A sharply divided vote this week in the Legislature underscores the political challenges facing gun control advocates in Maine, a left-leaning state that also has a strong sporting and gun culture. But gun rights activists are also finding it hard to advance their cause in Augusta.
For nearly 90 minutes on Tuesday, lawmakers made emotional arguments about why a 72-hour waiting period would either save lives ... or endanger them.
"Studies have shown, contrary to some prior testimony, that states with waiting period laws experience fewer gun-related suicides and domestic violence-related deaths,” said Rep. Amy Kuhn, D-Falmouth.
"Waiting periods are arbitrary impositions with no effect on crime or suicide, introduce no additional investigative avenues, can put those needing to defend their lives in danger and only burden law-abiding gun owners without changing how or when criminals obtain firearms,” countered Rep. Reagan Paul, R-Winterport.
Supporters, like Kuhn, want Maine to join the 10 other states that impose waiting periods ranging from 3 to 30 days for gun purchases. And while they acknowledged that Maine has among the lowest gun-related homicide rates in the nation, they also point out that just two years ago, nearly 90% of the 178 shooting deaths that occurred in the state were suicides, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Maine has among the highest suicide rates on the Eastern Seaboard, according to federal data.
"Creating a buffer between having a suicidal crisis and access to a gun can be the difference between life and death because it creates a window where family members, friends and health care professionals can try to intervene and try to avoid an impulsive decision that can have severe and irrevocable consequences,” Kuhn said.
But the bill ultimately failed on a 69-73 vote as about a dozen Democrats either joined Republicans in opposing the measure or did not cast a vote. And that's not a new experience for gun control advocates in Maine, where efforts to tighten firearm regulations often run into roadblocks in the State House despite polls suggesting consistent public support for at least some additional restrictions.
For instance, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has opposed expanding background checks based on Maine voters’ rejection of a 2016 referendum to require background checks for most private gun sales and transfers.
Hours before the House vote, gun control advocates held a press conference to urge passage of not only the 72-hour waiting period but also bills proposing to expand background checks and to ban devices that transform semiautomatic pistols into rapid-fire weapons. They pointed to a recent poll of more than 700 registered Maine voters conducted by Pan Atlantic Research that found 72% of respondents supported expanding background checks to private gun sales but not “transfers” between family members. Another 72% also supported the 72-hour waiting period, according to the poll results.
Those bills have yet to receive votes in the House or Senate and could face similar headwinds.
Lynn Ellis with the Maine Gun Safety Coalition said the polls show that most Mainers — regardless of political affiliation or which region of the state where they live — support the proposals now pending with the Legislature. But Ellis said she and others are in it “for the long haul” as they try to change the narrative that they are "anti-gun" and, instead, emphasize that they want reasonable, common-sense regulations.
"If I've said anything this session, it is to change that narrative,” Ellis said. “And I've actually been having conversations with some of our opponents. You know, we're not in agreement yet but I'm going to continue to push that conversation that this not who we are. This is who we are. And we're maybe closer to your feelings than maybe you think."
Gun rights advocates don't necessarily have an easier time getting their priorities through the Legislature either. That was also evident Tuesday night when enough Democrats stuck together to reject several bills that would allow either armed security guards or armed staff in public schools.
As the hours drew late, frustrated Republicans accused the majority Democrats of hypocrisy for opposing stronger school security while pushing a bill — which ultimately received initial approval in a largely party-line vote — supporting beefing up security measures in the Cross Office Building that houses state offices as well as legislative committee rooms.
Meanwhile, the April mass shooting that killed four in Bowdoin and injured three on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth has sparked dialogue between Mills and the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine on ways to crack down on so-called “straw purchases,” which is when people buy a firearm for someone who cannot legally own one. Mills worked with SAM executive director David Trahan several years ago to negotiate a compromise “yellow flag” law that gave law enforcement an additional tool to temporarily confiscate firearms from people deemed to pose a danger to themselves or others.
But with lawmakers facing a host of other hot-button items still to be resolved, it appears unlikely a “straw purchases” bill will emerge in the final weeks of the legislative session.
