Members of a legislative committee advanced three gun bills on Wednesday even as Democratic leaders introduced a late-session bill that would allow family members to petition a court to temporarily confiscate the guns of dangerous individuals.
The three measures advanced by the Legislature's Judiciary Committee included a proposal from Democratic Gov. Janet Mills that would tweak Maine's so-called "yellow flag" law. But at the same time that was happening, most of the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have signed onto a bill that appears modeled after more sweeping "red flag" gun confiscation bills that are on the books in more than 20 other states.
"The epidemic of gun violence requires urgent leadership and action and a comprehensive approach to public safety and public health legislation," House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, said in a statement about the new "crisis intervention order" bill released late Wednesday. "We've heard from Maine people from across the state who are demanding we take action to protect their communities and that an improved crisis intervention order deserves full consideration."
All four of the measures will be the focus of intense debate in the final weeks of the 2024 legislative session.
Mills' proposal was among several backed by Democrats that have gained traction as lawmakers grapple with ways to tighten some of the most permissive gun laws in the country after a gunman killed 18 people in Lewiston at two different locations last October. The committee votes were along party lines — with Democrats in support and Republicans opposed — on all three of the measures that were debated Wednesday afternoon.
One bill endorsed by the majority of the committee would ban so-called "bump stocks" and other mechanical adaptations that essentially turn a semi-automatic gun into a fully automatic weapon. A second bill would require most gun purchasers to wait 72 hours before picking up their firearms, which supporters said would help reduce Maine's suicide rate.
The governor has framed her proposal, LD 2224, as a balance between respecting Maine's long history of hunting and gun ownership with the need to strengthen laws designed to keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous people.
To that end, the proposal expands background checks on gun purchases to sales that were advertised online or in printed publications such as the popular classified circular Uncle Henry's. The bill also creates a network of crisis prevention centers.
The governor's bill does not overhaul Maine's so-called yellow flag law to make it easier to confiscate someone's firearms. But it does give law enforcement more discretion to take someone into protective custody — a requirement to initiate the confiscation process — before they have committed a crime.
The proposal is a direct response to statements from Sagadahoc County Sheriff's Office deputies who were alerted to threats that the Lewiston gunman, Robert Card II, had reportedly made to "shoot up" his Army Reserve headquarters roughly six weeks before the shooting. Deputies said they did not feel they had legal grounds to take him into custody because he had not committed a crime and they never had "face-to-face" contact with him.
But Talbot Ross and four of the other five Democratic leaders from the House and Senate are proposing to go even farther. The bill they introduced on Wednesday would allow family members to directly petition a judge to order someone to temporarily surrender their firearms if they are deemed to pose a threat to themselves or others. The only member of Democratic leadership who is not listed as a co-sponsor of the bill, LD 2283, is Senate President Troy Jackson of Allagash.
Based on the text of the bill, the measure does not require the medical evaluation that is key to the state's yellow flag law. Additionally, the yellow flag law does not allow family members to directly petition a court to order someone to relinquish their guns.
It was not immediately clear how the new proposal, if enacted, would interact with Maine's existing yellow flag or if it would supersede that process.
"By streamlining the process in which law enforcement and concerned family members petition the court for temporary removal of firearms from individuals who pose a credible threat to themselves or others, we are empowering our communities to intervene in situations of potential harm," Talbot Ross said in her statement. "And by hearing this bill now, we are making it clear that we are responding to this epidemic with the urgency Mainers have demanded."
All Republicans on the Judiciary Committee opposed the three bills taken up on Wednesday, with some arguing that the expanded background checks would lead to a gun registry. Some expressed support for the mental health component.
The bills now move to the full House and Senate for votes.
