red flag laws on their books.
Supporters argue that it gives families additional options because going to the police first could be a deterrent for some households. They also point to the Lewiston mass shooting as an example of police failing to utilize the existing law. A state commission that investigated the shooting faulted local police but also Army Reserve officials for failing to take steps to remove the gunman's numerous firearms.
But opponents of the red flag proposal, including Mills, say the current law is more thorough because it requires police to have the person assessed by a mental health professional. Gun owners' rights groups say the law also better protects the constitutional "due process" rights of individuals targeted with an extreme risk protection order.
